Free Republic

War is never something the United States should engage in without very good cause. Too many of our past wars might have involved some bit of national interest, but they weren't really necessary. Kicking the crap out of Afghanistan following the Taliban's refusal to hand over Osama bin Laden? I got that completely. I was less thrilled with us going into Iraq. My take has always been that we should be slow to anger, but when we hit that point, we should descend upon our enemies like the fiery hand of God. It's what we did in the Gulf War,...

Most Americans probably don’t look back at March 2012 — if they remember it at all — and think of terrifyingly high gas prices. In the month when “The Hunger Games” ruled the box office and President Barack Obama was on his way to a comfortable re-election, the price of Brent crude closed the month around $123 a barrel. That would be about $175 a barrel in today’s dollars. As of Tuesday, despite Iran’s effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz and its attacks on its neighbors’ energy facilities, it’s hovering around $100, slightly higher than the average inflation-adjusted price...

😳Applause line at protest in Philly: "For every US soldier who comes back in casket, we cheer!" Video at link.

Last week, Trump said that Russian President Vladimir Putin might be helping Iran "a bit". But Iran's successful hitting of US military bases and energy infrastructure in the Gulf suggests that Russian help is much more than what Trump described as "a bit". Russia is reported to have provided Iran with the precise locations of US warships and aircraft operating in the Middle East. Russia's Kanopus-V satellite gives Iran round-the-clock images of American assets and other targets in the region. An important target reportedly provided by Moscow to Tehran was the precise location of a US military base in Kuwait,...

German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier spoke on Tuesday of a “deep rift” with traditional ally the United States and said the US-Israeli war on Iran was a “breach of international law”. In unusually strong comments, the German head of state said that just as there was no going back from Russia’s 2022 full-scale invasion of Ukraine, “there will be no going back to before January 20, 2025”, when US President Donald Trump entered the White House for a second time. “The rift is too deep and the trust in American power politics has been lost, not only among our allies but…...

The two sources said IRGC officers tasked with helping Hezbollah recover arrived shortly after a ceasefire in November 2024, and set to work even as Israel continued to strike. One of them said the deployment involved about 100 officers. Changes implemented at their behest included replacing a hierarchical command structure with a decentralised one, comprising small units with limited knowledge of each other’s operations, helping to preserve operational secrecy. They said IRGC officers also drew up plans for missile attacks against Israel that would be launched simultaneously from Iran and Lebanon — a scenario executed for the first time on...

Iraq has declared force majeure on all oilfields developed by foreign oil companies after military operations disrupted navigation through the Strait of Hormuz and halted most of the country's crude exports, three energy officials told Reuters.Basra oil production was cut by approximately 70%, from 3.3 million barrels per day to around 900,000 barrels per day.

Iran fired two intermediate-range ballistic missiles at Diego Garcia but did not hit the US-U.K. military base in the Indian Ocean, the Wall Street Journal reports, citing multiple US officials. One of the missiles failed in flight, while a US warship fired an SM-3 interceptor at the other, although it could not be determined if the interception succeeded, the newspaper says. The Journal does not specify when the missiles were fired.

Three weeks into a military engagement in Iran, a war Republicans will not call a war, the American and Israeli militaries have all but wiped out Iran's capacity to make war. We have killed their leadership, the replacement leaders, and militia members on the ground. We have destroyed their missile launchers and the factories in which they made the missiles. But Iran still has one of the most powerful weapons in the world on its side, and it is ruthlessly deploying it – the American press corps. "Families mourn as dead are laid to rest in Tehran," blared the front...

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Iran threatened to target recreational and tourist sites worldwide and insisted it was still building missiles. Its supreme leader issued another defiant statement on Friday, nearly three weeks into U.S.-Israeli strikes that have killed a slew of Tehran’s top leaders and hammered its weapons and energy industries.The United States was meanwhile deploying three more warships and roughly 2,500 additional Marines to the Middle East, a U.S. official told The Associated Press.Iran fired on Israel and energy sites in neighboring Gulf Arab states as many in the region marked one of the holiest days on...

"The British Isles are declared to be in a state of blockade,” announced Napoleon Bonaparte, and elaborated: “All commerce and all correspondence with the British Isles are forbidden.” It was 1806, and what would be known as the Berlin Decree aimed to strangle the British economy. The bold scheme seemed economically logical and militarily practical, but it ended up a grand flop. Britain’s economy, coastline, and navy all proved too big for the plan, which also underestimated the kingdom’s link to America and access to the high seas. In fact, Napoleon’s blockade backfired. Europe, it turned out, needed British exports...

Signs of discontent, low morale, financial strain and desertion are spreading among parts of Iran’s security and military forces, Iran International has learned. Members of the Special Units Command received a notice on Friday saying salary payments for some units had run into problems, according to people familiar with the matter. The delay marked the third time this year that wages for those forces had been paid late. Following the delays, some personnel refused to attend pro-government gatherings, the sources said, causing disruptions in deployment in some major cities. Retirees and some army personnel have also not been paid for...

Europe’s own regulatory architecture turned off Europe’s own energy supply. And America. . . on the other side of the Atlantic with a full tank of gas, watched it happen.” —Jeff ChildersLet’s pause for a moment amid all the excitement to address an abiding mystery of these times: why does the news media seem to be rooting for American failure in the Iran operation? Or more generally, how did the media become handmaiden to the Lefty-left and all its ancillaries? How were they lured into their Cloward-Piven bunker of crypto-Marxian “resistance?” It’s unlikely that the network executives, news producers, and...

After the horrific Hanukkah terror attack at Australia's Bondi Beach, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese admitted the terrorists were inspired by Islamism and ISIS. Despite this revelation, Albanese also decried Islamophobia and vowed to crack down on firearms and "hate speech" directed at Muslims. Now Albanese, for all his bending the knee to Islamists, is going to learn that appeasement doesn't work with Muslims. He went to a mosque to talk about Islamophobia, only to be heckled and threatened by the worshippers.

Nearly half a century after the Islamic revolution that overthrew Iran’s monarchy, a quiet shift has taken place among some of its former supporters. They were once the young revolutionaries of 1979 – leftists, activists, and political prisoners – shaped by the ideological certainties of their time. They spoke in the language of social justice and anti-imperial struggle, convinced they were dismantling a system that could not be reformed. For many, the Shah’s Iran was deeply flawed, and even the idea of monarchy went against their fundamental beliefs. Some paid for those beliefs with years in prison. Others would later...

The Western Alliance was already fraying long before the joint U.S.-Israeli strikes on Iran began earlier this month. But the collective refusal of European leaders to even entertain the idea of assisting the U.S. in keeping the Strait of Hormuz open – and their personal insults against President Donald Trump – may have fractured the relationship beyond repair. As Iranian forces continue to attack shipping in the Strait of Hormuz, a critical chokepoint through which 20-30 percent of all global crude oil flows, President Trump has called on European nations to form an international coalition to help reopen the strait....

Around 300 Basij commanders and field officials were killed in a wave of overnight strikes on key command and operational centers of Iran’s Basij forces, Iran International has learned. Around 300 Basij commanders and field officials were killed in a wave of overnight strikes on key command and operational centers of Iran’s Basij forces, Iran International has learned. The strikes appeared to hit the logistics and command structure of a force long used to suppress dissent and confront anti-government protests. In one of the most critical attacks, a Basij support unit’s repair and maintenance center was hit. The site housed...

Eleven suspected cartel members have been killed in a military operation in the violence-ridden state of Sinaloa in northwestern Mexico, authorities say. The incident occurred in connection with government forces searching properties linked to a branch of the Sinaloa Cartel allied with drug lord Ismael "El Mayo" Zambada. Armed cartel members loyal to Zambada, who has been imprisoned in the United States since 2024, are at war with allies of the sons of Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzmán, who is also imprisoned in the United States.

Congress has expressed interest in the status of the U.S. military’s inventories of munitions (e.g.,ammunition, bombs, missiles, torpedoes, anti-aircraft weapons, missile interceptors). Since the UnitedStates and Israel launched military operations against Iran on February 28, 2026, some Members ofCongress have sought information on the stockpiles and availability of U.S. weapons from theDepartment of Defense (DOD, which is “using a secondary Department of War designation,” underExecutive Order 14347 dated September 5, 2025). Some Members have raised concerns about potentialshortfalls in munitions, while other Members have said munitions are not an immediate concern.President Donald J. Trump has said U.S. munitions are “virtually...

The IDF confirms it eliminated Esmail Ahmadi, Head of the Intelligence Division of the Basij Force, in an Israeli Air Force strike in Tehran earlier this week that also killed senior commanders, including the unit’s commander Gholamreza Soleimani. According to the IDF, Ahmadi played a central role in advancing terror activity and enforcing the regime’s control, including leading violent crackdowns during recent protests, as part of a broader series of strikes targeting senior Iranian regime figures.