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Last week, I was invited to join a program hosted by an independent Iranian media platform called Azad, which specializes in facilitating debates between policy experts in Iran and further abroad. My debate was with Majid Shakeri, who gained prominence as a foreign policy advisor to Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf (the current speaker of the country’s parliament) during Ghalibaf’s most recent presidential campaign. Shakeri was also part of the negotiating team that went to Islamabad earlier this year to hammer out the (now-moribund) MOU with the United States. These days, when you listen to Shakeri’s interviews, you will hear him insist...

US President Donald Trump criticized Iran’s leadership for being “unbelievably duplicitous” and accused them of being dishonest regarding the status of US-Iran negotiations in a post on Truth Social on Monday. “They ask for a meeting… talks begin, with more scheduled in the immediate future, and they say, openly and proudly, that they’re not having any discussions, that nothing is being talked about,” Trump lamented. He added that “nothing gets through to Iran, unless we want it to, and nothing will get through, unless a deal, or total surrender, is accomplished.” Trump also disputed Iranian claims of controlling the Strait...

The streets of Iran are near a breaking point over public executions, economic collapse and a war that’s been raging on for more than five months, anti-regime figures in Tehran told The Post. “A revolution can happen any day now — people want revenge,” a protest leader said, referring to the regime’s brutal January crackdown that President Trump said killed 52,000 people. An independent journalist active in the Iranian underground said that preparations are already being made for the next uprising, and that activists from all walks of life are determined to make a final, decisive blow against the regime....

Iran has denied Donald Trump's claim that new talks on ending the conflict would begin on Monday, after the US president called off what he said would have been "massive" strikes on the country.Speaking on board Air Force One on Sunday, he said Iran "knew the extent of the attack because they saw it forming", adding: "We're talking to them in the form of a negotiation. It begins tomorrow afternoon."In an earlier post on Truth Social, Trump said he had been asked by Iran and US allies in the Middle East to "hold off" as the "perimeters" of a deal...

Vice President JD Vance and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Dan Caine both raised concerns about escalating the war in Iran as President Donald Trump weighed the possibility during a White House meeting on Friday, a source familiar with the matter and a US official told CNN. On Friday night, the US appeared to pause its bombing campaign on Iran after nearly two weeks of consecutive nights of strikes. Operations are “on a hold,” a Department of Defense source told CNN on Saturday. On Friday, Caine specifically raised concerns about the US munitions stockpile and other potential...

A week after Iran killed American troops in Jordan, crossing President Donald Trump's red line for restarting all-out war, the U.S. military didn't launch airstrikes on the regime.Friday came and went without an announcement from U.S. Central Command about a new attack, breaking a nearly two-week streak.Sources told Axios that Trump received plans from the military yesterday to conduct strikes in Iran but didn't give a green light and instead ordered them to hold off.U.S. forces are still preparing for major combat operations to potentially resume, but Trump hasn't issued orders to move in that direction, the report added.The White...

Donald Trump is weighing up a massive expansion of the war with Iran after Tehran launched fresh strikes against US military sites across the Gulf, including Amazon services in Bahrain and vital power and water infrastructure in Kuwait. Nearly 100 US service members have been injured in recent weeks, according to the Pentagon, as the latest round of fighting enters its tenth day. On today’s episode of Iran: the Latest, Venetia Rainey and Arthur Scott-Geddes look at the news that Pakistan, Qatar and Egypt are trying to broker a mini 10-day ceasefire even as Iran has hit two more tankers...

great 10 minute video that just came out this morning https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_AUZNcLKS4U&t=3s 137,000 Views --- Be there or be square

Although Russia has not directly intervened in the US-Israeli war with Iran, the conflict has underscored the nature and extent of its strategic partnership with the Islamic Republic. Moscow has provided Tehran with satellite targeting data for strikes on US forces as well as delivered advanced fiber-optic drone technology. It has amplified Iran’s propaganda campaign against the West, while benefiting from the war’s spillover effects. The Russia-Iran axis poses a real threat to the US and its allies; it demands a coherent and resolute response. Why It Matters for the US Russia is arming Iran. Russia has a long history...

en. Mark Kelly, a retired Navy Captain and former astronaut, earned the ire of the Pentagon last week for raising concerns over U.S. weapons stockpiles that have been depleted by the Iran War. Citing a Department of Defense (DOD) briefing he had received, Kelly told CBS’s “Face the Nation” host Margaret Brennan it could take “years” to replenish stockpiles of Tomahawks, Patriots, and other long-range munitions that have been deployed in the U.S. and Israel’s attack on Iran—a reality that could leave the U.S. vulnerable around the world. Those comments prompted Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to launch an investigation into...

A stable peace appears elusive, some former officials say President Trump’s new plan to wrest control of the Strait of Hormuz by resuming strikes and reimposing the blockade is his third major shift in military strategy as he searches for a way to turn the tables on Iran in the nearly five-month-old war. Trump has tried air and missile attacks, a naval quarantine and now the calibrated use of firepower to try to coerce Tehran to agree to his terms, in addition to diplomatic inducements. But Iran has exploited its proximity to a major oil export route to defy Washington...

The US is redirecting an armada of warships — including two aircraft carriers – toward Iran as President Trump threatens to reinstate the blockade on Iranian ports. Maritime trackers on Friday spotted the USS Abraham Lincoln and USS George H.W. Bush entering the Gulf of Oman — a move experts in military planning say would be necessary to re-establish the blockade that crippled the Iranian economy. “More than 20 US Navy warships are patrolling waters across the Middle East as CENTCOM forces continue promoting regional security and stability,” US Central Command posted to X this week. Asked about restarting the...

Technical talks between the United States and Iran are ongoing despite recent strikes and apparent rising tensions. A United States official confirmed to Townhall that “the United States is still committed to finding a resolution, and technical talks continue,” adding that “Iran can never possess a nuclear weapon.”The official added that the Memorandum of Understanding signed by the two countries last month “is performance-based, and Iran’s actions constitute failed performance at an unacceptable level.”NEW: @townhallcom can independently confirm other reporting that Iran talks are ongoing despite recent strikes.From a U.S. official:“President Trump made his feelings very clear yesterday in no...

Iran launched missiles and drones toward American military bases in four Middle Eastern countries Thursday following a second night of US strikes on the Islamic Republic. Tehran said it targeted Patriot missile interceptors in Kuwait, early warning systems in Qatar, and fuel depots in Bahrain, which is also the home of the US Navy’s 5th Fleet. Iran also fired at least 10 ballistic missiles toward Jordan’s Azraq military base, which hosts the US Air Force’s 332nd Air Expeditionary Wing, according the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). Mourners at a funeral procession in Mashhad, Iran, hold a red banner with "WE...

‘My whole life, all I do is deals,” President Trump said Wednesday, but Iran’s regime “is from a different school,” he had to admit. “They’re liars, they’re cheats, they’re sick people.” Mr. Trump cited the tens of thousands of Iranians slaughtered by the regime in January and explained how its word has proved worthless. “I don’t want to deal with them anymore,” he said.The President is so mercurial that it’s impossible to know if he’s serious that the cease-fire is “over,” as he said. He could declare it back on tomorrow. But he’s right that Iran’s regime has been wasting...

War is back on in Iran on Wednesday after Tehran launched attacks on trade vessels in the Strait of Hormuz. President Donald Trump said Wednesday that he considers the tentative ceasefire with Iran to be "over," telling reporters alongside NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte at the alliance's annual summit in Ankara, Turkey, that the agreement had become "a waste of time." "For me, I think it's over," Trump said. "As far as I'm concerned it's just a waste of time." "They're liars," Trump said. "We make a deal. ... They go outside, talk to the press. They say, 'We never even...

President Trump said the U.S. would likely launch more strikes against Iran Wednesday night, telling reporters at a NATO summit in Turkey "we hit them very hard last night," and "we're going to hit them hard again tonight." Earlier Wednesday Mr. Trump said, "as far as I'm concerned, it's over," when asked about the ceasefire with Iran. After an exchange of strikes by both countries, Mr. Trump called Iran's leaders "sick" and declared it "a waste of time dealing with them."

The Iranian threat will continue until the nature of Shi'ite religious extremism is recognized. Much of the celebration surrounding the latest agreement with Iran pigeonholes a fundamental issue -- one that, if left unaddressed, will ultimately render any agreement temporary at best and meaningless at worst. The problem is not simply Iran's nuclear capabilities. Nor is it the wording of any diplomatic arrangement. The problem is the belief system that guides the ruling clerical regime itself. Before proceeding, it is worth acknowledging what has already been accomplished. President Trump deserves considerable credit for applying pressure on Iran, weakening its ability...

The US secretly approved a financial and maritime arrangement between Qatar and Iran, under which billions of dollars were paid to Tehran in exchange for free passage for Qatari tankers and ships through the Strait of Hormuz, three diplomatic officials now confirm. This was a deliberate and conscious course of action by the US administration, which allowed its navy to turn a blind eye to the arrangement, in complete contradiction of its declared policy. The move was intended to ease the crisis in global energy markets and curb rising oil prices. The current revelation proves that the White House had...

Iran’s decision to launch ballistic missiles at Israel after months of ceasefire was not only a military message but also an attempt to demonstrate the new balance of power in Tehran. According to a report by The Wall Street Journal, the driving force behind the decision was Revolutionary Guards commander Ahmad Vahidi, who has emerged in recent months as a key figure within the Iranian regime. Vahidi prevailed over more moderate voices in Tehran who opposed the strike out of concern that it could damage contacts with the United States and jeopardize the possibility of an agreement. He persuaded Iran’s...