Free Republic

President Donald Trump issued a fresh military threat against Iran on Sunday, saying U.S. forces are prepared to “finish up the little that is left of Iran” after marathon peace talks failed to clinch a deal to end more than six weeks of war. U.S. officials left drawn-out negotiations in the Pakistani capital, Islamabad, in the early hours of Sunday without a breakthrough or answers on what could come next after a temporary, two-week ceasefire expires. Trump announced the pause in attacks on April 7. Rounding off a lengthy message on Truth Social, Trump added: "We are fully “LOCKED AND...

As we cross the one month mark of the Israeli-American war on Iran, a sufficient corpus of data is emerging to contemplate the kinetic dynamics of the conflict. This is a very strange war. It is not merely the fact that the roster of combatants and associated parties - Netanyahu, President Trump, Lindsay “Holden Bloodfeast” Graham - comprise the most polarizing figures in world politics today. As if to punctuate this fact, I fully anticipate angry comments berating me for using a sanitized and emotionally titrated word like “polarizing.” But we digress. Far more interesting than endless apoplexy over Israel...

Iran closed the Strait of Hormuz again Wednesday in response to Israeli attacks against the Hezbollah terrorist group in Lebanon, casting doubt over whether an already precarious ceasefire to end more than a month of war will hold. The United States and Iran both claimed victory after reaching the agreement, and world leaders expressed relief, even as more drones and missiles hit Iran and Gulf Arab countries. Israel also intensified its attacks in Lebanon, hitting several commercial and residential areas in Beirut without warning. At least 112 people were killed and hundreds were wounded in one of the deadliest days...

Top aides have privately made the case to President Trump in recent days that Iran’s power-generating facilities and bridges are legitimate military targets because destroying them could cripple the country’s missile and nuclear programs, officials say. Trump embraced the rationale, sharply questioned by legal experts and human-rights groups, in a nationwide address Wednesday when he vowed to bomb Iran “back to the stone ages.” By Saturday, as an urgent rescue mission was under way to find a missing U.S. aviator whose aircraft was shot down in Iran, the president showed no signs of backing down on the new strategy. “Remember...

WASHINGTON — President Trump said Wednesday that Iran has begged the US for a cease-fire — but he won’t agree to stop bombing the theocratic regime “back to the Stone Ages” until it opens the Strait of Hormuz. “Iran’s New Regime President, much less Radicalized and far more intelligent than his predecessors, has just asked the United States of America for a CEASEFIRE!” Trump posted on Truth Social. “We will consider when Hormuz Strait is open, free, and clear. Until then, we are blasting Iran into oblivion or, as they say, back to the Stone Ages!!!” he threatened. This is...

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.