Free Republic

The Biden administration has made a deal with Iran to release $6 billion in frozen funds in exchange for the release of five American prisoners. The agreement issuing a blanket waiver for international banks to transfer sanctioned Iranian money from South Korea to Qatar without fear of U.S. sanctions includes the release of five Iranian citizens held in the U.S. The Iranian-Americans include businessmen Siamak Namazi, 51, and Emad Shargi, 58, along with environmentalist Morad Tahbaz, 67. Secretary of State Antony Blinken signed off on the deal late last week, but Congress was not notified of the decision until Monday,...

A letter on Hunter Biden’s infamous abandoned laptop shows the Biden family pursuing a deal with Qatar, undermining the Trump Administration and appearing like an effort at a shadow foreign policy. The letter — retrieved from the “Laptop from Hell” by Congressman Darrell Issa’s (R-CA) office after being in a previously unreadable format — shows James Biden, President Biden’s brother, making an overture to an associate of Qatari Sheikh Abdulla Bin Mohammed Al Thani. They say, “my family could provide a wealth of introductions and business opportunities at the highest levels,” despite unfavorable policies of the “fractured” and “beleaguered” then-Trump...

The Department of Justice is investigating whether expensive gifts were given to New Jersey Sen. Robert Menendez and his wife, including a Mercedes-Benz, a luxury D.C. apartment, money and jewelry, sources familiar with the matter said. According to sources, investigators want to know if the gifts — which would be valued in the tens of thousands of dollars — came from the owner or associates of an Edgewater, N.J., business that won a controversial exclusive contract to perform Halal meat certification with the Egyptian government — even though U.S. Department of Agriculture officials complained that the firm had no previous...

BEIRUT (Reuters) - One of Shi'ite Islam's highest religious authorities praised Wednesday the "sincerity" of U.S. President Barack Obama's message to the Muslim world and predicted a positive outcome for his approach to Iran. Grand Ayatollah Sayyed Mohammed Hussein Fadlallah said Obama appeared to be a man of "human values" but would be judged on his actions. The ayatollah urged Obama to rethink policy on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Trying to repair America's damaged image abroad, Obama said on a visit to predominantly Muslim Turkey this week that the United States was not at war with Islam.

Earlier this month, House Democrats sent a letter to Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin, urging sanctions relief for Iran. Among other things, they criticized "the designation of Iran's Central Bank under terror authorities," arguing that "the efficacy of sanctions is questionable." An organization long described as a front group for the Iran regime sponsored the letter and has embedded staffers with many of the letter's supporters in Congress, including Reps. Barbara Lee (D-Calif.), Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.), and Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.). “Is Iran’s regime quietly infiltrating Congress?” M. Hanif Jazayeri, news editor at Free Iran, asked on Twitter. He pointed out that...

Former US President Bill Clinton admitted Tuesday that he intervened in the Israeli elections in 1996 to help then-Prime Minister Shimon Peres defeat rival Binyamin Netanyahu. "It would be fair to say that I tried to help Peres win the elections, and I tried to help him in such a way that I would not be openly involved," Clinton said in an interview with Israel's Channel 10 News. "I tried to help him, because I thought he was a bigger supporter of the peace process, and I tried to do it in a way that served, in my opinion, Israel's...

Seeks emails, texts, instant chats between Kerry and State Department officials and/or Kerry meetings with Iranian officials (Washington, DC) – Judicial Watch announced today it filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit against the U.S. Department of State for records of communications between former Secretary of State John Kerry and State Department officials regarding “the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (also known as JCPOA or ‘Iran nuclear deal’) and/or meetings between Kerry and Iranian officials to discuss the JCPOA.” (Judicial Watch, Inc. v. U.S. Department of State (No. 1:19-cv-00777)). On May 8, 2018, President Trump announced the United States...

Former Secretary of State John Kerry, asked about the possibility of a 2020 presidential run, said this week he was “not taking anything off the table” and was “going to think about it.” He added that while he was also prepared to endorse another candidate he had yet to find someone he’d be willing to back. […] Despite that remark, Kerry then praised former Vice President Joe Biden and New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, describing the former as “clearly qualified, clearly great — he understands all these issues” and the latter as “terrific” on guns, climate change and inclusivity. Earlier...

As many of you will recall, Obama made a trip to Pakistan when he was at Occidental College. I am seeing indicators that this relates to the Awans' network and to Iraq and Iran's nuclear programs, which I'm putting out here for others to help fill the missing pieces in and to get this to the right people. First, a recap of Obama's Pakistan trip:Obama’s Russia Problem: Obama's Links to Soviet-era Spy Rings and Terrorist NetworksAt Occidental College, Obama became involved in radical student politics, deliberately networking with activist students and professors, as he mentions in his autobiography. In 1981,...

Argentine President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner claimed during the U.N. General Assembly on Monday that a former Obama administration official attempted to convince Argentina to “provide the Islamic Republic of Iran with nuclear fuel.” The claim was seemingly overshadowed by President Barack Obama’s high-stakes dealings with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Kirchner claimed Gary Samore, former White House Coordinator for Arms Control and Weapons of Mass Destruction, visited Argentina and suggested the nation provide Iran with nuclear fuel in 2010, two years into Obama’s presidency.

Ten days into his tenure as United States attorney in Manhattan, Preet Bharara saw his political and prosecutorial worlds collide. He convened a meeting to discuss a sensitive investigation of a Democratic donor with ties to Senator Chuck Schumer of New York. Mr. Bharara had been Mr. Schumer's chief counsel, and Mr. Schumer had recommended Mr. Bharara for the prosecutorial post. At the meeting, Mr. Bharara asked his prosecutors if there was enough evidence to make a case against the donor, Hassan Nemazee. One of the prosecutors, Daniel W. Levy, who is now in private practice, would recall years later...

A Dubai-based businessman has become the fourth Iranian-American to be arrested by Iran’s security forces and imprisoned in Tehran, several newspapers reported Thursday. Siamak Namazi, believed to be in his early 40s, was arrested earlier this month while visiting a friend in Tehran, a family friend told The Washington Post. It was not immediately clear whether any charges have been brought against Namazi. The friend asked not to be identified. The U.S. State Department declined to confirm Namazi’s arrest. …

Executive Summary The Iranian nuclear deal is a full capitulation to Iran’s terrorist mastermind Mullahs, and the latest in a series of betrayals of the American people and allies by the Obama administration. At the highest level of the administration, Barack Obama’s Senior Advisor, the Iranian-born Valerie Jarrett, prioritized rapprochement with the terror state. Throughout the process and negotiations, she had the backing of billionaire investor (and Obama-backer) George Soros, and his multi-headed network of tax-exempt foundations. Their efforts were driven by deep-rooted anti-Semitism and personal greed. Meanwhile, since the mid-1990s, a small but very connected Iranian lobby (funded, in...

Ayatollahs’ Lobby In Washington Offering Human Rights as a Negotiating Item By Hassan Daioleslam Binding accountability for Iran’s suppression of its population to nuclear issues and Iran’s meddling in Iraq amounts to doing the bidding of the ruling ayatollahs. The National Iranian American Council (NIAC) and its president Trita Parsi have organized a panel in the US House of Representatives on July 26th, 2007, titled “Human Rights in Iran and US Foreign Policy Options.”1 According to the published agenda, representatives from Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch will participate. The sponsors of the program (NIAC and Trita Parsi) are key...

Obama Sees an Iran Deal That Could Avoid Congress By DAVID E. SANGER OCT. 19, 2014 WASHINGTON — No one knows if the Obama administration will manage in the next five weeks to strike what many in the White House consider the most important foreign policy deal of his presidency: an accord with Iran that would forestall its ability to make a nuclear weapon. But the White House has made one significant decision: If agreement is reached, President Obama will do everything in his power to avoid letting Congress vote on it. Even while negotiators argue over the number of...

Twenty-five years after its revolution of 1979, Iran has yet again become too big of a problem for Washington to play politics with. Fortunately, commencing his second-term, President George W. Bush is in a unique position of strength. On the one hand, he is less vulnerable to special interests in Washington seeking confrontation with Iran. On the other hand, his strong record on national security grants him enough political maneuverability to solve America's Persian puzzle once and for all by easing the increasingly costly and unsustainable policy of isolating Iran in return for an end to Iran's objectionable policies. President...

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Friday that the United States had held a preliminary meeting with representatives of the Haqqani network, a group of militants Washington has blamed for a series of attacks in Afghanistan. The revelation came soon after Clinton, in Islamabad with a heavyweight team of U.S. military and intelligence leaders, warned that tough action would have to be taken against Afghan and Pakistani militants if they did not cooperate in efforts to stabilize Afghanistan and pursue peace. Clinton was asked at a roundtable with journalists about reports that U.S. officials had met with Haqqani representatives directly,...

This Salon headline will bring agreement from many anti-Semites who believe the Jews (or Zionists) control the world. Zbig: Israelis “bought influence”and outmaneuvered Obama By Zbig, the author is talking about, Zbigniew Brzezinski, national security adviser for Jimmy Carter, famous for helping to create the Taliban, inventing anti-Israel conspiracy theories, and spewing anti-Semitic rhetoric. Salon did a phone interview with the former national security adviser from his office at The Center for Strategic and International Studies, The George Soros-created progressive foreign policy think tank. The purpose of the interview was for Brzezinski to “pimp” his new book

Most people have no idea that Wall Street has become a gigantic financial casino.  The big Wall Street banks are making tens of billions of dollars a year in the derivatives market, and nobody in the financial community wants the party to end.  The word "derivatives" sounds complicated and technical, but understanding them is really not that hard.  A derivative is essentially a fancy way of saying that a bet has been made.  Originally, these bets were designed to hedge risk, but today the derivatives market has mushroomed into a mountain of speculation unlike anything the world has ever...

Sen. Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., believes the United States should get out of the conflicts in Iraq, Afghanistan and Libya as soon as possible. ...Rockefeller also criticized the way military appropriations are often approved as part of "supplementary" budget legislation, hiding them from the public. "The military budget needs to come under new scrutiny. When I voted for the Iraq War, it was one of the worst votes in my life," Rockefeller said. "Today, I have grave misgivings about being in Iraq for another week. We should be out of Iraq this year altogether," he said. "We are not going to...