Free Republic

Two container ships near the strait of Hormuz have ⁠sunk after being struck by missiles, amid the sharpest rise in Iranian attacks on shipping since the start of the US-Israel war with Iran. The increase in attacks suggests Iran is trying to fully close the strategic waterway in an attempt to frustrate Donald Trump’s efforts to bring down fuel prices before the US midterm elections on 3 November. The Trump administration has been attempting to deflect attention from the economic impact of the war on Iran by blaming Ukraine’s attacks on Russian refineries for increased fuel prices.

Some Iranian leadership is being surprisingly honest about the dire state of the country’s economy, with one of the most senior security officials in Tehran warning that the Islamic Republic is going through one of the most difficult periods in its history.Mohsen Rezaei, secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, delivered the assessment during a high-level government meeting on Saturday, October 3, attended by President Masoud Pezeshkian and senior ministers.Iranian state media did not publish Rezaei’s comments in full, but said the security chief described the country’s current economic circumstances as among the most difficult it has ever faced.

Iran’s worsening economic crisis has opened an increasingly bitter argument over who is responsible, as the government points to outside pressure and market psychology while hardliners accuse Tehran’s own economic officials of making the situation worse. On Thursday, the end of Iran’s market week, the rial fell to another record low. Year-on-year inflation has reached almost 90 percent, with food prices rising even faster. The deterioration comes as US sanctions and a naval blockade squeeze Iran’s sources of revenue. The blockade has severely constrained oil exports, while Washington on Thursday expanded sanctions into the automotive and rail sectors, targeting some...

Lord Khan has urged Andy Burnham to start work on rejoining the European Union immediately. The Labour Mayor of London urged the Prime Minister, who has refused to rule out rejoining the EU after the next general election, to do the "heavy lifting" as soon as possible. At Labour's annual party conference in Liverpool, Lord Khan told the i paper: "We've got to start the work now… You can't, a week before a general election, pull out of a hat this rabbit of a manifesto and say we're going to rejoin in six weeks' time. "The heavy lifting, the pitch...

The Iran and Ukraine wars have exposed the world’s reliance on the Middle East and Russia for diesel Persian Gulf states and Russia have invested tens of billions of dollars in refineries over the past decade to grab a bigger share of the global diesel market. Now, war in both regions has sent exports plunging, squeezing supplies of a fuel that powers much of the global economy. Diesel prices are soaring—they eclipsed $6 a gallon in the U.S. for the first time last week and have kept climbing, hitting $6.45 on Friday. The surge has rattled governments and markets around...

Long lines in IRAN!! (September 18th 2026) Very short video where Iranian man explains why there are long lines and how much food costs in Iran.

Footage verified by the BBC shows the wreckage of a Saudi F-15 fighter jet which the Iran-backed Houthi group says it shot down over Yemen. BBC Verify was able to pinpoint the crash site to an isolated location in the hills west of the Yemeni city of Marib. The long-running conflict between a Saudi-led military coalition and the Houthis has escalated in the last week after the armed group launched an offensive against pro-government forces. This led to the Houthis seizing key territory near the south-west coast, close to vital international shipping channels in the Bab al-Mandab strait. In one...