Free Republic

At the request of the Trump administration, the Israeli Air Force took out multiple Iranian air defense systems in the 48 hours leading up to the U.S. strike on Iran's Fordow nuclear facility, three U.S. and Israeli officials told Axios. -snip- Trump's request was made directly to Netanyahu last week, after the president decided he would move forward with a military strike on Iran's nuclear facilities unless a surprise diplomatic opportunity emerged. "How can we help?" Netanyahu asked, according to Israeli officials. Trump told Netanyahu he wanted the Israeli Air Force to eliminate as many Iranian air defense systems as...

Hardliners close to Vladimir Putin have demanded Russians "take up arms" in a furious response to the US attacks on Iranian nuclear facilities. US President Donald Trump sanctioned the bombings of three nuclear sites in Iran overnight, escalating the Middle East crisis further. Missiles were dropped from American B-2 stealth bombers, including on Iran's Fordow nuclear site, which has caused some Russian oligarchs to demand military support for Tehran. Oligarch Konstantin Malofeev, who runs propaganda empire Tsargrad, demanded: “It's high time we helped Tehran with satellite intelligence, air defence, and missiles.” He accused Trump of mocking Putin by “pretending to...

Saturday morning, flight trackers picked up a host of stealthy U.S. B-2 bombers that took off from their Air Force base in Missouri and headed west over the Pacific. It was a ruse. Hours later, a group of B-2s attacked Iran’s most important nuclear sites from the east, defense officials said, hitting well-defended facilities where giant U.S. bunker busters were thought to have the greatest chance of success. President Trump said U.S. submarines firing cruise missiles joined in the attack, striking other key nuclear facilities. The move allowed the U.S. to get its bombers over Iran faster and with a...