Free Republic

It's hard to imagine greater courage than taking to the streets to protest against a heavily armed repressive regime that is willing to kill you in cold blood. For the more than 35,000 - and up to 80,000 Iranians who paid with their lives for showing this courage in January, the hope now is that they did not die in vain. Yet as the war the war enters its third week, the dreams of so many Iranians that their odious regime will collapse are hanging in the balance. The joint US-Israeli attacks have done much to weaken the regime militarily,...

𝗩𝗗𝗛: 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗦𝗜𝗚𝗡𝗔𝗟𝗦 𝗔𝗥𝗘 𝗔𝗟𝗟 𝗣𝗢𝗜𝗡𝗧𝗜𝗡𝗚 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗦𝗔𝗠𝗘 𝗗𝗜𝗥𝗘𝗖𝗧𝗜𝗢𝗡.Victor Davis Hanson has spent fifty years studying how wars end. When he says the tide is turning, it's worth listening to why.His argument isn't based on what the Pentagon is… pic.twitter.com/pC35L1Hdsu— M.A. Rothman (@MichaelARothman) March 20, 2026

Washington — Pentagon officials have made detailed preparations for deploying U.S. ground forces into Iran, multiple sources briefed on the discussions told CBS News. Senior military commanders have submitted specific requests aimed at preparing for such an option as President Trump weighs moves in the U.S.-Israel-led conflict with Iran, the sources said. Mr. Trump has been deliberating whether to position ground forces in the region, sources said on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly. It was unclear under what circumstances he would authorize the use of troops on the ground."No, I'm not putting troops anywhere,"...

Three weeks into a military engagement in Iran, a war Republicans will not call a war, the American and Israeli militaries have all but wiped out Iran's capacity to make war. We have killed their leadership, the replacement leaders, and militia members on the ground. We have destroyed their missile launchers and the factories in which they made the missiles. But Iran still has one of the most powerful weapons in the world on its side, and it is ruthlessly deploying it – the American press corps. "Families mourn as dead are laid to rest in Tehran," blared the front...

Rep. Pete Sessions (R-TX) says he believes the 2,500 U.S. Marines headed to the Middle East will be used to seize Iran’s Kharg Island in the Persian Gulf. On Friday night, President Donald Trump announced the U.S. military “totally obliterated every military target” on Kharg, through which 90% of Iran’s oil exports pass. The president said the island’s oil infrastructure was left intact, but added that if Iran does not reopen the Strait of Hormuz, he will “reconsider this decision.” Sessions appeared on Tuesday’s CNN News Central, where Kate Bolduan asked the congressman if he would support their deployment in...

Ebrahim Azizi, head of the national security and foreign policy committee in the Iranian parliament, wrote on X that Ukraine had effectively entered the war by supporting Israel with drones A senior Iranian lawmaker warned Saturday that Ukraine could become a “legitimate target” for Iran, accusing Kyiv of assisting Israel during the ongoing conflict. Ebrahim Azizi, head of the national security and foreign policy committee in the Iranian parliament, wrote on X that Ukraine had effectively entered the war by supporting Israel with drones. “By providing support to the Israeli regime with drones, the collapsing Ukraine has in fact become...

Don't misunderstand what I'm about to say. The war in Iran will continue for at least another week, according to President Donald Trump, and probably much longer. There are still hundreds, maybe thousands of targets, human and places, to destroy, thousands of sorties to be flown by U.S. and Israeli forces, and American naval assets will soon be joined by up to 5,000 Marines. There undoubtedly will still be casualties to come, joining the 13 we've already lost in the last fortnight. But not only are we winning this war against Iran, the killer move that all but assures the...

Iran's new Supreme Leader is 'in good health' and 'fully controlling the situation', says Iranian foreign minister Iranian foreign minister Abbas Araghchi has said in an interview with London-based pan-Arab news outlet Alaraby Aljadeed that Mojtaba Khamenei is 'in good health' and 'fully controlling the situation'. He said Iran welcomes any 'regional initiative that lead to a fair end of the war', and Hormuz is 'open to everyone except US ships and [US] allies'. Araghchi has said 'there is no particular initiative on the table so far to end the war'. Iran has insisted its new Supreme Leader is not...

Russia has delivered more than 13 tons of emergency medical supplies to Iran via Azerbaijan, as the ongoing conflict between Iran and the United States and Israel intensifies. The aid package, consisting primarily of medicines and essential hospital equipment, was dispatched on the direct orders of Russian President Vladimir Putin to address urgent healthcare shortages following weeks of heavy bombardment. The humanitarian shipment was transported by a specialised Il-76 aircraft from Russia’s Emergency Situations Ministry to Azerbaijan, from where it was transferred to the Iranian Red Crescent Society for final delivery. The Russian Foreign Ministry stated that the aid was...

Iran's leadership and its triad of threats: nuclear ambiguity, surging missiles, and drone swarms – the very real hegemonic danger that extended far beyond the Middle East.For years, the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA)—the Iran nuclear deal—was sold as a historic diplomatic achievement that blocked Iran's path to a nuclear weapon for a generation. Supporters praised it as pragmatic restraint. Critics, including myself, saw it for what it really was: a temporary pause that let Iran preserve its nuclear infrastructure, accelerate its military capabilities, and wait out the sunset clauses.The deal was never designed to be permanent. Many...

Until last year, for some 46 years, Iran enjoyed a North Korea-like reputation in the heart of the Middle East: always unpredictable, reckless, dangerous, inevitably to be nuclear, self-destructive, and nihilistic. All that said, was it really ever all that formidable? The mullahs came into power after the removal of the Shah and, subsequently, the interim secular socialists. They did so by taking American hostages, murdering opponents, executing former supporters, and transforming the most secular and modern of the Middle East Muslim nations into the most medieval that routinely hung homosexuals, adulterers, and almost anyone who questioned the authority of...

Ayman Mohamad Ghazali, 41, was US-Lebanese national; source tells NBC he was questioned on potential terror ties upon his return from overseas trips; CBS says brothers were in rocket unit. By ToI Staff, Leon Kraiem and Agencies Mar 13, 2026 ... the synagogue attacker had been questioned on the matter on a number of occasions upon his return from overseas trips.

Iran could attack Americans with “thousands” of sleeper cells hiding across the country, along with innovative drone assaults never before seen in the country, a former top US fighter pilot cautioned after intelligence reports suggested strikes on California were possible. “It’s not a matter of if — it’s a matter of when,” retired Top Gun Navy fighter pilot Matthew “Whizz” Buckley told The Post, warning that Americans were vulnerable to Iranians hungry to retaliate after the US killed the Islamic Republic’s supreme leader and unleashed war across the Middle East. Chief among the dangers are scores of Iranian agents who...

Moments ago, at my direction, the United States Central Command executed one of the most powerful bombing raids in the History of the Middle East, and totally obliterated every MILITARY target in Iran’s crown jewel, Kharg Island. Our Weapons are the most powerful and sophisticated that the World has ever known but, for reasons of decency, I have chosen NOT to wipe out the Oil Infrastructure on the Island. However, should Iran, or anyone else, do anything to interfere with the Free and Safe Passage of Ships through the Strait of Hormuz, I will immediately reconsider this decision. During my...

Mar 13, 2026 U.S. war planners are reportedly considering a special forces operation to seize Iran’s Kharg Island — the tiny oil terminal where nearly all of Iran’s exports leave the country. If captured or destroyed, it could cripple Tehran’s economy overnight. But the island is heavily defended and sits within missile range of the Iranian mainland. Here’s why Kharg Island matters, how it’s defended, and what a Delta Force raid could actually look like.

The Pentagon is redeploying the USS Tripoli amphibious assault ship to the Middle East as the American military works to dislodge Iranian influence over the vital Strait of Hormuz. The Tripoli, which resembles an aircraft carrier but is smaller and operates closer to shore, is departing Japan with an attached Marine expeditionary unit consisting of roughly 5,000 Marines and sailors, the Wall Street Journal first reported. The 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit will take about two weeks to arrive in the Middle East, Fox News chief national sec Jennifer Griffin reported, adding that a smaller contingent of about 2,500 Marines are...

Iran's mullahs know their regime falling and they intend to take the rest of the world down with them.The missiles currently lighting up the skies over the Persian Gulf are not the precision tools of a confident power; they are the desperate flailing of a regime that has realized its end is near. For decades, the Islamic Republic of Iran has maintained a thin veneer of "Islamic solidarity" to mask its expansionist ambitions. But as the "Epic Fury" strikes of early 2026 continue to dismantle the regime’s internal command, that mask has been ripped away, revealing a cold, nihilistic...

Donald Trump has deployed thousands of US Marines to the Strait of Hormuz amid mounting fears that America is set to put troops on the ground as the world's oil supply is strangled. Secretary of War Pete Hegseth approved a request by US Central Command for the deployment of a Marine expeditionary unit, typically including several warships and 5,000 troops, three officials told the Wall Street Journal.The Japan-based USS Tripoli, an amphibious assault ship, and its attached Marines are now headed for the Middle East, where they join other Marines already in the fight, the officials said. The war spiraled...

Formula 1 is set to cancel April's races in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia due to the ongoing Iran war, sources confirmed to ESPN. F1 was due to race in Bahrain on April 12 and in Saudi Arabia on April 19. Both countries have been struck during Iran's response after the United States and Israel launched a wave of attacks on Iran. Despite not knowing whether the conflict would be ongoing by the time their event dates roll around, a decision needed to be made imminently due to the logistics of when teams had to start sending freight to the Middle...

President Trump on Friday said he knows the U.S. military operation in Iran will come to an end when he can “feel it in my bones,” a remark that comes almost two weeks after joint U.S. and Israeli strikes on the Middle Eastern country began. Trump spoke with Fox News host Brian Kilmeade on his podcast “The Brian Kilmeade Show” and told him, “When it’s over –– and I don’t think it’s going to be long –– when it’s over, this is going to bounce back so fast.” “When are you going to know when it’s over?” Kilmeade asked. “When...