Free Republic

Iranian regime loyalists displayed a taped-together cardboard cutout of their new supreme leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, who was reportedly injured in recent strikes and has not been seen since his elevation. The makeshift stand-in appeared at a pro-regime rally in Tehran, where organizers brought the life-size cutout of Khamenei onto the stage, according to Israeli journalist Amit Segal. Regime loyalists hailed and swore allegiance to the cutout, which appeared crudely assembled and held together by strips of tape, Segal reported. Khamenei has not appeared in public or issued a statement since being selected as Iran’s new supreme leader on Sunday following...

Mossad operatives hacked into Tehran's traffic camera network to spy on Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, his bodyguards and other top Iranian officials for years Israel gained access to almost all the city's cameras, and tracked the movements of key bodyguards. Images were said to be transmitted back to Tel Aviv and southern Israel, allowing Mossad to develop intimate knowledge on the guards' addresses, work schedules, and who they were assigned to protect. One camera angle proved especially helpful and allowed agents to track where bodyguards parked their personal cars when arriving at the Supreme Leader's compound on Pasteur Street in the...

Israel spent years hacking Tehran’s traffic cameras and monitoring bodyguards ahead of the assassination of Iran’s supreme leader

No doubt there is much more to the story, but this is awesome: Years before the air strike that killed Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Israeli intelligence had been quietly mapping the daily rhythms of Tehran. According to reporting by the Financial Times, nearly all of the Iranian capital’s traffic cameras had been hacked years earlier, their footage encrypted and transmitted to Israeli servers. One camera angle near Pasteur Street, close to Khamenei’s compound, allowed analysts to observe the routines of bodyguards and drivers: where they parked, when they arrived and whom they escorted. That data was fed into complex algorithms that...

According to reporting by the Financial Times, nearly all of the Iranian capital’s traffic cameras had been hacked years earlier, their footage encrypted and transmitted to Israeli servers.

Former Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad — a polarizing hardliner who became the face of Tehran’s nuclear defiance and incendiary anti-Israel rhetoric — was reportedly killed in Israeli airstrikes during Saturday’s strikes inside Iran. A report by the Israeli media outlet Ma’ariv stated that Ahmadinejad was under house arrest at the time and was killed in a targeted strike on his home. Ahmadinejad served as Iran’s sixth president from 2005 to 2013, rising from relative obscurity as mayor of Tehran to defeat establishment figure Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani in a surprise 2005 runoff. Critics at home and abroad described him as a...

People in Iran have prepared for attacks. "It's war again. We don't know what to do," a Tehran resident told TT. The Iranian population has been preparing for a possible war for weeks. Many have stockpiled water and bought tens of kilos of dry goods and other necessities. Freezers have been emptied in anticipation of a power outage, and on Saturday many families kept their children at home, even though it is a school day in Iran. "We hope for victory," says a Tehran resident. For many Iranians, however, victory is about overthrowing the regime, rather than Iran winning militarily...

The IDF launched a surprise attack on Iran on Saturday morning, with Iranian state media reporting explosions have been heard in Tehran.

The UK has temporarily withdrawn staff from its embassy in Tehran, as the threat of US strikes against Iran prompts warnings from a number of countries to their citizens in the Middle East. The UK Foreign Office said it was a "precautionary measure" and that its embassy in Iran's capital continued to operate remotely. Meanwhile, the US embassy in Israel told some non-emergency staff and their families on Friday that they could leave the country. US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee advised staff who wished to leave to "do so TODAY", the New York Times reported. It comes a day...

Iran’s leadership is edging toward a war scenario not because diplomacy is necessarily collapsing, but because confrontation is increasingly seen as the least damaging option for a ruling system under intense internal and external pressure

I've been working hard this week trying to keep abreast of national and international events, and I’ve come to the conclusion that much of what is most important to know remains as yet murky and unverifiable. International DevelopmentsSome things are clear. The decades-long oppression of the people of Cuba is coming to an end within days. The country is woefully short of energy sources -- in significant part because Maduro is out and Venezuela is no longer providing it. The country is now barely existing in blackout conditions. President Trump has announced that major tariffs will be imposed on any...

Five people were killed, and 14 were reportedly injured in two blasts that rocked Iran’s port city of Bandar Abbas and Ahvaz.Further explosions were reported in Karaj, and the Parand neighborhood of Tehran.Five people were killed, and 14 were reportedly injured in two blasts that rocked Iran’s port city of Bandar Abbas and Ahvaz.Further explosions were reported in Karaj, and the Parand neighborhood of Tehran.According to a Reuters report citing local officials, one person was killed and 14 were injured in the Bandar Abbas blast. An additional five people were confirmed dead from blasts in Ahvaz, Iran International reported.According to...

ranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has been transferred to an underground bunker in Iran after senior officials in the country’s security forces assessed that concerns are growing over a possible American strike, Iran International reported Saturday. Khamenei's son, Masoud, has assumed governing authority. Meanwhile, Iran Times, a newspaper identified with the IRGC, quoted the Iranian Defense Ministry spokesperson as saying that Iran’s defensive and missile capabilities have become more effective, and are quantitatively and qualitatively superior compared to what they were during Operation Rising Lion in June 2025. At the same time, levels of preparedness and tension ahead of...

Britain evacuated its ambassador and all consular staff from Tehran on Wednesday, closing its embassy temporarily amid escalating security concerns as Iran's government confronts what officials describe as the worst domestic unrest in the Islamic Republic's history.

Former Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett posted a video message on X on Monday addressed to protesters in Iran, saying they deserve a better future and that the free world stands with them. ​“The Iranian people have a glorious past, and they can have an even more glorious future. That future depends on every one of you." "So to all the brave men and women now rising up across your country, all the nations of the free world stand with you in your just struggle. Change is possible; there will be a better Middle East,” Bennett said.

1. PRAY FOR THE PROTECTION OF CITIZENS ACROSS IRAN That police and security forces would show restraint and act with wisdom rather than force That those participating in protests would be guarded from injury, arrest, or exploitation That communities living under fear would experience peace and calm 2. PRAY FOR WISDOM AND PROTECTION FOR HOUSE CHURCHES AND CHURCH LEADERS That leaders would know when to gather, when to wait, and how best to shepherd their people That house churches would remain out of view so believers can worship in safety That fear would not take root, and trust in God...

City after city has been reclaimed by jubilant, joyous crowds across Iran in the past few days."This is the final battle,Pahlavi will return"Tonight in Tehran, Iran's capital.pic.twitter.com/C6pyxSIB9M— 𝐍𝐢𝐨𝐡 𝐁𝐞𝐫𝐠 ♛ ✡︎ (@NiohBerg) January 8, 2026The streets in the capital of Tehran are alive tonight. 🚨SE TERMINÓ DE PUDRIR EN IRÁN🚨Las calles de Teherán completamente tomadas por los manifestantes que piden derrocar al ayatola. pic.twitter.com/PYDysqhIx7— ASB (@GordoLeyes) January 8, 2026Throngs of people, who sometimes seem as if it's the entire population in the street at one time, are marching and cheering, defying the basiji thugs who would brutalize and beat them...

Iranian protesters intensified nationwide demonstrations over the past 24 hours, directly appealing to President Donald Trump while chanting anti-regime slogans. Footage published Wednesday showed a protester in Tehran symbolically renaming a street after Trump, while other videos captured handwritten appeals reading, “Don’t let them kill us,” Iran International reported. Holly Dagres, a senior fellow at the Washington Institute, posted the video on X stating, “Since Trump’s comments about the Iran protests, I’ve seen numbers videos of Iranian protesters either thanking him or, in this case, renaming streets after the US president.” The appeals came as demonstrators faced a widening security...

No text, but Tousi TV reports: This is the 10th day of the protests against the Islamic dictatorship. Police stations have been taken over by opposition in Ishafan with police joining the demostrators. The revolutionary guards (IRGC) have been evicted from the city of Ilan (north-western Iran). Lots of people still out on the streets in Teheran. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dmWG4mQH_xg

Jahvijaa Reza Pahlavi, Maata Khamenei, etc. Lots of videos. Day 10 and IRGC can't get a handle on it. Khamenei might go to Moscow with his family and entourage. Transcript linked below video.