Free Republic

When the seven P&I clubs belonging to the International Group issued 72-hour cancellation notices for war risk coverage in the Persian Gulf on March 5, they did not just raise costs. They made transit impossible. P&I clubs insure roughly 90 percent of the world’s ocean-going tonnage. Without their coverage, ships cannot sail. Port authorities will not let them dock. Banks will not finance the cargo. Charterers will not book the vessel. The entire system, from loading berth to discharge terminal, is underwritten by a chain of contracts that begins with a club in London, Oslo, or Tokyo. When the clubs...

he U.S. Navy Independence class Littoral Combat Ships (LCS) USS Tulsa and USS Santa Barbara, which are configured for minesweeping duties, have appeared in port in Malaysia. Both of these ships were last known to be forward-deployed in the Middle East, having arrived in Bahrain in the past year or so to take the place of a group of now-decommissioned Avenger class mine hunters. Now, as Iranian attacks on commercial ships have caused a virtual halt to maritime traffic through the highly strategic Strait of Hormuz, these ships have emerged thousands of miles away. The extent to which Iran has...

Unusually specific intelligence reports about fresh Iranian threats to American forces in the Middle East triggered a request by the U.S. military command in the Middle East for additional assistance as a deterrent against possible aggression, U.S. officials said Monday. That threat prompted the Trump administration to deploy the USS Abraham Lincoln carrier and its strike group, along with several bombers, as extra force in the region, the officials said. U.S. officials say the intelligence, which emerged late last week, indicated that Iran planned to target U.S. forces in Iraq and Syria, to orchestrate attacks in the Bab el-Mandeb strait...

Instead of fighting over a 21-mile-wide bottleneck forever, we cut a new channel through friendly territory. A dozen thermonuclear detonations and you’ve got a waterway wider than the Panama Canal, deeper than the Suez, and safe from Iranian attacks. ...

Iraqi channels are now reporting that “multiple tankers” are burning in the Persian Gulf off the coast of Basra

The United States has directed its military forces in the Middle East to prepare for potentially extended operations against Iran, positioning them for action should President Donald Trump order strikes on the Islamic Republic. It remains unclear whether Trump will pursue a diplomatic solution or move toward military action against the Iranian regime. Speaking to U.S. forces at a base in North Carolina on Friday, Trump said it has "been difficult to make a deal." "Sometimes you have to have fear. That's the only thing that really will get the situation taken care of," Trump told the U.S. troops. White...

The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), a U.S.-designated terrorist organization and arm of the Iranian military, seized an oil vessel allegedly carrying “smuggled diesel” in the Persian Gulf, Tehran revealed on Thursday. The unidentified ship was reportedly flying the flag of E-Swatini and was part of what Iran alleges is a massive trafficking scheme to steal Iranian oil and sell it abroad. The IRGC revealed the news on the same day that the Iranian government condemned the United States for staging a similar seizure of a ship accused of carrying illicit oil in the Caribbean following an appropriate warrant process....

The Department of Culture and Tourism – Abu Dhabi (DCT Abu Dhabi) announced that archaeologists unearthed a rare 1,600-year-old stucco plaque featuring a Christian cross on the island of Sir Bani Yas near Abu Dhabi. The discovery was made during the first major excavation campaign at the site in over three decades, after a Christian monastery was first identified on the island in 1992. Current archaeological work at the complex is focused on a group of courtyard houses where the monks resided. The 10.5-by-6.5-inch plaque was likely used by monks for spiritual contemplation. The object features what appears to be...

Archaeologists have uncovered definitive proof of early Christian life in the Arabian Gulf, thanks to the discovery of a plaster Christian cross dating back around 1,400 years. The find was made on Sir Bani Yas Island, about 110 miles southwest of Abu Dhabi, and confirms that a cluster of small courtyard houses found decades ago were part of a monastic Christian community. The cross was discovered by teams from Abu Dhabi's Department of Culture and Tourism during excavations that restarted in January 2025. The artifact was found among courtyard houses north of the main monastery complex, where senior monks are...

Former US Vice President Dick Cheney “just loved Israel,” recalls Michael Oren, past Israeli ambassador to Washington. Oren was in the room as an Israeli reservist in the 1991 Gulf War when Cheney, then defense secretary, and his counterpart Moshe Arens met to discuss the response to Iraqi Scud missile attacks on Israeli cities. He was the Israeli notetaker, as Cheney sought to convince Israel not to respond. “The Israeli government was telling the administration that we couldn’t wait anymore, that the paratroopers were out on the runway ready to go to western Iraq,” says Oren. Cheney feared that the...

Sumer is commonly acknowledged as one of -- if not the earliest known -- human civilizations. Emerging in southern Mesopotamia between the sixth and fifth millennium b.c., the Sumerians are often credited with a number of key innovations, including the invention of writing, the establishment of human-engineered agricultural systems, and the construction of the first urban centers. According to a statement released by Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute, a groundbreaking new study suggests that all of these Sumerian developments may have been driven by dynamic changes in the interactions between rivers, tides, and sediments. The research shows that between 7,000 and...

Iranian President Mohammad Khatami came to New York City on Nov. 8 to attend a U.N. summit as U.S. intelligence and law-enforcement agencies explored new information tying his regime's intelligence services to Sept. 11 and to previous anti-American terrorist attacks, Insight has learned.The information is coming from a variety of sources and shows a clear pattern of operational contacts between the Iranian government and Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda organization. These contacts include joint planning of terrorist operations, military training of bin Laden operatives inside Iran and by Iranian personnel in Syria and Lebanon, financial assistance to clandestine terrorist and surveillance ...

NASA updates the UN that it has detected on its radars: "Three unusual heat spots were observed in the Bandar Abbas area. There is concern that an underground nuclear facility in the area may have been damaged."

An explosion in southern Lebanon last week destroyed what is believed to have been a Hezbollah weapons depot. This latest in a series of mysterious “accidents” in Hezbollah-controlled precincts proved, as one Israeli official wryly remarked, that those who “sleep with rockets and amass large stockpiles of weapons are in a very unsafe place.” With the Party of God’s overland supply route through Syria choked off by the 22-month-long uprising against Syrian president Bashar al-Assad, and Israel virtually in total control of the maritime route, Hezbollah’s stockpile is being systematically degraded.Yet the arsenal of Iran’s other regional proxy force, Hamas,...

The Houthi rebels in Yemen announced on Tuesday evening that they will attack any ship that violates the group's ban on Israeli vessels passing through the Red and Arabian seas, the Bab al-Mandab Strait, and the Gulf of Aden, effective immediately. The "ban on the passage of all Israeli ships" will continue "until the crossings to the Gaza Strip are reopened and aid, food, and medicine are allowed in," said the Houthis’ military spokesperson, Yahya Saree. Earlier on Tuesday evening, Al-Arabiya reported that the United States attacked Houthi radar facilities and weapons storage sites in the port of Al-Hudaydah in...

Take a unique walk inside one of the best preserved monuments of ancient Rome: Trajan's Column. Ascend the spiral staircase- rarely open to the public- to the top viewing platform for a one-of-a-kind view of Ancient Rome, and learn about the construction and meaning of this funerary monument that narrates the battles against the Dacians (modern Romania). Walk inside and ascend Trajan's Column | 8:22Darius Arya Digs | 28.1K subscribers | 127,903 views | August 14, 2023

Five Russian scientists who died in a plane crash on Tuesday had been helping Iran with nuclear secrets, it has been revealed. They were among 45 killed when the plane's lights failed in heavy fog and careered into a motorway before bursting into flames - leading conspiracy theorists to believe it was a deliberate plot to kill the nuclear experts. Russian security sources confirmed that the dead scientists worked at the controversial Bushehr nuclear plant on the Iranian Persian Gulf.

The people familiar with the matter have described the eight former Indian Navy officers as those with "unblemished" tenures of up to two decades. The men had served in important positions including as instructors in the Navy.The war, which commenced with the Hamas attacks of October 7, is far from over and there is much suffering yet to come The close bond between Sita, Urmila, Mandavi, and Shrutakirti proves that women are not enemies—a convenient narrative cultivated through centuries Qatar on Thursday left India 'shocked' when a court announced death sentences for eight former Indian Navy personnel. The men were...

Some experts believe the deal signifies an easing of tensions between Tehran and Washington. Five American prisoners held in Iran flew out of Tehran on Monday officials said, as part of a deal that saw nearly $6 billion in Iranian assets unfrozen. Despite the deal, tensions are almost certain to remain high between the US and Iran, which are locked in various disputes, including over Tehran’s nuclear program. Iran says the program is peaceful, but it now enriches uranium closer than ever to weapons-grade levels. The planned exchange has unfolded amid a major American military buildup in the Persian Gulf,...

Dozens of Iranian drones and speedboats swarming two US Navy ships near the Persian Gulf after Washington sent them in to deal with Iran's renewed threat against one of the world's most important waterways, dramatic new footage has revealed. Iran's navy sent the small vessels to confront the USS Bataan and the USS Carter Hall in the fraught Strait of Hormuz, which sits between the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman, according to a video published on Saturday. The speedboats were manned with armed soldiers from Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and came within inches of the ships,...