Free Republic

The Secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, Mohsen Rezaei, stated that the United States' response regarding Iran's rights and demands was unconvincing. He said that the United States must provide a full, clear, and explicit response...

To ChatGPT:Internet dissidents, for convenience designated as centering around Andrew Napolitano, seem entirely oblivious to the potential for the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps “capitalists” (IRGC) to form their own military-industrial-complex as demonstrated by Iran’s ability to produce new generations of non-nuclear missiles, the Iranian prowess in the field showing that their missiles exceed the velocity of the much-vaunted Oreshnik rated at Mach 12, with Iranian missiles rated at Mach 15. Dissident war news portrays the Iranian war-technology advance as a heroic response to unprovoked U.S. and Israeli aggression, failing to note the connection between IRGC enterprise ownership and the cutting...

Risks growing as diplomatic efforts remain stalled and Iran threatens unrestrained retaliation DUBAI—America’s Gulf allies are steeling themselves for a heavy U.S. bombardment of Iran that they expect to trigger a vicious cycle of retaliation against their own economic and civilian infrastructure as early as this week.The Trump administration and Arab mediators are making a number of efforts to reach a negotiated end to the conflict. But the lack of progress paired with U.S. and Iranian threats of especially ferocious fighting if the conflict resurges are heightening concerns across the region.President Trump has been leaning toward a large postelection attack...

Abdul El-Sayed is having a terrible home stretch in the Michigan Senate race, digging himself deeper on a daily basis. And for whatever reason, he just can't seem to put the shovel down. First, he refused to condemn a blatantly antisemitic ad supporting his campaign. That was too much for Rep. Haley Stevens (D-Mich.), his former primary opponent, who had endorsed him after their race. Stevens flipped and endorsed his Republican opponent, former Rep. Mike Rogers. In the final days of the campaign, El-Sayed's candidacy is tearing the Democrat Party apart, and now he is stuck playing defense on antisemitism...

It is outrageous that Michael Che uses his enormous platform on Saturday Night Live to mock Israel while casually invoking one of the most inflammatory accusations imaginable: genocide. During Saturday’s “Weekend Update,” Che joked about Israelis voting “on the right side, or the left side, or the genocide.” The punchline was apparently that Israel is committing genocide. Very funny—if you consider demonizing an entire country and its people comedy. Advocacy group StandWithUs called him out, pointing out that Israelis of every background—Jewish, Muslim, Christian, Druze and others—participate in the country's democracy. The election saw the highest voter turnout since 1999,...

Dec WTI crude oil prices fell on Thursday as the market assesses mediation efforts to avert a possible US military attack on Iran after this Tuesday’s US mid-term elections. The Wall Street Journal reported that US Vice President Vance sent a letter to hardliner Mohsen Rezaee, secretary of Iran’s top security body, to see if a framework for negotiations exists. Iran said it has not yet replied to the letter. Axios reported Wednesday that Qatar is leading behind-the-scenes mediation efforts, supported by Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and Türkiye. The news of negotiations followed the Wall Street Journal’s report Tuesday that...

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has fired the Pentagon's top military planner as President Donald Trump considers renewed strikes on Iran following next week's midterm elections. Army Lt Gen Brett Sylvia was removed as head of strategy, plans and policy on the Joint Chiefs of Staff, after he reportedly leaked classified information about the war in Iran and the war between Russia and Ukraine. 'Although Sylvia's title was director of the Directorate for Strategy, Plans and Policy at the Joint Chiefs of Staff, known inside the military as the J5, he was NOT a central planner for the Iran War,' a...

Two British nationals have been charged over an alleged plot to assist Iran's intelligence service as part of the investigation into the incident at RAF Fairford in September. Mohmed Ahmad Abdulkarim, 24, from Westminster, has been charged with assisting a foreign intelligence service under Section 3 of the National Security Act. Nouman Essghir, also 24 and from Westminster, has been charged under Section 4 of the same act with entering a prohibited place for a purpose prejudicial to the UK on 22 August - weeks before he was arrested near the airbase in Gloucestershire alongside four other men. The pair...

Islamic bigot Cenk Uygur’s attack on Israel in the context of the El-Sayed ad raises serious reminds about a resurgent antisemitic double standards. Pretending Israel isn’t fighting for its survival against armed groups backed by Iran and other hostile forces is a gross distortion of reality. Blaming Jews—or singling out aid to Israel as the culprit behind grocery prices—echoes a long and ugly history of antisemitic scapegoating. Foreign aid to any country is not a direct explanation for rising grocery bills, and isolating Israel for special condemnation demands scrutiny. When Israel alone is singled out, while its security threats are...

SummaryMore than $29 billion would go to replace expended munitions, Pentagon data obtained by Reuters showsMore than $6 billion would be needed from ​Congress for equipment and platform lossesLatest estimate compares with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth's July estimate ‌of $37.5 billionWASHINGTON, Oct 27 (Reuters) - The US military has spent over $47 billion so far to prosecute the war in Iran, more than 25% higher than the Defense Department's estimate in July, according to Pentagon data obtained by Reuters.The Pentagon did not immediately ​respond to a request for comment on its estimate, which has not been shared publicly. The disclosure...

A friend of mine is taking his wife on a European cruise that ends in Barcelona this week. He told me how much they love the Spanish city and how they’d normally stay an extra couple of days there before flying back. “Not this year,” he said, before stressing that they’re “gonna get outta there fast” because of safety concerns. We had this discussion before this weekend’s violent riots in Barcelona, in which hundreds of people (black clothing, masks, and Palestinian flags prominent among them) looted and damaged dozens of stores, injured at least 15 police officers, and set multiple...

Mass demonstrations, when IRGC came out to play, they encountered armed resistance. Pahlavi circulating contact info to civil servants and military, urging next steps to be taken towards revolution. Some technical difficulty. Targeted drone attack in Tehran building, result and intended victim not yet known. Ayatoilets trying to gaslight and demonizing Pahlavi. He has plans that he's made known for reconstructing Iran after revolution. He's pro-western, pro-democracy and pro-free markets. Li'l Lulu stole election in Brazil, very similar to the Brandonistas' theft, and Bolsonaro Jr. has skedaddled and asked for asylum in America to avoid arrest like they did his...

JERUSALEM (AP) — Israelis will vote in a pivotal election Tuesday as their country is embroiled in unresolved wars, still reeling from Hamas’ 2023 attack and deeply divided over the character of the state and the right person to lead it. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu faces off against a coalition of parties seeking to oust the longtime leader from power. Opinion polls have suggested a tight race with his main rival, former military chief Gadi Eisenkot.In Israel’s fragmented parliamentary politics, no single party has ever won an outright parliamentary majority, so political leaders must forge coalitions. But in a tight...

U.S. President Donald Trump has said he was deciding whether to “make a deal” with Iran or “finish it off” as investors weigh heightened tensions across the Middle East. “Do I finish it off, which would be very easy to do, or do I make a deal? It’s getting to be decision time,” Trump said in a Fox News interview on Sunday. Mediators from Qatar, which has played a key role in efforts to negotiate an agreement between Washington and Tehran, visited Tehran on Sunday, per Reuters. It comes as attacks by Iran-backed Houthi militants on Saudi Arabia continued over...

A University of California Merced professor of history and critical race and ethnic studies recently called for the “dezionization” of the UC system. Sean Malloy, who according to his faculty page researches “colonialism, war, white supremacy, and the critical study of Zionism,” writes in the Ethnic Studies Council at UC Substack that Zionism is a “driving force behind many of the external and internal threats to the UC and its faculty, staff, and students.” “Dezionization entails not only ending the UC’s complicity in the genocidal actions of the Israeli state (which would include divestment and the end of formal research...

The CIA contractor accused of leaking classified intelligence to his lefty journalist girlfriend could face 10 years in prison — all for posts that appeared to have netted just dozens of likes on her Substack. Ian Brinksman, 42, was accused of exploiting his access to sensitive US intelligence and acquiring reports unrelated to his duties — including sensitive intel on Israel — for the sake of passing them along to his romantic partner to help bolster her career, prosecutors claimed. While officials did not name the girlfriend, the intel involved and dates match up with at least five reports published...

U.S. intelligence officials are warning that Iran has intensified efforts to assassinate Americans overseas, prompting the Trump administration to reduce diplomatic staffing across the Middle East amid escalating threats from Tehran and its terrorist proxies. Director of National Intelligence Jay Clayton issued an unclassified memo Friday to Secretary of State Marco Rubio, warning that Iranian assassination plots targeting U.S. citizens have reached dangerous levels. “Lethal plotting efforts by the Iranians against U.S. citizens have reached advanced stages,” Clayton wrote. Clayton said Tehran has significantly expanded operations targeting American personnel abroad and warned that the danger extends beyond individuals currently authorized...

When Everything Is Genocide, Nothing Is: The Weaponization of a Word Against Israel.That same DSA found a new "genocide," this time in Cuba.Democratic Socialists of America Accuses Marco Rubio of ‘Genocide’ in Pro-Castro Screed. By Corey Walker. August 20, 2026 https://www.algemeiner.com/2026/08/20/democratic-socialists-america-accuses-marco-rubio-genocide-pro-castro-screed/Then there is Islamic bigot (since his 2009 sermon about non-Muslims as 'animals,' his 2019 minimizing Ilhan Omar's use of antisemitic tropes, his Feb 2025 "make American planes crash again" and in Oct 2025 Hasan's Nazi comparisons) Mehdi HasanGaza GenoLIE Campaign Traces 50-Year Anti-Israel Delegitimization Effort. The false genocide accusation did not begin after October 7. Its modern vocabulary grew...

China, Russia, Iran and North Korea, known collectively as CRINK, are seeking to undermine U.S. leadership by weakening the rules-based international order. Human rights violations and trafficking at the Alabuga complex in the Russian town of Yelabuga illustrate the increasingly complex ties among the CRINK regimes. Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 created a demand for drones that Moscow could not initially meet. Its answer was an arrangement to manufacture the Iranian-designed Shahed on Russian soil. This report contends that the burgeoning labor force that powers the Alabuga drone factory has become a site of gross human rights...

Gunmen attacked during funeral procession, state-owned TV says Witness says assailants fired for several minutes King says attack will be met with 'harshest retaliation' Authorities say extremists carried out terrorist attack UN chief condemns attack AL-MUSHAIRFEH, Jordan, Oct 23 (Reuters) - Seven people were killed on Friday when gunmen opened fire ​during a funeral at a church in Jordan, said the head of the country's Public Security Directorate, in a rare attack ‌on Jordan's Christian minority that authorities described as a terrorist act by extremists. Speaking at a press conference, Major General Abdallah al-Maaytah said most of those wounded in...