Free Republic

Is Pezeshkian the Last Hope for Khamenei’s Regime Amid Rising Protests? With his new cabinet, Pezeshkian has entered a complex political maze, far from the easy days of his candidacy supported by a few reformists. Now, he faces the indifference of old allies and the smiles of new enemies. Energy Crisis in Iran Despite U.S. President Biden easing sanctions and providing the regime with $100 billion to $150 billion in oil revenues, the money has been squandered on repression, warmongering, and corruption. As Pezeshkian’s cabinet forms, it is clear that the treasury is empty, with the regime struggling to pay...

Iran’s “supreme leader” Ayatollah Ali Khamenei warned his underlings in a meeting on Wednesday that making a “nontactical retreat” would meet the “divine wrath” of Allah as the world awaits a highly touted attack by Tehran on neighboring Israel. Iranian officials have been boasting that they would attack Israel for all of August following the elimination of Hamas “political” chief Ismail Haniyeh on July 31. Haniyeh was killed by a yet-unexplained explosion in his lodgings in Tehran, which he was visiting to attend the inauguration of President Masoud Pezeshkian. Iran is believed to be one of the top funders and...

Tactical Retreat and Uncertainty: Khamenei’s Leadership Shaken After Haniyeh Killing On July 30, 2024, Masoud Pezeshkian’s inauguration took place at the residence of Khamenei (The supreme leader). At 2 AM on July 31, Ismail Haniyeh, the political leader of Hamas, was assassinated in northern Tehran at a secure base guarded by the Quds Force. After two weeks of silence, Khamenei finally spoke to his officials. Since Haniyeh’s assassination, he hadn’t appeared in public, but on Wednesday, August 14, he reemerged. Faced with a wave of demoralization and despair among his forces after Haniyeh’s killing, Khamenei tried to reassure them. He...

(Snip) Haniyeh, a father of 13 who presides over one of the world’s wealthiest terrorist groups, is worth more than $4 billion. He has been photographed with his two adult sons, Maaz and Abdel Salam, living the high life in luxury hotels in Qatar and Turkey, according to a recent social media post from the Embassy of Israel in the US. Last week, Haniyeh traveled to Iran to meet with Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Iran is a longtime sponsor of Hamas. Last month, the Four Seasons hotel in Doha said he was not one of its guests after calls...

The Domino Effect of Haniyeh’s Death on Iran’s Stability and Influence After Haniyeh’s assassination, the critical question is what decision Khamenei will make and which direction he will take. If Khamenei doesn’t respond properly, everyone will see how weak his regime is, leading to scandal and shame. This will make things even worse for Khamenei, causing more problems and divisions within the regime. People will start to believe more in the possibility of uprisings and protests. In the region, proxy forces will lose trust in the regime and no longer see Khamenei as reliable. Additionally, the people of Gaza will...

Iran’s so-called “Supreme Leader” has called for a direct attack on Israel in response to an Israeli airstrike on Tehran, Iran’s capital city, that killed Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh on Wednesday. The New York Times reported: Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has issued an order for Iran to strike Israel directly, in retaliation for the killing in Tehran of Hamas’s leader, Ismail Haniyeh, according to three Iranian officials briefed on the order.

Iranian Regime national tv Channel One hacked about an hour ago. During a broadcast of Khamenie speech, a red crosshair appeared over his face and chanting of Women. Life. Freedom. There was writing to the side saying "Rise up. Join us". Also 4 photos at the bottom of the screen of young people killed and additional writing: "The blood of our youth is dropping from your paws". Also, there was a huge banner in the middle of Tehran highway today that read: We are no longer afraid of you. We will fight. Also, attempted attack on IRI ambassador in Denmark....

Russia and Iran will speed up work on a "major new interstate agreement", the Russian foreign ministry said on Tuesday. -snip- Iran is the main backer of Israel's enemy Hamas. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke by phone with Putin on Sunday and voiced "robust disapproval" of Russia's "dangerous" cooperation with Iran. Iranian authorities have said military cooperation with Russia is expanding day by day. Iran said last month it had finalised arrangements for Russia to provide it with Su-35 fighter jets, Mi-28 attack helicopters and Yak-130 pilot training aircraft.

Vladimir Putin has said that his alliance with Iran has turned the tide of the war in Ukraine, with Tehran’s support giving his forces momentum. Steady supplies of Iranian kamikaze drones, artillery shells and bullets have arrived in Russia since the invasion began, with Tehran quickly becoming one of the Kremlin’s closest military allies as both countries attempt to weather the impact of sanctions. “Our relations are developing very well. Please convey my best wishes to leader [Ayatollah Ali] Khamenei,” Putin told Ebrahim Raisi, the Iranian president, in Tehran on Thursday. Thanks to the Iranian head of state, Putin said,...

‘IT’S CHILLING’ Days before his alleged attack on the writer, Hadi Matar wrote a late-night email to his New Jersey gym. Three days before Hadi Matar allegedly rushed the stage at a literary event to brutally attack British-Indian author Salman Rushdie, the 24-year-old wrote a late-night email to his New Jersey gym to cancel his membership. “Hey this is Hadi,” Matar wrote in an Aug. 9 email to the State of Fitness Boxing Club at 1:31 a.m. “I was going tk [sic] ask if you guys can disable autopay for me right now. As I won’t be able to make...

Shi'ite Children In Houston, Texas Pledge To Be The Soldiers Of Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei: Salute, Commander! We Make An Oath To Be Your Martyrs! On July 27, 2022, a video was posted to the IslamicTV YouTube channel of Shiite children in Houston, TX performing a song titled "Salute, Commander", which is an Iranian children's anthem pledging allegiance to Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. The video had been first posted by the Islamic Education Center of Houston, TX, on its Facebook and YouTube accounts, but these posts were later removed. The children performed the song in English and Farsi....

Russian President Vladimir Putin will be meeting with Iran's leader, Sayad Ali Khamenei, during his visit to Teheran which will begin on the 19th of July.

Primo Levi, a Holocaust survivor of Italian origin who led a distinguished life, was at the Auschwitz concentration camp hospital one day due to high fever caused by an infectious disease. He later wrote in his memoirs that when confronted with Soviet soldiers: "They neither greeted nor smiled; they seemed to be tormented by the guilt of why this crime had to happen." The trial of one of the perpetrators of another heinous crime, the massacre of 30,000 Iranian political prisoners in 1988, is currently taking place in a Swedish court. What happened in 1988 was a ruthless, bloody, and...

Several Iranian state television channels were hacked yesterday, and viewers were stunned when a ten-second caption appeared on the screen reading "Death to Ayatollah Khamenei" next to a picture of Iran's supreme leader with a red "X" over his face. A man is heard shouting in the background "Salute Rajawi, death to Khamenei." An exiled opposition group called MEK claimed responsibility for the hack. A picture of opposition leaders Masoud and Miriam Rajawi, who live in Paris, appeared on Iranian screens as well, and a sound byte from one of Rajawi's speeches was used during the hack. Iranian state television...

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...

There have been four wild developments on Wednesday and in recent days which will have major impacts on the future of the Iranian nuclear standoff. 1. Ahmedinejad ‘reveals’ who Mossad recruited within Iranian intelligence to steal nuclear secrets Former Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has told Iran International that the Mossad recruited the highest-ranking Iranian counter-intelligence official in charge of catching Israeli spies in order to steal the Islamic Republic’s nuclear secrets. The January 31, 2018, raid altered the region’s geopolitics, leading to the US withdrawing from the JCPOA nuclear deal and setting the International Atomic Energy Agency into a years-long...

Biden is determined to return to the (to him) halcyon days of Obama's Iran deal — an illegal treaty by which Obama gave Iran money and access to nuclear weapons. The real tragedy of Biden's goal is that, thanks to Trump's relentless pressure, Iran is on the ropes, and Biden has the upper hand — he just doesn't know this or, worse, doesn't want to know it.In Iran and the Middle East, when Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei, emerges in public, people say he only speaks evil and issues threats. On Monday, February 22, after Iran and the IAEA reached...

Power struggle at the head of the ruling regime in Iran Since the Iranian revolution in 1979, understanding the structure of the ruling system in Iran and the decision-making mechanism, at times, has sometimes been challenging and difficult to understand and analyze. Although the "Vali-Faghih or the Supreme Leader" is at the top of the system's pyramid of power, the president holds the executive power. Still, the order of decision-making institutions in Iran is not clear, and this has long led to a dispute over authority between leaders of the regime who are at the center of its influence and...

Days ago into last week there were widespread rumors spreading on Mideast social media of the severe health decline of Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. The persistent rumors ranged from saying he was in a coma even to some claiming his death.But Khamenei put the unfounded speculation to rest after on Wednesday morning he appeared at an event marking the first anniversary of the death of IRGC Quds Force General Qassem Soleimani. He hasn't made a public appearance in three weeks.But more importantly he emerged to give final high level backing to prior statements of Iranian leaders, most notably President...

Unconfirmed reports from Iran say the supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, returned his soul to his maker. According to the same reports, an official announcement will be made only after the transfer of powers to his son, Mojtaba Khamenei, are completed. Sayyid Ali Hosseini Khamenei, 81, was the supreme leader of Iran since 1989. He previously served as the president of Iran from 1981 to 1989. Khamenei is the longest serving head of state in the Middle East, as well as the second-longest serving Iranian leader of the last century, after Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi. Reports on Saturday suggested that...