Free Republic

Beirut / Baghdad -- One of the most powerful men in Iraq isn't an Iraqi government official, a militia leader, a senior cleric or a top U.S. military commander or diplomat. He's an Iranian general, and at times he's more influential than all of them. Brig. Gen. Qassem Suleimani (51) ( pictured) commands the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps' Quds Force, an elite paramilitary and espionage organization whose mission is to expand Iran's influence in the Middle East . As Tehran's point man on Iraq , he funnels military and financial support to various Iraqi factions, frustrating U.S. attempts to...

Astonishing news out of Israel today and confirmed by at least one Israeli TV network that Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) Gen. Esmail Qaani, commander of the crack Quds Force, is in Jerusalem after being identified as an Israeli intelligence asset.There's no doubt that Qaani was under suspicion. On Sept. 27, 2024, Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, one of the most well-guarded people in the world, was killed when at least 80 bombs were dropped on a bunker in Beirut, where Nasrallah was meeting with top aides. Qaani was placed under house arrest and interrogated, according to Middle East sources. Qaani...

Donald Trump has a name for everything and everyone, from Crooked Hillary to Little Rocket Man, who for a time became his best friend. Will he call the next region-wide conflagration in the Middle East, when it breaks out, Obama’s War? If he hasn’t thought of that already, he should start considering it now. Because the catastrophic policies of our former president have emboldened the Islamic state of Iran and enabled it to threaten the United States and our allies militarily in ways never before possible. When Obama took office in January 2009, he inherited a strong U.S. military and...

As a radical Islamic army marches across Iraq, America is making a deal with the devil. Qassem Suleymani, the head of Iran’s secretive Quds Force, is allied with us in Baghdad — but he’s plotted to kill Americans elsewhere. As Kenneth R. Timmerman reveals in his new book, “Dark Forces,” Suleymani was even the shadowy figure behind the killing of Ambassador Christopher Stevens in Benghazi, Libya. He’s the Wizard of Oz of Iranian terror, the most dreaded and most effective terrorist alive. He is Qassem Suleymani, the head of the Quds Force, an organization that acts as a combination CIA...

Iranian general Qassem Soleymani was a master terrorist who orchestrated atrocities around the world that claimed thousands of lives, including hundreds if not thousands of Americans. That was the default position after President Trump took out Soleymani last week. The Democrats’ furious reaction overlooked realities about the Iranian regime in general and Soleymani in particular. Israel had also targeted the Quds Force commander, but according to the Kuwaiti Al-Jarida, the Obama administration tipped off the Tehran regime. Soleymani emerged unscathed and continued to spearhead the Islamic regime’s military and terrorist operations. Those were funded by criminal activity, and on that...

Israeli soldiers raised the Jewish state’s flag in Lebanon as part of its ongoing assault on Hezbollah terrorists.A trio of Israel Defense Forces members were seen planting the flag on top of rubble in Maroun El Ras in southern Lebanon on Tuesday, a video shared by KANN News shows.Maroun El Ras is less than 1 kilometer from the northern Israeli border. The IDF has “occupied” the village and destroyed houses from which Hezbollah was believed to have launched missiles at northern Israel, according to Israeli Energy Minister Eli Cohen.תיעוד: רגעי הנפת דגל ישראל במארון א-ראס שבלבנון@ItayBlumental(צילום: צוות אביר 91 ביחידת...

An Iranian legislator on Tuesday offered a US$3m reward to “anyone who kills” US President Donald Trump to avenge the assassination of top general Qassem Soleimani. American disarmament ambassador Robert Wood dismissed the reward as “ridiculous”, telling reporters in Geneva it showed the “terrorist underpinnings” of Iran’s establishment. Ahmad Hamzeh, a little-known member of parliament, offered the bounty on behalf of the people of Kerman, the hometown and final resting place of the revered Soleimani, who was killed in an American drone strike in neighbouring Iraq on January 3. “We will give three million dollars to anyone who kills Trump,”...

Last week’s bombing near the grave of the Quds Force general that killed 84 is the latest episode in ISIS’s war on Shiite Muslims.. In the immediate aftermath of the January 3 blast that killed at least 84 people near the grave of general Qassem Soleimani in the Iranian city of Kerman, some low-level Iranian officials hinted at a possible Israeli involvement. Iran’s deputy parliament speaker claimed it had the signs of an Israeli assault — even though it showed radically different features from Israel’s alleged operations in enemy territory, which usually involve precision killings of key enemy figures. The...

Various world leaders and institutions have raised their concerns that the presumed Israeli strike in a suburb of Beirut, Lebanon, that killed a top Hamas leader could escalate and expand the conflicts in the region. Deputy leader Saleh al Arouri — who was allegedly responsible for leading multiple attacks on Israel and had ushered in a closer relationship between Hamas and Hezbollah, the Iranian-backed militia in Lebanon — was one of a handful of people killed in the Tuesday night strike. His killing marked a possibly pivotal moment in the powder keg that is the Middle East. Israeli leaders have...

More than 100 people were killed at an event honoring former Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani on Wednesday in what local authorities are calling a “terrorist” attack. Thousands of Iranians had gathered at Soleimani’s gravesite in Kerman to mark the fourth anniversary of his death — carrying photos of the former head of the Revolutionary Guard’s elite Quds Force when authorities say two bombs went off. The first explosion occurred just 700 meters from Soleimani’s grave, while the second was a kilometer away, Iranian national media reports. Graphic video shared online later showed the crowds running away as emergency crews responded...

Multiple Explosions in Iran during a ceremony held to mark the 2020 killing of Qassem Soleimani At least 20 dead

In a shocking incident, at least 20 people in Iran lost their lives, with several others injured, as two explosions rocked areas near the cemetery where the late IRGC-QF Chief Qassem Soleimani is buried. Iran’s state TV reported the grim news, leaving the nation in mourning. The cause of the explosions remains uncertain, with conflicting reports suggesting it might be a terrorist attack or a gas cylinder explosion. A provincial security official admitted the lack of clarity surrounding the nature of the incident.

Tucker Carlson blasted Iran hawks in the Washington establishment Friday, saying they have wanted a war with Iran for decades and that they may have finally gotten it thanks to President Trump ordering a drone strike that killed Iranian general Qassem Soleimani Thursday. "What happened yesterday wasn't just another symbolic bombing," Carlson warned on "Tucker Carlson Tonight." "It was a pivot point. Neocons in Washington understood that immediately." -snip- "Yes, Soleimani was linked to the deaths of Americans. Nobody mourns his passing. But Mexico and China are also linked to the deaths of Americans. Each has flooded our country with...

Amirali Hajizadeh, commander of aerospace forces for Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), boasted on Friday that his forces have developed a new cruise missile with a range of over 1,000 miles. Hajizadeh suggested the missile would be useful in the IRGC’s ongoing quest to kill former U.S. President Donald Trump and his Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo, for ordering the liquidation of Iranian terrorist mastermind Gen. Qassem Soleimani in 2020.“Our cruise missile with a range of 1,650 km has been added to the missile arsenal of the Islamic Republic of Iran,” Hajizadeh said in a broadcast on Iranian state...

In January, 2020, Israeli media outlets reported that the United States had "updated" Israel before assassinating Qassem Soleimani, the head of the Quds Force of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). Now a former Israeli military intelligence chief, Tamir Hayman, has revealed that Israel played a far more crucial role in the killing, having convinced the Trump administration that Soleimani posed an "immediate threat" to American soldiers and should be taken out. Speaking exclusively to Jewish News, Hayman, currently the managing director of the Institute for National Security Studies, said, "Israel convinced the U.S. of Soleimani’s malign activities against Americans....

A popular chef in Iran has been arrested after what some have alleged could be to do with a video he posted in reference to assassinated Iranian commander Qassem Soleimani. (excerpt) Navab Ebrahimi was arrested in Tehran on Wednesday and taken to the city's Evin prison, the Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) said. No reason was given for the arrest of Ebrahimi, who had some 2.7 million followers on Instagram enjoying his slickly produced videos showing how to produce classic Persian dishes without pain. But social media users said the arrest coincided with him posting a recipe to make...

Kanye West recently became the object of worldwide opprobrium when he tweeted:“I’m a bit sleepy tonight but when I wake up I’m going death con 3 On JEWISH PEOPLE The funny thing is I actually can’t be Anti Semitic because black people are actually Jew also You guys have toyed with me and tried to black ball anyone whoever opposes your agenda.”The tweet was removed, his account was locked, and he has faced a storm of criticism over his his tweet. JP Morgan Chase even canceled his bank accounts.There is no indication, however, that Louis Farrakhan, whose Jew-hatred is long-standing...

President Joe Biden hasn’t blocked Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi from entering the U.S. to speak at the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) meeting in New York City next month. Raisi will attend even after an Iranian military officer was charged this month with trying to assassinate former U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. For weeks, Senate Republicans have been calling for President Joe Biden to block Raisi, who the U.S. sanctioned in 2019 for his role in executing children in 2018 and 2019. Earlier this month, The Department of Justice charged an Iranian military officer with trying to hire people...

The Justice Department has charged a member of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps in connection with an alleged plot to assassinate former Trump national security adviser John Bolton, accusing the man of attempting to pay individuals $300,000 to kill Bolton in D.C. or Maryland. The suspect, Shahram Poursafi, 45, remains at large abroad, the Justice Department said. If found and convicted, he would face up to 10 years’ imprisonment and a fine of up to $250,000 for the use of interstate commerce facilities in the commission of murder-for-hire, and up to 15 years’ imprisonment and a fine of up to...

Israel’s Mossad spy agency has claimed it recently thwarted an Iranian assassin’s plot to murder a US general stationed in Germany, an Israeli diplomat in Turkey and a journalist in France. Mossad agents said the man they apprehended late last month on Iranian soil is an alleged gang member with ties to Iran’s elite Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, the Jerusalem Post reported Thursday. The suspect, Mansour Rasouli, 52, admitted during the April 30 interrogation that he’d been assigned to carry out the triple assassination, the outlet said.