Free Republic

"The purpose of this drill is to strengthen security and its foundations in the region, and to expand multilateral cooperation between the three countries to jointly support world peace, maritime security and create a maritime community with a common future," the Iranian official told ISNA. Both navies from Iran's armed forces and Revolutionary Guards will take part in the drills, which include various tactical exercises such as rescuing a burning vessel, releasing a hijacked vessel, and shooting at air targets at night.

On January 5, a giant statue of Qassem Soleimani, the Iranian regime's dead terrorist mastermind, was displayed in the city of Shahr-e Kord. The regime unveiled the statue with much noise and fanfare just ahead of the second anniversary of Soleimani's elimination in a US drone strike in 2020. Mere hours later, the statue was engulfed in flames by dissidents, dealing a major blow against state propaganda to bill the former commander of the terrorist Qods Force as a "hero." Just a couple of days prior, the regime’s President Ebrahim Raisi delivered a televised speech in which he promised revenge...

TEHRAN (Tasnim) – The commander of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps Quds Force said that the ground for the hard revenge against the United States for the assassination of Lt. General Qassem Soleimani will be set from within the US. Delivering a speech to a ceremony in Mashhad marking the second anniversary of martyrdom of General Soleimani and remembering Martyrs of the "Resistance Front"Defending the Holy Shrines, The IRGC Quds Force Commander Brigadier General Esmaeil Qaani underlined that the Islamic Republic will take revenge for General Soleimani’s assassination in its own way. “We will prepare ground for the hard revenge...

Are there cracks in the alliance between Tehran and the Houthi militia that has taken over large parts of Yemen? According to a report in the Wall Street Journal, the Houthis are seeking the expulsion of Iranian ambassador to Sanaa, Hassan Arlo. In order for this to happen, the Houthis are seeking permission from Saudi Arabia to lift the one-time flight ban and allow the flight to Tehran. This is no small matter, the Iranian "ambassador" is a senior member of the Revolutionary Guards who was smuggled into Yemen last year and is considered the most senior representative of the...

Source: Official White House Photo by Delano Scott The international community's patience is growing thin as the Iranian regime's nuclear defiance and regional terrorism intensify. At the same time, credible accusations that the regime's President, Ebrahim Raisi, was involved in the massacre of thousands of political prisoners in 1988, are making it harder for other countries to engage and negotiate with a genocidal president. The Iranian regime is dealing with a multitude of crises and challenges. The economy is in shambles, COVID-19 is wreaking havoc, the unemployment rate continues to set new records, and the official inflation rate is now...

Iranian state TV has claimed its navy chased a US vessel in the Persian Gulf, with video showing Revolutionary Guards cheering as they tail the speedboat. The footage shows at least one US-flagged vessel with around six personnel on board as two speedboats appear to be chasing it. A voice in Farsi says, ‘Keep chasing them,’ as other men cheer and whistle in the background. The report did not say when the encounter took place. The US Navy said it was not aware of any such incident at sea in the last few days. The American vessel in the clip...

Sept 26 (Reuters) - Fire broke out in one of Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) research centers in the west of Tehran on Sunday evening, state media said. "On Sunday evening a fire broke out in one of the IRGC … research centers in the west of Tehran. Three people were injured and the fire has been contained," Iran state TV quoted a statement from the Guards as saying. No reason was given for the incident.

Fresh off of renewed questions about a grant given to a health organization that worked with the Wuhan Institute of Virology, the National Institutes of Health is in the spotlight for giving grants to a man charged with illegally supplying high-tech medical equipment to Iran.According to a Justice Department news release, Dr. Mohammad Faghihi was charged Tuesday with conspiracy to commit money laundering, unlawful exports of goods to Iran, smuggling goods out of and into the U.S., wire fraud and making false statements.Faghihi, a former associate professor at the University of Miami who was born in Iran, was charged in...

Former Iranian armed forces chief Hassan Firouzabadi, who once accused Western nations of spying on the country using lizards, has died of coronavirus aged 70, local media reported on Friday. Revolutionary Guards chief Hossein Salami praised Firouzabadi's "continuous efforts" to defend "the sacred system of the Islamic Republic of Iran", in a statement published on the Guards' Sepahnews website. A trained doctor, Firouzabadi joined the Basij Islamic volunteer militia during the Iran-Iraq war of 1980-88. Serving in administrative roles, he swiftly rose up its ranks before being named head of the armed forces in September 1989 by Iran's supreme leader...

JNS.org – Would a Palestinian state resolve or exacerbate the Israel-Palestinian conflict? Would a Palestinian state enhance or erode Middle East stability? p>Would a focus on the Palestinian issue bolster or cripple the expansion of the Israel-Arab peace process?Would a Palestinian state advance or undermine US interests?The “two-state solution” policy is based on the following assumptions:The Palestinian issue is crucial to Arab countries and the crux of the Arab-Israeli conflict.The proposed Palestinian state would peacefully coexist with the Jewish state.Land-for-peace is a prerequisite for the resolution of the Palestinian issue, requiring an Israeli retreat from land (the mountain ridges of...

In March 28, 2021, Syrian replied to Electronic Intifada's Ali Abunimah: Zaher Atassi (@AtassiZaher) Tweeted [https://twitter.com/AtassiZaher/status/1376130530375299072?s=20] : "The Israeli Democracy is flawed". Said the supporter of a totalitarian dictatorship which tortured hundreds of thousands to death, and its leader who inherited the presidency from his father that led an openly racist arab supremacist party. ____ (Nevermind that the Israeli democracy government has an Arab coalition which extracts now even more money for preferential treatment routing for Arabs in Israel...vs Pallywood Ali Abunimah "accusations" but 'Aparthrid ethnic cleansing Palestine' Mahmoud Abbas declared that no Israeli will stay in an envisioned State.)

Israeli strikes in Syria reportedly killed a Hezbollah military commander and an Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) senior official. The Kan public broadcaster reported that Hezbollah military commander Imad al-Amin was killed in western Syria. The Lebanese terror group confirmed on Telegram that al-Amin was killed "while fulfilling his duties" but did not specify when or how. Saudi outlet Al-Arabiya also reported that a senior official in Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), Sayed Ahmed Qurayshi, was killed under unknown circumstances in Syria this week. There has been no official confirmation from Iran.

U.S. government officials joined health experts from throughout the Americas at an Ebola conference in Cuba on Wednesday, the latest show of cooperation between the historic adversaries on fighting the disease. The meeting organized by ALBA, a bloc of leftist-governed countries, aims to coordinate a regional strategy on the prevention and control of Ebola, which has killed about 5,000 people in West Africa but in the Americas has only reached the United States. U.S. military personnel and Cuban medical specialists are already posted in West Africa and prepared to work side by side if needed, officials have said, and Washington...

According to an inside source, the military collaborations between Iran's Revolutionary Guards and the Gaddafi government date back to 2006.In an interview today on the Al Arabyia news network, an informed source within the Revolutionary Guards Corps revealed that Iran has several military bases in Libya. The source, who requested anonymity due to his sensitive position within the Guards, elaborated further that the Iranian military bases are located mostly along Libya’s borders with the African countries of Chad and Niger. From there, he said, the Guards actively smuggle arms and supply logistical assistance to rebellious groups in the African countries.According...

Ali Akbar Mohtashamipour, a Shiite cleric who as Iran's ambassador to Syria helped found the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah and lost his right hand to a book bombing reportedly carried out by Israel, died Monday of the coronavirus. He was 74. A close ally of Iran's late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, Mohtashamipour in the 1970s formed alliances with Muslim militant groups across the Mideast. After the Islamic Revolution, he helped found the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard in Iran and as ambassador to Syria brought the force into the region to help form Hezbollah.

Iran’s largest navy ship sank early Wednesday in the Gulf of Oman after catching fire, according to Iranian state media, the latest blow to the country’s vital infrastructure and military assets in recent months. The Kharg had been deployed to international waters to participate in a training exercise when it caught fire near the port of Jask, the semiofficial Tasnim news agency said. The fire had started in the engine room, causing parts of the ship to melt and fall into the sea, state news agency IRNA said. Rescue workers tried for 20 hours to extinguish the fire but couldn’t...

TEHRAN, Iran - The largest warship in the Iranian navy caught fire and later sank Wednesday in the Gulf of Oman under unclear circumstances, semiofficial news agencies reported. The blaze began around 2:25 a.m. and firefighters tried to contain it, Fars said. The vessel sank near the Iranian port of Jask, some 1,270 kilometers (790 miles) southeast of Tehran on the Gulf of Oman near the Strait of Hormuz — the narrow mouth of the Persian Gulf. Photos circulated on Iranian social media of sailors wearing life jackets evacuating the vessel as a fire burned behind them. State TV and...

US security agencies are keep a close eye on two Iranian warships that may be headed toward Venezuela. An Iranian frigate and a former oil tanker known as the Makran are currently sailing south along the east coast of Africa, anonymous sources told Politico on Saturday. Intelligence officials remain mystified by Iran's motivations with the two vessels and they are unsure what kind of cargo they may be holding. However, if the ships do end up in Venezuela it could be a sign Iranian President Hassan Rouhani is trying to intimidate Washington. The 755-foot long Makrtan was commissioned this year....

[My translation- JA] Media in Iran have reported this evening (Tuesday) on an explosion and fire on a ship of the Iranian Navy, the Harj. The ship, which serves as a forward base for special forces, attack ships and the launch of drones, went up in flames in the Gulf of Oman. According to reports in Iranian media, the ship returned to an unidentified port, where local forces worked to extinguish the fire. They further reported that there were no injuries in the incident. In Iran they have denied reports on social networks that the Harj was making its way...

And one candidate in particular is leading: Ebrahim Raisi, the current judiciary chief, appointed by Mr. Khamenei, who has a long history of involvement in human rights abuses, and who lost in 2017 in a surprise victory by the outgoing president, Hassan Rouhani. With no credible challenger, Mr. Raisi is expected to win this time. Any serious competition has been winnowed from the race. Even some members of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, known for their strong hostility to any political dissent, described the election as anti-democratic.