Free Republic

Donald Trump announced Saturday he would impose a 100% tariff on BRICS nations if they try to replace the dollar in international trade, impacting a group of major developing economies whose members include Russia, India, China and Iran, among others, marking the latest threats by the president-elect to impose tariffs on imports from several countries. In a post on Truth Social, Trump said the 100% tariff would affect all BRICS countries—Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa, Iran, Egypt, Ethiopia and the United Arab Emirates—until they commit to not creating a new BRICS currency or back another currency that could replace...

THIS is the dramatic moment a Russian stealth drone is shot out of the sky by Vladimir Putin’s Su-57 warplane. The £11.5 million S-70 Okhotnik stealth drone can be seen exploding in the air in the extraordinary footage. Video of the incident shows two Kremlin military aircrafts speeding across the sky over eastern Ukraine when the trailing plane fires a missile which hits the one in front. Russian pro-war Z channels initially claimed that a Ukrainian war plane had been hit by a Russian aircraft. However, the burnt wreckage on the ground near Ukrainian-controlled Kostiantynivka had distinct Russian insignia on...

Iran’s top advisor to Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei has said that ties between Russia and Iran are expanding. Advisor Ali Akbar Velayati's comments come in the wake of Russian President Vladimir Putin's visit to Iran. “Velayati made the remarks while meeting in Tehran with Alexander Lavrentiev, Putin’s special envoy for Syria on Wednesday,” a report from Iran’s state media IRNA said. The report noted that the two men discussed issues such as regional development, the war in Gaza, the conflict in Lebanon, and issues in Syria. This illustrates how Iran is trying to leverage ties with Moscow to encourage...

Israel has reportedly struck a Russian airbase in Syria, causing a huge fire to break out. Thirty missiles are reported to have hit the Khmeimim airbase in the early hours of Thursday morning. The IDF has not claimed responsibility for the attack. The strike lasted 45 minutes and is believed to have been carried out by naval warships. Unverified video images show a huge fireball and flashes on the horizon. -snip- Khmeimim airbase is located southeast of the city of Latakia and has been operated by the Russian military since 2017. Syrian TV journalist Abdullah Almousa claimed a warehouse on...

MOSCOW – Iran intends to seriously strengthen relations with Russia, and resolve controversial issues in cooperation with each other, Iranian First Vice President of Iran Mohammad Reza Aref said on Monday. “I am very pleased with the good pace at which our relations are developing at all levels. I would like to emphasize that the new Iranian government is serious about strengthening our relations,” Mohammad Reza Aref said during talks with Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin. -snip- “Relations between Russia and Iran have a centuries-old history, based on the principles of friendship, good neighborliness and mutual respect. And Russia is...

The Kremlin on Monday condemned the killing of Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah in an Israeli air attack last week and said it assessed the risk of a major Middle East war as "extremely high". "The Russian side condemns such actions, we believe that they have led to a significant destabilisation of the situation in the region," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters. "The main thing is that such indiscriminate bombing of residential areas in Lebanon leads to a huge number of human casualties, which will inevitably bring on a humanitarian catastrophe like the one we are seeing in Gaza,"...

Opponents of Israel and allies of Hezbollah and Iran on Saturday condemned the killing of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, after the Lebanon-based terrorist group confirmed his death in an Israeli strike on south Beirut a day earlier. Among those expressing outrage at Israel’s actions were Hamas, Turkey, Russia, Yemen’s Houthis and Iraq. Hamas in a statement said: “We condemn in the strongest terms this barbaric Zionist aggression and targeting of residential buildings… and we consider it a cowardly terrorist act.” It offered “condolences, and solidarity with the brothers in Hezbollah and the Islamic Resistance in Lebanon on the martyrdom of…...

The missing American who’d traveled to Ukraine years ago to aid Russian separatists in Donbas was found dead in the country’s war-torn eastern region. The body of Russell Bentley, a 64-year-old U.S. Army vet, was recovered in the Russian-controlled region of Donetsk Oblast, Reuters reported. -snip- The former pothead, who used “Texas” as his military call-sign, left behind a yoga instructor girlfriend to travel to Ukraine. He utilized crowdfunding sites to finance his trip, and had since become a Russian citizen. He also got married after moving to Ukraine, where he began working as a reporter for the state-owned Sputnik...

UFOs and their pilots might not be 'extra-terrestrials' from a distant planet at all, but 'spiritual entities' who have inhabited Earth for as long as humanity itself. At least, that's the 'supernatural' theory Fox News vet and one-time MSNBC host Tucker Carlson put forward this week on comedian Joe Rogan's podcast 'There's a ton of evidence that they're under the ocean and under the ground,' Carlson told Rogan's listeners during the show's usual, sprawling, three-hour-long chat format, adding: 'They've been here for a long time.' -snip- 'They're from here and they've been here for thousands of years,' Carlson said, 'whatever...

After its drone attack against Israel, Iran seeks to continue building its partnership with Russia, which has slammed the UN Security Council's emergency meeting after the attack. Iran is hoping for Russian support in the wake of its massive attack on Israel. The Iranian Foreign Ministry praised Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Monday and noted a phone call between Lavrov and his Iranian counterpart, in which Russia said it would defend Iran at the UN Security Council. According to pro-Iran Al-Mayadeen media, Tehran views Russia’s comments positively. The Russians, according to the report, said the Iranian attack was coupled...