Free Republic

New satellite images show activity at 'Pickaxe Mountain,' an underground site in the Zagros Mountains where IAEA inspectors have not been allowed to visit, even as Natanz, Isfahan and Fordow show little movement after last year’s US strikes “The Islamic Republic of Iran reaffirms that it will not seek or develop nuclear weapons. The Islamic Republic of Iran will maintain the current status quo of its nuclear program.” These are two clauses in the memorandum of understanding signed by Iran and the United States, but new satellite images of a secret site are raising questions over whether Tehran truly intends...

The one thing we can always trust about Iran is that we can't trust Iran. Any agreement they make, they won't keep. Any promise they make, they will break. Any time they claim they are telling the truth, they are lying. These are constants.So, when satellite photos reveal some new and suspicious construction deep in the rugged Zagros Mountains, it raises some questions.One of the leading American institutes devoted to research on the Islamic Republic’s nuclear program sounded the alarm this week over the regime's uninspected underground site in the Zagros Mountains. Inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)...

From the Iranian negotiations, a strong pattern has emerged: anything the U.S. says that they’ve agreed to, they deny. This has happened repeatedly, to the point where we have to ask ourselves why they reject our statements? Are our government officials misunderstanding them? Do Trump and Vance purposely misstate what has been agreed to? Or does Iran think that their defiance and disagreement give a picture of strength and victory for their side? To demonstrate the frequency of these denials, let’s take them one at a time:Vance confirmed yesterday in a press statement that the United States had agreed to...

Former President Bill Clinton has expressed remorse over his role in negotiating a 1994 deal that resulted in Ukraine giving up its nuclear arsenal, suggesting that Russia never would have invaded its smaller neighbor if it still had nukes. “I feel a personal stake because I got them [Ukraine] to agree to give up their nuclear weapons. And none of them believe that Russia would have pulled this stunt if Ukraine still had their weapons,” Clinton told Irish broadcaster RTE in an interview that aired Tuesday. The 42nd president was referencing a landmark post-Cold War deal in which then-Ukrainian President...

Despite the suggestions that I am irrationally hard on Trump's "deal" with Iran, I really am trying to keep an open mind. My assessment of the situation is based on watching and interpreting Trump's moves during the so-called "ceasefire" with Iran that began on April 7th of this year. I thought the ceasefire was likely a mistake, based on Trump's assurances that Iran was on the ropes and ready to make a deal. I know that sounds odd. If I thought Trump was right about the conditions, why oppose the ceasefire? Simple: if true, we had them on the ropes....

President Donald Trump announced Saturday that the United States has reached a peace deal with Iran, and the contrast with what Barack Obama handed the world in 2015 could not be starker. "The Deal with the Islamic Republic of Iran is now complete," Trump posted on Truth Social Sunday. "Ships of the World, start your engines. Let the oil flow!" The naval blockade on Iranian ports has already lifted. The Strait of Hormuz is open. And for the first time in a long time, there's an actual framework that puts nuclear weapons permanently off the table. Results are happening. Oil...

Nuclear energy is about to play a huge role in powering America, but the new reactors that will do the heavy lifting are surprisingly small. Some are so small they are classified as microreactors—mobile powerhouses capable of being transported anywhere they’re needed to provide power, including the most remote sites on the planet. Spotlight on America traveled to the Idaho National Laboratory (INL), where these microreactors are about to be powered up and tested for the very first time inside a facility already famous for making history. Now, history is unfolding here once again. The newly renovated and reconfigured Dome...

Iran’s semi-official IRNA news agency says that Tehran will not give up its right to enrich uranium under any deal it makes with the United States. Negotiations on Iran’s nuclear program are expected to begin after the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding, which US President Donald Trump has claimed could be signed as early as this weekend. IRNA reports that Iran will “negotiate only the nuclear program solely within the framework of the Islamic Republic’s fundamental principles.” “Issues such as Iran’s right to enrich uranium and the retention of enriched material by the Islamic Republic of Iran will be...

Seldom, if ever, in the history of war did the opening event eliminate the senior leadership of the opponent.Victor Davis Hanson has just published a rather thorough description of the current structure of Iran’s government. Suffice it to say we are “negotiating” with ambiguity. Should one want to find who’s most in charge, he’d need look no farther than the Islamic Revolutionary Gard Corps (IRGC) simply because they have the most guns.Further inhibiting the progress of negotiations is the Persian cultural predisposition to deal with strangers in bad faith. Fortunately, this is fairly common knowledge, although unhinged critics of President...

If a former CIA agent’s report is accurate, Iran may find itself making a decision the U.S. was faced with making in 1945. The agent, Larry Johnson, revealed that Pakistan’s Foreign Minister personally delivered a disturbing, secret message to Secretary of State Mark Rubio claiming that Iran does possess a nuclear weapon. He also reports Tehran intends to demonstrate soon this capability to the world community. The immediate question obviously is just how Iran intends to demonstrate it?In 1945, during World War II, the U.S. had to decide how to demonstrate to Japan it possessed an atomic weapon, developed under...

US President Donald Trump tells reporters that Washington does not need a deal with Iran to get enriched uranium from the country. “We could get it right now. I don’t think they could stop us if we wanted, but there’s no reason to. It’s entombed,” he says.Trump also says that he did not want to meet with Iran’s Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei, but adds that “I’d be honored to meet him.”He says if Washington and Tehran reached a deal, it was possible that the two would meet and adds, “If it happened… I’d be respectful.” “In some circles he has...

Have you wondered what happened to Project Freedom? That was the operation President Donald Trump announced about helping ships get out of the Persian Gulf and transit through the Strait of Hormuz, in the face of potential threats from Iran. Then it was stopped, and we didn't hear much about it. Turns out it appears to have been going on, in some measure, right under the nose of the Iranian regime, without letting it be known. American forces in recent weeks have helped coordinate the passage of dozens of commercial vessels through the Strait of Hormuz, according to U.S. officials,...

President Donald Trump made an important post late Monday afternoon about the highly enriched uranium that has been the focus of the deal he's been trying to achieve with Iran. Trump said that the stockpile would either have to be handed over to the U.S. or be destroyed under supervision as part of the agreement. “The Enriched Uranium (Nuclear Dust!) will either be immediately turned over to the United States to be brought home and destroyed or, preferably, in conjunction and coordination with the Islamic Republic of Iran, destroyed in place or, at another acceptable location, with the Atomic Energy...

Political commentator Scott Jennings gave the Iran debate a much-needed dose of plain English after he received a briefing from a senior Trump administration official. Jennings' central point was simple: President Donald Trump used force when force became necessary, then paused further strikes when diplomacy had a chance to save lives. Trump's critics have spent years calling him reckless, impulsive, and incapable of restraint. Now he's showing patience, and many of those same voices still can't bring themselves to admit what sits in front of them. Trump has said talks with Iran remain active, but he has also warned his...

Although full details of Trump’s Iran deal, which is still being negotiated, have not been provided by the administration, the president has come under fire for supposedly caving to the mullahs and failing to mete out harsh enough consequences for the terroristic regime.Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo earned the president’s wrath for saying the deal resembles former President Barack Obama’s ridiculous 2015 agreement — where we literally dumped pallets of cash on a runway despite not making meaningful progress against their nuclear ambitions — while other hard-line Republicans like Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham, North...

Washington’s war hawks are molting down over President Trump’s outreach to Iran. Senator Ted Cruz says that he is “concerned.” Senator Roger Wicker fears a “disaster.” Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo deemed a preliminary agreement with Iran “not remotely America First.” Trump and his advisors are having none of it. Responding to Pompeo, White House communications director Steve Cheung observed that “he should shut his stupid mouth and leave the real work to the professionals.” Trump, who angered Senate Republicans earlier this week by proposing a $1.8 billion slush fund for January 6 victims and by endorsing Ken Paxton...

The United States and the Islamic Republic of Iran are on the cusp of reaching an interim peace deal to end the conflict that began with Operation Epic Fury on Feb. 28. President Donald Trump had initially indicated that he was “50/50” as to whether or not strikes against the Persian state would continue. On Saturday afternoon, Trump issued a statement on social media stating that a deal had largely been finalized. 🚨🚨🚨Scoop: President Trump tells me he's "solid 50/50" on Iran deal or bombing. Trump said he will meet senior advisers today to discuss latest draft agreement and may...

This is a war, which means that it isn't over until it's over. The stakes are high, the incentives to deceive are astronomical, and most information leaks are strategic. But there is plenty of reason to suspect that this might be the real deal. After all, Trump has been making all sorts of threats that turned out to be empty since the beginning of the "cease-fire," and has shown no real inclination to restart the war. 🚨 BREAKING: President Trump CONFIRMS a peace deal between the US and Iran has been “largely negotiated,” and could be finalized imminentlyAn announcement could...

At 0.016 seconds after the atomic detonation, the fireball was already hundreds of meters wide. The tiny squares to the left and right in this image are billboards 200 meters from the center of the explosion. Los Alamos National Laboratory.Editor’s note: If you’d like to pinpoint the instant when the world entered the nuclear age, 5:29:45 a.m. Mountain War Time on 16 July 1945, is an excellent choice. That was the moment when human beings first unleashed the power of the nucleus in an immense, blinding ball of fire above a gloomy stretch of desert in the Jornada del Muerto...

Donald Trump was for the Iran war before he was against it. His latest post on social media about the conflict indicated that he is once more calling off a sweeping military action, this time at the behest of his Gulf allies who are apparently quaking at the thought of a renewed conflict. Trump’s initial sentence was quite a mouthful: I have been asked by the Emir of Qatar, Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud, and the President of the United Arab Emirates, Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, to hold...