Free Republic

An even more devastating terrorism charge could be laid on Iran's doorstep if intelligence reports linking Iran to al-Qaeda are confirmed. Insight has learned of new links between top Iranian intelligence officials and the al-Qaeda leadership that suggest direct Iranian government involvement in the Sept. 11 attacks on the U.S. mainland. Documents and information provided to this magazine by a recent Iranian defector, if confirmed as authentic, could open a new front in the war on terror. The defector, Hamid Reza Zakeri, says he worked in the intelligence office of Supreme Leader Ali Khameini and personally handled security at two...

The Obama administration recognizes that Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi “has to reach out to his neighbors,” State Department spokesman John Kirby said Thursday in response to queries about Abadi’s meetings with Iran’s top leaders. During his visit to Tehran, Abadi appears to have been accompanied by a man named by the U.S. government during the Iraqi war as responsible for attacks on U.S. and Iraqi forces. […] On the Iranian president’s website, one of the photographs of his meeting with the Iraqi prime minister shows Rouhani greeting a man—apparently a member of the Iraqi delegation—identified by the Foundation for...

The illusion of Iranian power was kept alive for decades by American engagement with the would-be lords of the Middle East. Now the spell is broken, and the ‘Axis of Resistance’ is shattered. A billboard with the "doomsday clock," counting down the days until Israel's destruction, is pictured in downtown Tehran, Iran, on November 4, 2024. Israel bombed the clock on Monday. A few months before he was buried under the rubble of his Beirut bunker, the late leader of Hezbollah, Hassan Nasrallah, repeated to his followers, as he had done many times before, his famous line that Israel was...

The notorious director of Tehran’s brutal Evin Prison, Hedayatollah Farzadi, escaped the compound ahead of Israeli strikes following threats to his life – and an alleged exchange between Jerusalem and his adult son. Israeli authorities reportedly contacted Amir Husseini Farzadi, telling him that if he convinced his father to release political prisoners, his life would be spared in the impending attack. According to a series of WhatsApp messages shared with Fox News Digital by an Israeli intel source, an agent instructed Amir to tell his father to open the prison’s doors, warning that an attack would occur within "a few...

Israeli agents assassinated Al Qaeda's No. 2 official in a shooting in Tehran three months ago, eliminating a mastermind behind the deadly 1998 attacks on American embassies in Africa. Intelligence officials confirmed to The New York Times that two Israeli agents were acting at the behest of the U.S. when they shot Abdullah Ahmed Abdullah from a motorcycle on Aug. 7, the anniversary of the embassy bombings. His daughter Miriam, the widow of Osama bin Laden's son Hamza bin Laden, was also killed.

An Iranian Jewish activist in Los Angeles, who asked that his name be withheld because of his fear that the Iranian regime would retaliate against his family members inside Iran, told JNS the Jewish leadership has shut down all synagogues and cancelled Shabbat services during the conflict. “The Jewish community leaders have told Jews not to come out in public wearing kippahs, they’ve cancelled Jewish religious events and asked the community to maintain a low profile in public right now to avoid any potential issues with the regime or those Muslims who hate Israel,” the activist said. JNS obtained a...

British Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer appeared the most willing of America’s allies in Europe to align himself with President Donald Trump’s decision to bomb Iranian nuclear sites, while fellow European leaders stressed for calm and a return to talks. On Saturday evening, President Donald Trump made a surprise announcement that the United States had conducted targetted ariel bombings of three nuclear sites in Iran. In an address to the nation, President Trump said that the facilities at Fordow, Natanz, and Esfahan had been “completely and totally obliterated.” Trump added that “Iran, the bully of the Middle East, must now...

Foreign media are now required to obtain prior military censorship approval before filming missile impact and crash sites. Foreign photographers will no longer be allowed to film at the scenes of missile strikes in Israel without prior written approval from military censors, under new directives issued by National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir and Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi. ...

Mohammad Saeed Izadi, the commander of the Palestine Corps within the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Quds Force and the key coordinator between Iran and Hamas, was killed on Saturday, both the military and Defense Minister Israel Katz announced. Izadi, according to reports, helped finance and arm Hamas in the lead-up to the October 7 massacre. He was reportedly behind the "plan to destroy Israel" by coordinating assaults on Israel from multiple fronts. Izadi was killed in an apartment in the city of Qom, south of Tehran, by an attack by Israel Air Force fighter jets following an intelligence-gathering effort, the...

Anti-Israel protester Mahmoud Khalil lamented leaving behind some “incredible men” on Friday as he left a Louisiana detention facility, which he hopes becomes a museum to what he described as “America’s racist policies.” “I leave some incredible men behind me, over 1,000 people behind me, in a place where they shouldn’t have been in the first place,” Khalil told reporters after walking out of the La Salle Detention Facility in Jena, La. “I hope the next time that I will be in Jena is to actually visit this as a museum on America’s racist policies against immigrants,” the former Columbia...

The foreign ministers of the United Kingdom, France, and Germany met with their Iranian counterpart on Friday and after talks ended said discussions had been “serious” and that they’d urged Tehran to agree to talk to the Americans next. Initial peace talks between London, Paris, Berlin, and Tehran to open channels for negotiating an end to the Iran-Israel war lasted for around four and a half hours on Friday. Britain’s David Lammy, France’s Jean-Noël Barrot, and Germany’s Johann Wadephul met with Iran’s Abbas Araghchi in Geneva, Switzerland for face-to-face talks they said after the meeting broke should lead to further...

There are unofficial reports that Israeli strikes hit Tehran’s Lavizan area where Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei is believed to be hiding. Ariel Oseran reported on the reported explosions in the Lavizan area. Local reports of multiple Israeli precision strikes targeting the Lavizan neighborhood in Tehran. pic.twitter.com/UrRRbxtZBW — Ariel Oseran أريئل أوسيران (@ariel_oseran) June 19, 2025 Some unofficial Twitter accounts claim Israeli strikes hit Tehran’s Lavizan area, where Khamenei’s bunker is believed to be. No confirmation of his death yet.#IranVsIsrael #IranIsraelWar #Tehran #Khamenei #Israel #Iran pic.twitter.com/3QXMgMERLq — Ashish Pandey (@aspandey07) June 20, 2025 Explosions were heard at the Imam Hussein University...

Government planes leaving for Oman, Khamenei abdicated in favor of IRGC. IRGC bigwigs defecting to Crown Prince. Trump says well beyond cease fire. Victory is goal now, no nuclear weapons. Transcript linked below video.

Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei defiantly declared Wednesday that Tehran isn’t frightened by President Trump’s “absurd rhetoric” — as he rejected the United States’ demand to surrender in its war with Israel. “The US President threatens us. With his absurd rhetoric, he demands that the Iranian people surrender to him. They should make threats against those who are afraid of being threatened. The Iranian nation isn’t frightened by such threats,” Khamenei said in a statement on X. He vowed Iran would never back down and that any US strike would have “serious irreparable consequences.” “The US entering in this...

Israeli strikes on the headquarters of Iran’s state broadcaster, IRIB, in Tehran on Monday were captured during a live broadcast as shocking footage showed the anchor fleeing the studio while debris fell from the ceiling. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) had issued an evacuation warning to citizens ahead of the strike, targeting what Israeli officials described as a hub of Iranian propaganda. Defense Minister Israel Katz wrote in a statement: “The Iranian propaganda and incitement mouthpiece is on its way to disappear.” Tehran has yet to release a full statement on casualties or damage, but images circulating online show heavy...

G7 backs Israel as US and Iran eye reviving diplomacy. Summary. US President Donald Trump said Iran should have signed the “deal” I told them to sign," adding that "everyone should immediately evacuate Tehran!"

Following President Donald Trump’s urgent call for civilians to leave Tehran, local footage and eyewitness reports show growing numbers of Iranians fleeing the capital. The dramatic scenes come hours after Trump declared: “Everyone must evacuate Tehran immediately. Iran can never have a nuclear weapon.”

President Trump will cut short his trip to Canada for a meeting with world leaders and fly back to Washington late Monday, Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said, citing "what's going on in the Middle East." Mr. Trump arrived in Canada on Sunday for the annual G7 summit, and met with the leaders of Canada and the United Kingdom earlier Monday. But Leavitt said on X Monday night that the president would leave early, seeming to refer to the Israel-Iran conflict. "Much was accomplished, but because of what's going on in the Middle East, President Trump will be leaving tonight after...

Tehran has asked Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Oman to press US President Donald Trump to use his influence on Israel to agree to an immediate ceasefire, two Iranian and three regional sources told Reuters on Monday (Jun 16). In return, Iran will reportedly offer flexibility in nuclear negotiations with the US. Gulf leaders and their top diplomats worked the phones all weekend, speaking to each other, to Tehran, Washington and beyond in an effort to avoid a widening of the conflict as longstanding enemies Israel and Iran intensified their attacks in their biggest ever confrontation. Iran is willing to be...

Iran should have signed the “deal” I told them to sign. What a shame, and waste of human life. Simply stated, IRAN CAN NOT HAVE A NUCLEAR WEAPON. I said it over and over again! Everyone should immediately evacuate Tehran!