Free Republic

As the United States and Israel prepared to go to war with Iran, the head of Mossad, Israel’s foreign intelligence service, went to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu with a plan. Within days of the war’s beginning, said David Barnea, the Mossad chief, his service would likely be able to galvanize the Iranian opposition — igniting riots and other acts of rebellion that could even lead to the collapse of Iran’s government. Mr. Barnea also presented the proposal to senior Trump administration officials during a visit to Washington in mid-January. Mr. Netanyahu adopted the plan. Despite doubts about its viability among...

“There could have been kids at this kindergarten,” said Rishon Letzion Mayor Raz Kinstlich. Cluster bombs from an Iranian ballistic missile damaged this kindergarten in Rishon Letzion, south of Tel Aviv, on March 21, 2026. Photo by Avshalom Sassoni/Flash90.

CLIP. Netanyahu warns Iran as Trump issues ultimatum to open Strait of Hormuz. Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu discusses escalating tensions after missile strikes as President Donald Trump gives Iran 48 hours to open the Strait of Hormuz or face power plant attacks. Fox News' Trey Yingst reports the latest.

Alternate headline: Iran Lied. Again. That may not qualify as breaking news, since the Iranian regime has lied about practically all of its threats to the region and beyond. The theocratic-military junta has lied for 47 years about its sponsorship of terrorism, and they lied over and over again about their pursuit of nuclear weapons. Those lies got exposed over and over again, and yet leaders in Europe and the US kept insisting that the regime could become a trustworthy partner in non-proliferation talks. Iran just exposed another lie, one that should rattle Europe. The IRGC launched a missile attack...

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...

President Donald Trump’s war with Iran is not going well. He began the conflict with a promise to use an air campaign to initiate regime change in as little as “two or three days.” But about three weeks in, Iran’s government, military and security forces remain highly functional. No popular uprising has emerged. And Iran’s government has seized control of the Strait of Hormuz, sending global oil prices surging and Trump into a panic. Robert Pape, a political scientist at the University of Chicago, is one of the analysts who saw this situation coming a long way off. An expert...

Summary President Donald Trump says the US is considering "winding down" operations against Iran, but that other nations must guard the Strait of Hormuz - a vital shipping lane for oilTrump adds that he does not want a ceasefire. The US is making detailed plans for the possibility of deploying ground troops to Iran, the BBC's US partner CBS News reports The US says it will temporarily lift sanctions on Iranian oil stuck at sea, to contain the war's ongoing impact on energy prices Overnight, Israel launched a new wave of strikes on Tehran and Beirut. Israel, Saudi Arabia and...

Operation Epic Fury could be coming to an end, President Donald Trump hinted on Friday.President Trump posted a March 20 statement on TruthSocial affirming that the United States is getting close to meeting its goals with the joint U.S.-Israel operation against the terrorist Iranian regime. The president also discussed some future plans regarding the strategic Strait of Hormuz.“We are getting very close to meeting our objectives as we consider winding down our great Military efforts in the Middle East with respect to the Terrorist Regime of Iran,” Trump began. He then provided a list of those objectives, starting with, “Completely...

For the past three weeks, the Protection Racket Media has had a field day speculating that the war with Iran would split the MAGA base and infuriate those who demand America First policies. Poll after poll has contradicted that speculation. It turns out that the better question might be whether the war is splitting Donald Trump's opposition.Politico published a new poll this morning, taken this week, even while Iran forced a strangulation of shipping in the Strait of Hormuz. The poll shows sharp support for the war among Republicans, and even more robust support among self-identified MAGA voters, as previous...

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.

It’s a tale of two Iran armies. One, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, is stacked with fierce loyalists and designed to guard the theocratic regime, with a force estimated to be 150,000 strong. They have been targeted in US and Israel attacks. The other is the conventional Islamic Republic of Iran Army, called the Artesh, which numbers 350,000 and is designed to protect the nation’s borders and secure the Iranian homeland. And when the bombing stops, they might serve US interests as a force for change. Now all they have to do is survive. President Trump has alluded to the...

President Donald Trump says the US is considering "winding down our great Military efforts in the Middle East," he wrote on his Truth Social platform on Friday. "We are getting very close to meeting our objectives as we consider winding down our great Military efforts in the Middle East with respect to the Terrorist Regime of Iran," he said in a post.

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...

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...