Free Republic

Iran has decided to shift its policy from defensive to "fully offensive" due to the deadlock in efforts to agree on a permanent end to its war with the United States, a senior Iranian official told Reuters on Monday. Progress towards peace talks and a resumption of oil tanker traffic through the strategic Strait of Hormuz has ground to a halt, with no sign that the warring parties are moving towards ending the conflict that the US and Israel launched on February 28. "Iranian entities must be prepared to escalate tensions in the Strait of Hormuz and wider region, as...

The confrontation, over a strategic ridge in southern Lebanon, challenged a fragile cease-fire between Israel and the Iran-backed militant group.The Israeli military said on Saturday that it had killed several Hezbollah members overnight on a strategic ridge in southern Lebanon, challenging a fragile cease-fire between Israel and the Iran-backed militant group.The encounter happened in the area of the Ali al-Taher ridge, a hilltop about six miles from the Israeli border where violence has flared in recent days. The Israeli military said it had “struck” Hezbollah fighters in an Israeli-occupied area where its soldiers were operating, and that an Israeli soldier...

Egyptian officials have officially confirmed that an Iranian drone strike was responsible for damaging two US energy tankers at the port of Damietta. Following the strike, the United States carried out limited conventional air raids, opting against a broader military escalation despite warnings of a much harsher response. Egyptian authorities officially confirmed Thursday that an explosion damaging two American energy tankers at Damietta Port was caused by an Iranian drone strike. Egyptian officials emphasized that an investigation into the incident remains underway, noting that no group has formally claimed responsibility for the operation. The official confirmation from Cairo follows statements...

President Donald Trump vowed to hit back hard at Iran after it attacked US bases in Jordan on Wednesday, as the Middle East war reignited and once again drew in the Islamic republic's proxies.The warning came after a short lull in the fighting that had spurred hopes of a return to negotiations appeared to draw to an end, sending oil prices jumping five percent over fears of disruptions to global supplies.On Wednesday, Saudi Arabia and the United States announced strikes on militant bases in Iraq, while US ally Israel accused Iran-backed Hezbollah of a truce violation.- 'War by other means'...

A leaked intelligence document from Pakistan central intelligence indicates that expanding United States troop concentrations near the Persian Gulf provide capabilities for a sudden limited invasion of southern Iran. A leaked intelligence document originating from Pakistan central intelligence agency and shared with Arab media indicates that the concentration of United States military forces in the Middle East provides President Donald Trump with operational capabilities to execute a sudden invasion of southern Iran. The intelligence assessment, compiled from direct military observations and electronic surveillance, indicates that American naval, air, and ground deployments near Iranian territory expand daily. This force build up...

Around 40% of Iranians consider the US and Israeli military action against the Islamic Republic a “humanitarian intervention,” according to a survey of 31,450 Iranians aged 15 or older living in the country, conducted by the Netherlands-based non-profit research foundation The Group for Analyzing and Measuring Attitudes in Iran (GAMAAN). The survey, titled “Iranians’ Attitudes Toward the 2026 Protests and War,” collected responses from Iranians across the country from June 20 to June 27, 2026, in collaboration with Psiphon, Lantern, and MahsaNet. The survey reports an approximate 95% credibility level with a conservative credibility interval of plus or minus three...

The man believed to be behind a deadly vehicle attack near Berlin's Pride celebration over the weekend left a video on his phone pledging allegiance to the terrorist group Islamic State, German prosecutors said on Tuesday. Though the person in the video was masked, authorities assume it shows the suspected attacker, 21-year-old German citizen Abdul Ballout, a spokesperson for the federal prosecutors' office said. He would not specify when the video was recorded. Ballout, who was shot dead by police on Sunday, is suspected of plowing a vehicle into crowds in Tiergarten park near the Brandenburg Gate late on Saturday,...

Former U.S. Navy SEAL Robert J. O’Neill. Credit: Wikimedia Commons =========================================================================== Legendary U.S. Navy SEAL Robert J. O’Neill won the Internet earlier this week with a line for the ages after being called a “f***ing p***y” online by a bunch of anti-Semitic propagandists. The exchange came after a video featuring pro-Islamist streamer Sneako went viral while he was celebrating Egypt’s World Cup win over Australia in New York City on Saturday. In the footage, he can be seen calling for Islam to dominate everywhere in America while horns blaze in the background. “This is the Islamic Republic of New Yorkistan,”...

The U.S. government is significantly ramping up its efforts to capture two high-ranking leaders of the MS-13 gang, offering a combined reward of up to $15 million for information leading to their arrest or conviction. The State Department’s Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs announced the major cash incentives under the Transnational Organized Crime Rewards Program. Specifically, authorities increased the reward to up to $10 million for Yulan Adonay Archaga Carías, a fugitive widely known by the alias “Porky.” A separate reward of up to $5 million is being offered for Víctor Eduardo Morales Zelaya, who goes by...

9/11 Panel Questions Two Hijackers' Help Sept. 11 Commission Wonders Why Two Hijackers Got Help From Two Muslim Men When in U.S. The Associated Press WASHINGTON June 27, 2004 — The FBI long has contended that not a single al-Qaida operative in the United States collaborated with the 19 hijackers in the Sept. 11 attacks. Yet the commission investigating the attacks has identified two Muslim men who may have had advance knowledge of the plot. The commission found that two hijackers got substantial help from Mohdar Abdullah and Anwar Aulaqi after settling in California in 2000. The bipartisan panel created...

(CNSNews.com) – A Muslim civil rights activist told Sen. Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.) that she stands by the advice posted on her Web site that tells Muslims not to speak with the FBI or other law enforcement personnel unless a lawyer is present. Kyl said he was “stunned” that Farhana Khera, president and executive director of Muslim Advocates, would “issue those kind of instructions,” given the connection between many domestic terror attacks and radical Islam and the importance of cooperation from American Muslims to help thwart those attacks. “I would think that Muslim Americans would feel a special obligation to...

Israel does not have the right to defend itself, Russia’s representative to the United Nations said on Wednesday. The United States and its allies are hypocritical for talking “about Israel’s alleged right for self-defense, which, as an occupying state, it does not have, as was confirmed by the [U.N.’s] International Court [of Justice] consultative ruling in 2004,” Ambassador Vasily Nebenzya told a U.N. General Assembly special session on the Israel-Hamas war. The ICJ’s 2004 advisory opinion stated that Israel could not invoke an inherent right to self-defense under Article 51 of the U.N. Charter against any threat coming from an...

The decentralized nature of cryptocurrency makes it an ideal vehicle for sanctions evasion and an increasingly vital pillar of Iran’s wartime economy. As the risk of renewed U.S.-Iran conflict rises, Tehran has moved quickly to adapt to wartime realities while attempting to limit the impact on border security, domestic stability, and the broader economy. Despite obvious constraints, the Islamic Republic has had a measure of success in maintaining control at home while circumventing U.S. pressure in the Strait of Hormuz through shadow tankers and ship-to-ship transfers to sustain oil exports. This has reignited Western debates over whether sanctions and military...

US forces in war zones have been targeted through commercially available location data, Reuters reported on Thursday, citing a letter from US Central Command shared by US Senator Ron Wyden. CENTCOM said it had received “multiple threat reports concerning adversary exploitation of commercial location data to target or surveil US personnel in theater,” according to the letter. A bipartisan group of lawmakers warned the Pentagon that commercial location data could reveal where US troops gather and their daily patterns, exposing them to missile, drone and roadside bomb attacks. Wyden said Washington should start treating the adtech industry as a national...

President Trump is putting one of America’s most unforgettable 9/11 heroes back in the national spotlight. President Trump announced that Welles Remy Crowther, the 24-year-old former Boston College lacrosse player who gave his life saving strangers inside the burning South Tower on September 11, 2001, will posthumously receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian honor in the United States. Crowther is known to history as the Man in the Red Bandana. On that terrible morning, Crowther was working as an equities trader on the 104th floor of the World Trade Center’s South Tower when United Airlines Flight 175...

And even Kristof himself admits that “it’s impossible to know how common sexual assaults against Palestinians are” -- though that does not stop him from going on about it for almost 4,000 words. It’s a simple proposition: Whatever our views on the Middle East conflict, we should all be able to agree that dogs cannot be trained to rape human beings. Yet this is exactly what a New York Times “opinion” piece posing as an in-depth journalistic investigation, perhaps to avoid any real journalistic accountability, published on Monday claims, based on anonymous testimonies and a report by a well-known anti-Israel...

U.S. Central Command has requested deployment of the Army’s Long Range Hypersonic Weapon, known as Dark Eagle, to the Middle East, according to a Bloomberg report citing a person with direct knowledge of the matter. A defense official told Fox News Digital the system has reached initial operational capability, marking the first time the U.S. has a land-based hypersonic weapon available for potential use.

The US State Department said it is offering a reward of up to $10 million for information on Hashim Finyan Rahim al-Saraji, leader of the Iran-aligned militia Kata’ib Sayyid al-Shuhada (KSS). In a notice issued through its Rewards for Justice program, the department said al-Saraji, also known as Abu Ala al-Wala’i, heads the group, which it accused of attacks on US personnel and facilities in Iraq and Syria, as well as violence against Iraqi civilians. The notice said individuals providing information could be eligible for relocation and financial compensation. Help stop the violence and attacks against U.S. diplomatic facilities and...

There are now three United States Navy nuclear-powered aircraft carriers operating in the U.S. Central Command's area of responsibility. CENTCOM confirmed in a post on X on Thursday afternoon that the 10th and final Nimitz-class supercarrier, the USS George H.W. Bush (CVN-77), has entered the Indian Ocean. CVN-77 joins the USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN-72), which is now in the Arabian Sea, and the U.S. Navy's newest and largest supercarrier, the USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN-78), operating in the Red Sea after transiting the Suez Canal from the Mediterranean.

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei arrives at Hell's bureaucratic reception for his final "admissions interview." A smug demon admissions officer, BeelzeBob, reviews his lifetime "achievements" in a twisted, ironic style — leading to a shocking punchline twist about who he really served. Unique AI-generated reconstruction highlights the suffering of the Iranian people under decades of theocratic rule: mass repression, proxy wars, morality police terror, forced hijab, rigged elections, brutal crackdowns on protests, and the human cost of endless conflict. Blending dark humor, hellish bureaucracy aesthetics, and political commentary — perfect for fans of history, Iranian politics, Middle East conflicts, regime change discussions,...