Free Republic

An Iranian frigate and the Makran, a former oil tanker that was converted to a floating forward staging base, have been heading south along the east coast of Africa, said the people, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss a sensitive subject. U.S. officials do not know for sure the destination of the Iranian ships, these officials said, but believe they may be ultimately headed for Venezuela. Iran’s intent in sending the vessels in the direction of the Western Hemisphere remains a mystery, the people said, as does their cargo. Iranian media has claimed the 755-foot long Makran, which...

Iranian military gunboats with the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps, a designated terrorist organization, swarmed several U.S. warships on Monday that were escorting a U.S. submarine. “Over a dozen Iranian gunboats harass formation of six U.S. warships including guided-missile submarine Georgia,” Fox News Pentagon correspondent Lucas Tomlinson said. “U.S. Coast Guard cutter fired warning shots in response in Strait of Hormuz.” The 13 Iranian military vessels reportedly came within 150 yards of U.S. Forces, which fired 30 warning shots at the Iranian vessels. Pentagon press secretary John Kirby called the incident “significant” since previous incidents had involved fewer vessels.

Israel shared three cell phone numbers used by Qasem Soleimani with U.S. intelligence in the hours before American drones unleashed Hellfire missiles on the Iranian general last year, Yahoo News reported Saturday. The revelation sheds new light on the role that Israel played in the killing of Soleimani, who the State Department says was responsible for hundreds of U.S. troop deaths as the head of the Revolutionary Guard's elite Quds Force. The drone strike occurred shortly after midnight on Jan. 2, 2020, as Soleimani and his entourage were leaving Baghdad's international airport. As three Delta Force sniper teams monitored Soleimani...

‎‎ As indirect talks between the representatives of the Iranian and ‎American regimes in Vienna to return to JCPOA and lift the sanctions ‎of former US President Trump continue behind closed doors, and ‎different news of an approaching agreement is leaked after each ‎round of talks, the burning question still remains to be answered: Will ‎reaching a new accord under the same 2015 agreement prevent the ‎regime from gaining access to the atomic bomb?‎ Apparently, Joe Biden's diplomatic apparatus is naively optimistic that ‎negotiations and reaching an agreement can prevent the mullahs from ‎gaining access to the atomic bomb. But...

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps commander Maj.-Gen. Hossein Salami said that Israel “security” has been eroded, and its safety “bubble” burst in the last few months in a wide-ranging television interview. He bragged at length about how the “Zionist regime” is supposedly in the midst of security, political and social disintegration. He then claimed that Israel has suffered strikes against its maritime interests, cybersecurity vulnerabilities and other security setbacks, including mysterious explosions and a rocket that flew over Dimona. Salami pointed to a string of incidents over the last several months, appearing to take credit for them. He said that...

A new propaganda music video paying tribute to Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Gen. Qassem Soleimani, depicts Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) forces destroying the U.S. Capitol building in Washington D.C. On Sunday, Kasra Aarabi, an Iran analyst for the Tony Blair Institue tweeted a clip of the video, depicting an explosion at the Capitol, which was aired on Iranian state tv ahead of a speech by Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. “Today pre-Khamenei talk, Iran state TV aired this clip depicting an IRGC attack on #Congress Yes, it’s propaganda. But it shows the anti-US ideology of #IRGC, which...

While officially listed as a merchant ship, the Saviz was likely a covert IRGC forward base. Israel notified the US that it is responsible for the Tuesday attack on an Iranian cargo ship affiliated with the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps, an American official told The New York Times. A spokesman for the Iranian Foreign Ministry confirmed on Wednesday that the Saviz was lightly damaged in the Red Sea off the coast of Djibouti at about 6 a.m. on Tuesday due to an explosion, adding that the cause of the explosion is under investigation. "The Saviz civilian ship was stationed in...

While there is not much time left until June 18, the day of the presidential elections in Iran, the war between the two factions within the regime for winning this seat has escalated. On April 25, a letter signed by 220 members of the Iranian parliament was published in the media. The MPs asked Ebrahim Ra'isi, the head of the regime's judiciary, to run for the presidency. The letter was published contrary to the usual custom of non-interference of the legislature in the affairs of the executive branch. Ra'isi's endorsement is also interpreted as an attack against the current president,...

The raids took place after government spokesman Ali Rabiei had stated that Iran’s intelligence ministry was investigating the source of a recently-leaked interview with Zarif. The IRGC Intelligence Unit is a rival organisation to the Ministry of Intelligence, which is the country’s equivalent of the CIA and the FBI. In the recorded interview, which was leaked to Iran International last weekend, Zarif had told journalist and economist Saeed Leylaz that he believed Iranian diplomacy had been "sacrificed" to the regime's military interests. He described alleged efforts by former IRGC Quds Force commander Ghasem Soleimani and Russia to sabotage the Joint...

U.S. Navy Ship Fired Warning Shots At Iranian Boats After Close Encounter Iranian fast-attack boats charged at two U.S. ships in the Persian Gulf on Monday evening, causing one of the U.S. vessels to fire warning shots, the U.S. Navy said Tuesday ....Three armed speed boats operated by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps came within 68 yards of a U.S. Navy coastal patrol boat and a U.S. Coast Guard patrol boat operating in international waters of the Persian Gulf, the Navy said in a statement.U.S. personnel tried to hail the Iranian ships over the radio, but they did not respond,...

Seyyed Mohammad Hossein Hejazi had also been accused by Israel of being responsible for the precision missile manufacturing program for the Lebanese terrorist group Hezbollah. April 18, 2021 Brigadier General Seyyed Mohammad Hossein Hejazi , considered the "number two" of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, the elite ideological and military body of the Persian regime, died of a heart attack this Sunday afternoon., as reported by the Islamic Republic. The Revolutionary Guard itself announced the death of Hejazi "after long years of tireless and selfless service in sensitive places to defend the Islamic Revolution and the holy Islamic Republic of Iran."

In case you missed the explosion, no worry. You may still be hearing its echoes and reverberations for a long time. This past week, reports within and outside Iran have confirmed a massive explosion deep underground at the Iranian Natanz nuclear facility. Iran claims that Natanz and other facilities like it are just for civilian, nuclear energy use, which they declare is their right. But successful foreign intelligence operations, as well as their own announcement that they will begin enriching uranium to 60%, leave no doubt that their intent is militaristic, and malicious. All this comes in context of a...

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — The recent sabotage at Iran’s main nuclear enrichment facility is just the latest setback for the country's Revolutionary Guard, though the paramilitary force is rarely publicly criticized due to its power. But with some of its leaders now considering vying for the presidency, the Guard's influence and failures could become fair game. In just over the last year, the Guard shot down a Ukrainian commercial airliner, killing 176 people. Its forces failed to stop both an earlier attack at Iran's Natanz facility and the assassination of a top scientist who started a military nuclear...

A group of 18 Republican senators on Tuesday wrote to FBI Director Christopher Wray seeking an investigation into President Biden's nominee for a top role in the Pentagon over whether he disclosed or solicited classified information after leaving his government job in the Obama administration. The senators requested Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) not advance the nomination of Colin Kahl for under secretary of Defense policy for a full vote until the FBI has completed an investigation, according to a copy of the letter obtained exclusively by The Hill..... ..."By apparently soliciting or otherwise receiving classified information and controlled...

German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas speaks during a joint news conference with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov, following a meeting in Moscow, Russia, May 10, 2018. Photo: Reuters / Sergei Karpukhin. The foreign minister of Germany was criticized on Monday after he expressed disapproval of the sabotaging over the weekend of Iran’s Natanz nuclear facility, which has been widely attributed to Israel. The details of the Natanz incident remain unclear, but reports indicate that it involved a systemic power failure caused by a massive cyber-attack, resulting in serious damage to the facility. There were no casualties in the incident. On...

Iran knows they can do what they want with Obama/Biden in charge again. ..... Snip..... With Obama/Biden back in charge, Iran will do what it wants. Now with the help of the European Union, the US and Iran will hold indirect talks to get the Iran deal back on the table. Per ABC: The U.S. and Iran are holding indirect talks on Tuesday in what could be the first step toward reviving the 2015 deal that constrains Tehran’s nuclear facilities in exchange for sanctions relief. The meetings, hosted by the European Union, will work toward two separate agreements — on...

Missing a Father in Iran Daniel Levinson June 22, 2008 It has been 471 days since my father, Robert "Bob" Levinson, went missing in Iran -- more than the 444 days that 52 American diplomats were held hostage after they were seized in Iran in 1979. These past 15 months have brought my mother, four sisters, two brothers and me nothing but grief and sadness. We are no closer to finding answers than we were when our father disappeared March 9, 2007, on Kish Island, Iran. He was on a private business trip, and I emphasize "private" because, although he...

Persian-language thriller running on Iran’s state television accused of blurring lines between fiction, realityA popular television series, purportedly based on real-life stories, has stirred controversy in Iran after the country’s top diplomat slammed it as a “complete lie.” The rebuke came after an episode aired last week was reportedly censored following the intervention of a senior government official, according to local media reports. Gando, named after a rare species of crocodiles found in the country’s southeast, features Iranian intelligence sleuths and foreign spies as main protagonists in different episodes – stories that the makers claim are based on true incidents....

David McGee, an attorney with Beggs & Lane, is the man the Florida Republican named during an appearance Tuesday evening on Tucker Carlson's Fox News show in which he responded to reports that he is under federal investigation over a former relationship. McGee served for six years as the first assistant at the U.S. Attorney’s Office and for seven years as the lead attorney for a Justice Department's Organized Crime Task Force, according to his biography on the website of his law firm, which is based in Pensacola, Florida. (Cut) The New York Times reported Gaetz, 38, is being looked...

A linguist for the Department of Defense pleaded guilty on Friday to passing classified information about U.S. human intelligence sources to an individual with ties to Hezbollah, a Lebanese terrorist organization, the Department of Justice said. Mariam Taha Thompson began sending the information after the U.S. killed Qassem Soleimani, a top Iranian military commander, in an airstrike in early 2020, according to court documents. Thompson, who held a top secret security clearance, had been stationed at a Special Operations Task Force facility in Iraq from mid-December 2019 until her arrest a few months later. Years before she began passing classified...