Free Republic

The U.S. government for decades has expressed concerns about China’s proliferation of nuclear- and missile-related technologies to other countries, with recent focus on the threat of Chinese acquisition of U.S.-origin nuclear technology. (See CRS In Focus IF11050, New U.S. Policy Regarding Nuclear Exports to China.) Official U.S. government sources indicate that the Chinese government has ended its direct involvement in the transfer of nuclear- and missile-related items, but China-based companies and individuals continue to export goods relevant to those items, particularly to Iran and North Korea. U.S. officials also have raised concerns about entities operating in China that provide other...

American military forces executed a series of preemptive, defensive airstrikes in southern Iran on Monday, US Central Command (CENTCOM) confirmed. "US forces conducted self-defense strikes in southern Iran today to protect our troops from threats posed by Iranian forces," CENTCOM spokesperson Capt. Tim Hawkins told Fox News. He added, “Targets included missile launch sites and Iranian boats attempting to emplace mines. US Central Command continues to defend our forces while using restraint during the ongoing ceasefire." The American confirmation followed a wave of reports across state-controlled Iranian media networks. Tehran's press outlets initially reported that a pair of naval vessels...

A veteran has sparked fierce controversy after publicly blaming Donald Trump for the deaths of school children in Minab, alleging that Tomahawk missile strikes caused catastrophic destruction. The explosive accusation has reignited debate over military accountability, civilian casualties and the human cost of conflict. The remarks are drawing intense scrutiny as questions grow over command responsibility, rules of engagement and the wider fallout from US military actions in the region. The claims have fuelled sharp political reactions, renewed outrage over civilian harm and fresh demands for transparency surrounding the deadly Minab incident.

As food prices spiral and farms shut down across Iran, even establishment figures are openly questioning how a country capable of producing precision missiles cannot manufacture affordable cars or keep chicken within reach of ordinary families. Former Industry Minister Mostafa Hashemitaba says the crisis is rooted not only in consumer markets but across the country’s collapsing production chain, from fertilizers to poultry farming. Writing in Sharq on May 20, Hashemitaba said the price of a 50-kg bag of triple-phosphate fertilizer had jumped within months from three million rials to 70 million rials, a nearly 24-fold increase. Other fertilizers, he added,...

A surge in missile and rocket production tied to rising global conflicts is transforming smaller U.S. manufacturing hubs into critical parts of the American defense supply chain, as weapons makers race to expand capacity and hire thousands of workers, The Wall Street Journal reported Sunday. Defense contractors including Lockheed Martin (LMT), L3Harris (LHX) and RTX (RTX) have significantly expanded operations in Camden, Arkansas, following increased Pentagon demand for missile systems, rocket launchers and artillery ammunition after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022. The investment wave has fueled rapid hiring and factory expansion across the region. Aerospace and defense employment in...

A new estimate from the Congressional Budget Office suggests that the cost of building and maintaining the proposed “Golden Dome” missile defense system could reach roughly $1.2 trillion over two decades, far exceeding the $185 billion figure previously cited by Pentagon leadership. The ambitious program aims to significantly expand existing U.S. missile defense infrastructure. Plans include bolstering ground-based interceptors, upgrading sensor networks and enhancing command systems, while also introducing a major space-based component designed to identify, monitor and potentially intercept threats from orbit. This orbital layer would rely on a large network of satellites, including systems capable of engaging incoming...

A spokesman for Iran’s terrorist Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) condemned the United States on Friday for conducting what U.S. Central Command referred to as “self-defense strikes” to protect American assets in the region, claiming that it had responded and caused “significant damage.” Central Command (CENTCOM), the wing of the American armed forces responsible for operations in the Middle East, revealed on Thursday that it had “intercepted unprovoked Iranian attacks and responded with self-defense strikes,” destroying the Iranian assets used in the attack. CENTCOM described a flurry of “missiles, drones, and small boats approaching American naval assets and attacking, but...

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth labels the new "Project Freedom" as a strictly defensive mission to bypass legal war power limits, while mocking Iran’s failed attempt to maintain the Hormuz blockade. In a special briefing today, top U.S. defense officials addressed the significant escalation of Iranian aggression that occurred overnight. General Caine provided a detailed account of the ceasefire violations, confirming that Iran launched attacks against Oman, the United Arab Emirates, and critical fuel facilities at the Port of Fujairah. According to General Caine, Iran directly targeted American naval assets during the surge. "Iran launched at least nine missiles toward American...

You know how gas prices are already skyrocketing? Well... Fire reported at the Fujairah Oil Industry Zone in the UAE following an Iranian drone strike. pic.twitter.com/Kps0lfvJRF— Breaking911 (@Breaking911) May 4, 2026Fujairah is the only UAE refinery that bypasses the Strait of Hormuz, the waterway between the Arabian Gulf and Iran that is currently locked down by Iranian mines/rockets and the U.S. Navy. The region produces a third of the world's oil, and a crucial percentage (hundreds of millions of barrels daily) are bypassing the strait by using the Fujairah refinery. Or ... they were (no word yet on how this...

ARLINGTON— The Navy took a major step forward in delivering game-changing hypersonic strike power to carrier pilots when it awarded California startup Castelion a contract nearing $105 million to fully integrate the Blackbeard hypersonic weapon onto the F/A-18E/F Super Hornet. The deal puts U.S. forces on a fast track to field its first operational air-launched hypersonic strike weapon from carrier decks by 2027. Unlike land-based ballistic missiles, Blackbeard is made for Navy aircraft carriers and can be launched from an F/A-18 fighter jet operating hundreds of miles from shore, giving the U.S. enhanced capabilities to strike an adversary’s missile batteries...

Concern about the status of U.S. munitions inventories has intensified as reports emerge about high expenditures of Tomahawks, Patriots, and other missiles in the Iran war. As Operation Epic Fury remains paused in a shaky ceasefire, there is an opportunity to assess whether the U.S. military nears the point of going “Winchester”—or running out of ammunition. Analysis of seven key munitions shows that the United States has enough missiles to continue fighting this war under any plausible scenario. The risk—which will persist for many years—lies in future wars. In the 39 days of the air and missile campaign before the...

A Russian spy ship parked in international waters off Kauai for several days has delayed a Missile Defense Agency missile test, officials said. U.S. Pacific Fleet at Pearl Harbor said in a statement that it “is aware of the Russian vessel operating in international waters in the vicinity of Hawaii, and will continue to track it through the duration of its time here. Through maritime patrol aircraft, surface ships and joint capabilities, we can closely monitor all vessels in the Indo-Pacific area of operations.” It was not immediately clear if the Russian vessel is broadcasting an automatic identification system, or...

“Jesse, as soon as we got the ceasefire, we got a bunch of missile fire. [It] wasn’t five minutes from the Truth Social post to the point where the phones started alerting that missiles had launched from Iran. The first of the missiles was intercepted, and the shrapnel landed outside of Jerusalem, not causing any problems,” Tobin told Jesse Watters. “What we saw here in Tel Aviv were these cluster bombs, like you see on your screen right now. They break up and look a bit like a 4th of July firework and usually has one bright point that comes...

The Ministry of Defence announced that on April 8, 2026, the UAE Air Defence Forces intercepted 17 ballistic missiles and 35 drones originating from Iran. Since the start of the brazen Iranian attacks, the UAE Air Defense Forces have intercepted 537 ballistic missiles, 26 cruise missiles, and 2,256 drones. These attacks resulted in 3 minor injuries, bringing the total number of injuries to 224 cases.

Since the beginning of the war, the Iranian regime has seen a massive reduction in its ability to launch ballistic missiles toward Israel. At the start of the engagement, Tehran was capable of firing more than 90 missiles a day, but recent data reveals that this number has plummeted to just 10 per day over the last week. This decline is the result of a relentless pursuit by the Israeli Air Force and intelligence branches, which have systematically hunted down both fixed and mobile launchers. Defense Minister Israel Katz has prioritized the achievement of total aerial superiority, allowing Israeli jets...

Operation Epic Fury marks a turning point in the art of war. The key to 20th-century battles was air power. In the past, space and cyber activities have traditionally played supporting roles as so-called force multipliers. But this is no longer the case. In this conflict they have become mainstream, carving out new fronts for the wars of the future. The use of space is no longer something that is just nice to have, because everything from comms to intel to navigation uses space and cyber assets. Along with the National Reconnaissance Office, which manages US spy satellites, the US...

A Marine formerly stationed at Camp Pendleton is accused of stealing a missile system and thousands of rounds of ammunition from the base and selling the military items in Arizona, according to federal court documents obtained by ABC 10News. A federal criminal complaint stated Cpl. Andrew Paul Amarillas faces federal charges of Conspiracy to Possess and Sell Stolen Ammunition and Commit Theft of Government Property in connection with the alleged thefts and sales. Amarillas, who was stationed at Camp Pendleton from Feb. 2022 to Jan. 2026, allegedly used his role as Ammunition Technician Specialist at the School of Infantry West...

The US has only destroyed about a third of Iran’s missile and drone arsenal after a month of its war against Iran which aimed to degrade the country’s ballistic missile capabilities, according to a report by Reuters. About a third of Tehran’s missiles have been destroyed, and another third was likely to be damaged or buried in underground tunnels and bunkers, the report suggested. A similar assessment was made about the country’s drone arsenal. The report, based on five people familiar with US intelligence, suggests that while most of Iran’s missiles are immediately inaccessible, the country still has a sizeable...

A man was killed and several others were wounded by an Iranian ballistic missile fired at central Israel late Friday, the sixth attack that Iran launched on the country throughout the day. The missile carried a cluster bomb warhead, spreading bomblets over a wide area. A bomblet impact in Tel Aviv killed a 52-year-old security guard who was not in a bomb shelter at the time. The victim was named as Vyacheslav Vidmant. Vidmant was employed by the Tel Aviv municipality to secure residential buildings that had been evacuated in the same location after a deadly Iranian attack on the...

It’s a good thing that the Biden administration corruptly shut down the Trump administration’s attempt to stop Communist China from spying on us, manipulating us and robbing us blind to avoid offending anyone… like Beijing. “We have heard concerns from the civil rights community that the “China Initiative” fueled a narrative of intolerance and bias. To many, that narrative suggests that the Justice Department treats people from China or of Chinese descent differently. The rise in anti-Asian hate crime and hate incidents only heightens these concerns.” Goodbye China Initiative and U.S. National Security. At least 154 Chinese scientists who worked...