Free Republic

South Korea is sending military forces to respond to the seizure of one of its tankers by Iran, an endeavor in which it is seeking to work with other nations operating in the region Iran's elite Revolutionary Guard announced Monday that its Zulfiqar fleet had seized a South Korean vessel operating in the Islamic Republic's First Naval District in the Persian Gulf "due to a series of violations of marine environmental laws" after it departed from Saudi Arabia's Al-Jubail port. The ship, Hankuk Chemi, was said to be transporting up to 7,200 tons of oil-based chemicals, and carrying a crew...

The global anti-American alliance is now on full display in the Middle East, with Iran at the lynch point. The headlines have told us about the coordination of Iranian/Iraqi/Syrian/Russian/Chinese activities, and of course there is a division of labor. That was all worked out in recent weeks in a series of Iranian visits to Moscow (General Suleimani, who commands the Revolutionjary Guards’ foreign ops, twice traveled to Russia in open defiance of existing sanctions). Basically, the Russians are sending some crack troops and their favorite heavy weapons (tanks, big guns). It goes via an Iranian air bridge and thence across...

Iran is sending Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro’s socialist regime weapons and troops, a top U.S. military official told the Wall Street Journal Wednesday. “We see a growing Iranian influence in there,” the head of the U.S. Southern Command, Admiral Craig Faller, told the Journal. “We’re real [sic] concerned about what Iran is up to, not just globally, but here in this hemisphere.” He went on to cite the “alarming and concerning” arrival of military personnel from the elite Quds Force of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), notorious for its terrorist activities in other countries including Syria and Iraq. Faller...

The consequences for Israel -- and for the Palestinians themselves. For Mahmoud Abbas, the apparent election of Joe Biden as the 46th president of the United States is sheer relief. As a result of his disagreement with President Donald Trump’s “Peace of the Century,” he severed his ties with the Trump administration, and in May, he suspended the security coordination with Israel. Abbas also, among other things, refused to accept tax money Israel collected from Palestinians working in Israel that is transferred to the Palestinian Authority (PA). This has just about emptied the PA’s coffers, and brought about the near...

In what could be a landmark in the Middle East’s history, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu flew to Saudi Arabia on Sunday to meet the country’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Israeli media reported. U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, currently on a tour of the region, was also reportedly present at the meeting in Neom, Saudi Arabia. Netanyahu was accompanied by the head of Israeli intelligence agency Mossad, Yossi Cohen, who is widely regarded to have played a key role in preparing the groundwork for the recent normalization of diplomatic relations between Israel and the Arab Gulf states, news...

The attack that killed the alleged architect of Iran’s nuclear weapons program on Friday was carried out from afar using a remote-controlled machine gun attached to a car, a leading Iranian news site reported Sunday. According to the semi-officials Fars news site, the entire operation was conducted with no human agents whatsoever, a significantly different description of the attack than has been presented until now. The account was not attributed to official sources and was not immediately confirmed by Iran. According to the outlet, the assault took place over the course of three minutes as Mohsen Fakhrizadeh — a brigadier...

Action Follows Last Month’s Seizure of 92 IRGC DomainsSAN FRANCISCO – The United States has seized 27 domain names that Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) unlawfully used to further a global covert influence campaign.As described in the seizure documents, all 27 domains were being used in violation of U.S. sanctions targeting both the Government of Iran and the IRGC. Four of the domains purported to be genuine news outlets but were actually controlled by the IRGC and targeted audiences in the United States, to covertly influence United States policy and public opinion, in violation of the Foreign Agents Registration...

Iran's Revolutionary Guard on Saturday threatened to avenge the killing of its top general, saying it would go after everyone responsible for the January U.S. drone strike in Iraq. The guard's website quoted Gen. Hossein Salami as saying, "Mr. Trump! Our revenge for martyrdom of our great general is obvious, serious and real." President Trump warned this week that Washington would harshly respond to any Iranian attempts to take revenge for the death of Gen. Qassem Soleimani, tweeting that "if they hit us in any way, any form, written instructions already done we're going to hit them 1000 times harder."...

Iran is allegedly mulling over an attempt to assassinate the United States’ ambassador to South Africa as retaliation for the American drone attack earlier this year that killed Qassem Soleimani, the head of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps' elite Quds Force. The news of Tehran’s purported plans was first reported by Politico, who spoke with one official familiar with the issue and another official who has seen the intelligence. If Iran does attempt to carry out the assassination, it would severely ratchet up the already tense relations between Washington and Tehran, along with giving the Trump administration impetus to retaliate.

An analysis of the November 2019 Iranian revolt reveals vital truths about the Islamic Republic's inability to suppress popular demand for regime change. The government anticipated the uprising would come if it raised gas prices, and it was correct. It announced the 300% hike abruptly in an effort to prevent the opposition from organizing. Despite this, relatively small, spontaneous uprisings in cities across Iran shook the regime to its core, and for parts of two days, the regime lost control in a number of cities and towns. Large parts of Shiraz were freed from the regime’s authorities for more than...

Iran's elite Revolutionary Guard said it launched ballistic missiles from "the depths of the Earth" on Wednesday during the last day of military exercises near sensitive Gulf waters. A video posted online by a news agency linked to Iran's state TV showed clouds of dust before the missiles streaked into the sky. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said in a statement it was "the first time in the world" that such an exercise had been carried out. It hailed "the successful launch of ballistic missiles from the depths of the Earth in a completely camouflaged way" as an "important achievement...

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has denounced Egypt and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) for supporting forces based in eastern Libya, after Egypt's President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi met Libyan tribesmen who urged Cairo to intervene in the war. Turkey has been providing military aid to the United Nations-recognised government in the Libya conflict, while Egypt, the UAE and Russia have backed its foes in a rival administration based in the east. Recent weeks have seen dramatic military advances by the Tripoli-based Government of National Accord (GNA), which drove back forces of the eastern renegade military commander Khalifa Haftar who had...

One of the passengers on the Ukrainian jet downed by Iranian missiles earlier this month was a businesswoman who was the boss of two companies cited in a UN report for links to the shadowy arms trade supplying the protracted civil war in Libya. Olena Malakhova, 38, had been allocated a place in the second row of Ukraine International Airlines Flight 752 from Tehran to Kiev, according to a seating plan of the aircraft seen by CNN. She was one of only two Ukrainian passengers on the plane, which crashed shortly after takeoff from the Iranian capital on January 8,...

Egypt’s parliament voted on Monday to authorise the deployment of troops abroad in defence of the country’s national security, a move that could set the stage for a proxy war in neighbouring Libya between regional enemies Egypt and Turkey. A statement by the 596-seat chamber made no direct mention of Libya, but used language that clearly indicated that the decision was meant for the vast, energy-rich North African star. It said the 510 MPs present voted unanimously in support of the resolution... It said the authorisation for deploying troops abroad would be valid until their mission is completed... ...the vote,...

The Iranian rial fell to a new low against the US dollar on the unofficial market on Saturday and has now seen its value fall by almost half in 2020 as the economy comes under pressure from the coronavirus pandemic and US sanctions. The dollar was offered for as much as 255,300 rials, up from 242,500 on Friday, according to foreign exchange site Bonbast.com. The economic daily Donya-e-Eqtesad’s website gave the dollar rate as 252,300, compared with 241,300 on Friday. The currency has lost nearly 48% of its value in 2020, more than half of that in the past month,...

An explosion at occurred at a power plant in Iran's central Isfahan province, according to reports in Iran. No casualties were reported, Reuters said. Last week, seven ships went up in flames at the Bushehr port, and an explosion occurred at a chemical plant in the Razavi Khorasan Province in eastern Iran. These incidents were the latest in a string of mysterious events, which began on June 30. A gas explosion shook a residential building in Tehran, Iran, on Saturday, injuring one person, Iran's semi-official ISNA reported. On Friday, IRIB reported that an explosion was heard in Western Tehran, and...

Militant Arab terror is racismWhether terror attacks were/are linked and/or supported by Palestinian Authority,  Hamas official government in Gaza, Islamic Jihad, etc.One can never detach racism from Arab terror in Israel, especially, as long as Israeli victims of Arab terrorism (shootings, bombing, stabbing, car rammings, rocks into car windows), and even potential civilian victims of massive foiled constant attacks, are not any way near 20% Arab, the equivalent of its population percentage in Israel. (Fully represented in Israeli official positions, including in its parliament - Knesset).Moreover, Arab terrorists specifically go out of their way to target Jewish areas.Also, bombers, shooters...

Lebanese national Nizar Zakka, who spent years in Iranian captivity, called out presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden: "You left us behind in Iran," he said in a tweet. Zakka was held prisoner by the Islamic Republic "from 2015 to 2019 on charges he spied for the United States," according to the Washington Free Beacon. Biden in a July 12 tweet spoke out about Egypt's release of medical student Mohamed Amashah after he was held for more than one year: "Mohamed Amashah is finally home after 486 days in Egyptian prison for holding a protest sign. Arresting, torturing, and exiling...

By: Hassan.Mahmoudi Sanctions, imposing maximum pressure on the clerical regime, backed by internal economic crises have laid the ground for regime fears of an explosive society, the people’s dire livelihood leaving them with nothing to lose, as well as having provoked infighting at the top of the regime. To find a light at the end of this dark tunnel, the regime intends to tie up with China and Russia, to take advantage of their international and political potential, to break its economic deadlock and to block any potential uprising. On July 12, speaking at the National Security and Foreign Policy...

Since late June, 11 Iranian citizens - three in Tehran and eight in Isfahan - have been sentenced to death for taking part in mass anti-government protests in November 2019. Iranian journalist Ruhollah Zam, who was accused of fuelling anti-government protests through a popular Telegram channel in 2017, also received the death penalty during the same period. Also in June, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) shut down Iran's biggest anti-poverty NGO, the Imam Ali Society, and arrested its founding director, Sharmin Meymandi Nejad, citing "anti-Iran activities". The independent charity had attracted the regime's fury during last year's protests by...