Free Republic

President Donald Trump on Monday said that he would be willing to meet with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani "any time they want to," and that he would impose no preconditions to such a meeting. "They want to meet, I'll meet. Anytime they want," Trump said. The president's comments came amid escalating tension between the U.S. and Iran. Earlier this month, Trump threatened Rouhani in an all-caps post on Twitter that called out the Iranian leader by name. A meeting with Rouhani would be "good for the country, good for them, good for us, and good for the world," the president...

Spending in US dollars 1. USA $647,000,000,000 2. China $151,000,000,000 3. Saudi Arabia $56,725,000,000 4. United Kingdom $50,000,000,000 5. India $47,000,000,000 6. Russia $47,000,000,000 7. Germany $45,200,000,000 8. Japan $44,000,000,000 9. France $40,000,000,000 10. South Korea $40,000,000,000

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – The lawyer of Kurdish death row prisoner said a group of lawyers, including himself, had signed a letter to the President of Iran to stop the execution of the “innocent” man.Amid fears of Ramin Hossein Panahi being on the verge of execution, “60 lawyers of Persian and Kurdish ethnicities quickly wrote a letter to the President of Iran, Hassan Rouhani, also the head of Supreme National Security Council,” Mohsen Ahmadi, Panahi’s lawyer, told Kurdistan 24 on Tuesday.Describing Panahi’s arrest as “illegal,” Ahmadi, asserted that there were hidden hands that pushed for his client’s death sentence.Panahi was...

Israel and Iran engaged over the weekend in indirect negotiations in Jordan regarding fighting in southwestern Syria, according to a Saudi-owned website. According to the Elaph website, the Iranians pledged not to participate in expected battles in southwestern Syria between President Bashar Assad’s forces and rebel groups, and Israel has made it clear that it will not intervene in the battles in the tri-border area, as long as Hezbollah and the Iranian-backed Shi’ite militias are not involved. The unconfirmed report said the negotiations were conducted last weekend between Iran’s ambassador to Jordan, who was in one hotel room in Amman...

Public support for the Iran deal has reached its highest point previously recorded, according to a new poll, right as a deadline approaches for President Trump to re-certify the agreement in 10 days. 56 percent of people polled in the Morning Consult–Politico survey released Wednesday morning backed the nuclear deal, while 26 percent opposed it. Republican voters are split, with 46 percent of voters in favor of the bill versus 42 percent against it. The level of net support is at its highest since the last time it reached 56 percent, in April 2017. The agreement, also known as the...