Free Republic

A senior official in Communist New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s administration tried to hold an official meeting with the Iranian regime’s ambassador to the United Nations. Commissioner Ana María Archila, head of the Mayor’s Office for International Affairs, had scheduled the meeting for July 7 at 11 a.m. at 2 United Nations Plaza with Amir-Saeid Iravani, Iran’s permanent representative to the UN. Two other senior officials from the office were also set to attend, according to calendar invitation screenshots reviewed by City Journal and confirmed by multiple sources, including a State Department official. The meeting was called off only...

Commissioner Ana María Archila was scheduled to meet with Iran’s permanent representative to the United Nations, at 2 United Nations Plaza. The meeting between Archila and Iravani was called off after the State Department—which was not informed ahead of time—met with the Mamdani administration to clarify acceptable conduct. Commissioner Archila allegedly did not inform Mayor Mamdani of the meeting; she was reprimanded for the move and directed to cancel the meeting. The development is a continuation of Commissioner Archila and the Mamdani administration’s ongoing use of public resources to advance an agenda that extends well beyond New York City. On...

Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz on Thursday rejected President Donald Trump's suggestion that Israel could withdraw from southern Lebanon. He said Israel does not need anyone's approval to maintain its military presence there. "We didn't ask for anyone's approval to enter Lebanon, and we don't need approval to stay in Lebanon," Katz said in a statement, according to The Washington Examiner. "It is our right and duty to defend the residents of the Galilee and Israeli citizens from the threats of the jihadist terror group Hezbollah, which aims to destroy the State of Israel." Katz said Israel would continue to...

Transcript linked below video. Hard-liners have assaulted President Pezeshkian and FM Aragchi in the funeral and shouted "death to the appeasers!" in front of the television cameras, and it got into the NY Times. Here's an excerpt from Tousi's transcript, which includes footage. ..... Let's go to the peaceful funerals. It's largely peaceful because the the tensions between the government side who 2:102 minutes, 10 seconds: are negotiating with the United States and the IRGC side who are actually running the country, it's getting a little bit tense as the the police that 2:192 minutes, 19 seconds: is under the...

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‘My whole life, all I do is deals,” President Trump said Wednesday, but Iran’s regime “is from a different school,” he had to admit. “They’re liars, they’re cheats, they’re sick people.” Mr. Trump cited the tens of thousands of Iranians slaughtered by the regime in January and explained how its word has proved worthless. “I don’t want to deal with them anymore,” he said.The President is so mercurial that it’s impossible to know if he’s serious that the cease-fire is “over,” as he said. He could declare it back on tomorrow. But he’s right that Iran’s regime has been wasting...

President Donald Trump flew home from a NATO summit in Turkey on an old baby blue Air Force One plane instead of the new Qatari-gifted and retrofitted red, white and navy blue jet he arrived in, a surprise swap that came as the U.S. and Iran once again began trading strikes. Trump offered little clarity on the swap, instead saying he would fly on the legacy aircraft “for old time’s sake,” and indicating that both aircraft would make a previously unscheduled stop on the way back to the U.S. at Royal Air Force Mildenhall, a base used by U.S. troops....

President Donald Trump appeared to confuse Iran with Japan during a jaw-dropping verbal slip at the NATO summit in Ankara on Wednesday, telling reporters that the “Islamic Republic of Japan” had fired more than 100 missiles at a U.S. aircraft carrier as he touted the effectiveness of Patriot missile defense systems.

The US military struck a railway bridge in north-eastern Iran overnight, Iranian state media reported early on Thursday. Several projectiles hit the bridge in Golestan province, state broadcaster IRIB said on social media platform X. Press TV, a broadcaster aligned with Iran's leadership, said it was the first attack in the region since a ceasefire took effect in April. Journalist Barak Ravid, citing a US official in a post on X, said two railway bridges in Iran had been attacked as part of the latest wave of US military strikes. Journalist Barak Ravid, citing a US official in a post...

Iran’s terrorist Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) claimed on Wednesday that they had targeted 85 allegedly “American military facilities,” in reality launching sweeping bombing campaigns against neighbors Kuwait and Bahrain. The IRGC’s aggression follows Iran bombing various vessels attempting to navigate the Strait of Hormuz, reportedly ships linked to Qatar and Saudi Arabia. The Iranian regime’s attacks prompted U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) to resume targeted strikes on Iran’s terrorist infrastructure to protect free navigation in the strait, which the IRGC used as its reasoning for bombing Kuwait and Bahrain. The IRGC’s statement, as shared by the Iranian government’s Islamic Republic...

U.S. President Donald Trump on Wednesday ordered an immediate halt to all trade with NATO ally Spain, escalating tensions over ‌defence spending and the Iran war, despite European Union rules requiring trade negotiations to be conducted as a single bloc. During a NATO summit in Ankara, which European leaders had hoped would cap rifts within the military alliance, Trump instead reignited the dispute with Spain, calling it a "terrible partner". He also irked another NATO ally Denmark by reiterating that his country should control Greenland. Denmark promised to defend every inch of ​its territory. This marked the second time Trump...

President Trump said the U.S. would likely launch more strikes against Iran Wednesday night, telling reporters at a NATO summit in Turkey "we hit them very hard last night," and "we're going to hit them hard again tonight." Earlier Wednesday Mr. Trump said, "as far as I'm concerned, it's over," when asked about the ceasefire with Iran. After an exchange of strikes by both countries, Mr. Trump called Iran's leaders "sick" and declared it "a waste of time dealing with them."

President Trump said Wednesday that he believes his memorandum of understanding with Iran is dead after he ordered overnight airstrikes on 80 targets after Iranian forces attacked three commercial ships. “I don’t like them at all. And frankly, I think we wasted a lot of time with them, I think we should just do our business,” Trump said in his first public remarks after ordering the airstrikes. When asked by a reporter if the preliminary peace deal, which Trump signed June 17, was dead, Trump replied: “To me, i think it’s over. I don’t want to deal with them anymore....

The U.S. Treasury Department said Tuesday it will cancel its authorization of Iranian oil sales following a series of attacks on tankers in the Strait of Hormuz. The decision comes after Iran launched multiple attacks on tankers transiting the critical waterway this week, despite having promised safe passages to commercial ships under an interim deal to reopen Hormuz. The Trump administration had previously waived U.S. sanctions on Iranian oil as part of that agreement. The Office of Foreign Assets Control is ending the license that had allowed the production, delivery and sale of Iranian oil, which was set to run...

“The US launches “powerful strikes” against Iran after attacks on three ships transiting the Strait of Hormuz, including Qatari and Saudi Arabian tankers. Iranian media reports that explosions have been heard in the Iranian port city of Sirik, in Bandar Abbas and Qeshm Island. The US also revokes a waiver that allowed Iran to sell oil under an interim peace agreement signed between Washington and Tehran on June 17.“

War is back on in Iran on Wednesday after Tehran launched attacks on trade vessels in the Strait of Hormuz. President Donald Trump said Wednesday that he considers the tentative ceasefire with Iran to be "over," telling reporters alongside NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte at the alliance's annual summit in Ankara, Turkey, that the agreement had become "a waste of time." "For me, I think it's over," Trump said. "As far as I'm concerned it's just a waste of time." "They're liars," Trump said. "We make a deal. ... They go outside, talk to the press. They say, 'We never even...

A long-awaited bill banning Israeli goods from the occupied territories in Palestine has passed the final stage in the Dáil without including services from the region. The Government-drafted Israeli Settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (Prohibition of Importation of Goods) bill passed through its report and final stages in the Dáil (lower house) on Tuesday without a vote. It will now be sent to the Seanad (Senate) next week and, if it as likely is also passed by the Upper House, will be signed into law at that point. The bill is a renewed version of the original Occupied Territories...

France's President Emmanuel Macron escaped what may have been an attempted assassination Tuesday during a visit to Syria's capital. The French presidential palace, the Elysee, said in a statement that Macron was safe and would continue his visit to Damascus after two bombs exploded outside the hotel where he spent the night. Macron had left the hotel when the explosions took place Tuesday, and he was in the Syrian presidential palace for a meeting with his counterpart Ahmed al-Sharaa and their respective delegations, according to the French presidency. State media cited an unnamed security official as saying the blasts were...

It never had their backs in the first place. The nomination of open Hamas supporters by the Democratic Party has led to another round of American Jewish liberals bemoaning their abandonment by the party and the movement despite that time they marched with MLK. But the Democratic Party didn’t abandon the Jews, it never stood with them in the first place. When was the Democratic Party ever friendly to Jews? Was it the antisemitism of New Deal litigation that targeted Jews in the Shechter chicken case or when FDR told Stalin that he might give the Saudi regime “the six...

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — A tanker traveling off the coast of Oman in the Strait of Hormuz caught on fire early Tuesday morning after being struck by a projectile, the British military said.The attack was the latest targeting a vessel moving through the narrow mouth of the Persian Gulf, through which a fifth of all oil and natural gas traded once passed in peacetime. Iranian state television said the liquefied natural gas tanker came under attack after ignoring warnings but did not directly claim the assault. Tehran has repeatedly declared that only its approved route through the strait...