Free Republic

President Barack Obama on Friday boasted of the nuclear deal that world powers reached with Iran last year. Speaking at a nuclear summit in Washington and quoted by The Wall Street Journal, Obama highlighted the benefits the deal would bring to Iran’s economy. “It will take time for Iran to integrate into the global economy, but Iran is already beginning to see the benefits of this deal,” he said, an apparent response to complaints from Tehran that the deal hadn’t delivered promised economic relief after years of international sanctions. Obama called the agreement “a substantial success” and said that Iran...

The Obama administration is considering easing financial restrictions that prohibit U.S. dollars from being used in transactions with Iran, officials said on Thursday, sparking anger among Republicans as well as some Democrats. .....

Pardon the lengthy excerpt, but this piece from Frederick W. Kagan & Paul Bucala begins with lots of need-to-know information: Iranian officials have labored to conceal the extent of their involvement in the Syrian conflict, repeatedly insisting that they are only training, advising, and assisting Syrian forces. The announcements of Iranian casualties reported by Iranian media and social media tell another story. Careful analysis of the ranks and unit affiliations of Iranians reported as having been killed in Syria demonstrates that IRGC officers are leading soldiers in combat and not merely advising. Comparisons of the casualty data with the dates...

Katie Gorka, President of the Council on Global Security, discussed what Christians can do to help in the war against Christianity with host Stephen K. Bannon on SiriusXM radio’s Breitbart News Saturday: On a special Holy Saturday edition of Breitbart News Saturday, host and Breitbart News executive chairman Stephen K. Bannon will continue the discussion on the global war on Christianity we began on the Good Friday episode and will continue through to Easter Sunday.

The Obama administration has spent three years engaged in secret talks with Iran that resulted in the payment of nearly $2 billion in taxpayer funds to the Islamic Republic, with more payouts likely to come in the future, according to a recent letter issued by the State Department and obtained exclusively by the Washington Free Beacon. The administration’s disclosure came in response to an inquiry launched in January by Rep. Mike Pompeo (R., Kan.), who was seeking further information about the Obama administration’s payment of $1.7 billion in taxpayer funds to Iran, which many viewed as a “ransom payment” for...

Republican frontrunner Donald Trump addressed the American Israel Public Affairs Committee on the second day of their annual conference in Washington D.C. At a packed Verizon Center, Trump addressed the attendees. The Donald opened by saying that he was a lifelong supporter and friend of Israel, noting that he allowed then-Mayor of New York City Rudy Giuliani to fly on his airplane to Israel during his visit to show solidarity with other terror victims. “In Spring 2004, at the height of violence in the Gaza Strip, I was the Grand Marshal of the 40th Salute to Israel Parade, the largest...

Even in the midst of an astounding 2016 presidential campaign that is gripping the attention of most Americans, the U.S. - Iran nuclear deal is back in the news. The IAEA says that, so far, Iran appears to be in compliance. But that is not the whole story. Now we learn that the regime of the Ayatollahs has a new program to support Palestinian murderers of Israelis. Iran has committed to give $7,000 to families of attackers who have used knives, hammers, scissors and other crude implements to kill and maim. For families that have their homes destroyed by Israel...

A video published online by a Syrian rebel group shows what appears to be a direct hit by a US-made BGM-71 TOW on the turret of a Russia-supplied T-90 tank of the Syrian Army. The video is one of a multitude of instances of the use of TOW missiles by rebels in Syria, but it may be the first time the anti-tank weapon was used against the advanced T-90 main battle tank. The clip shows the optically-guided missile approaching the partially-covered tank, followed by a bright explosion and a cloud of smoke. Moments later one of the tank crew members...

On February 26, the ayatollahs have scheduled two "elections" in Iran: one for the parliament and one for the Assembly of Experts, a body that is supposed to monitor the supreme leader and choose a replacement when the time comes. Some in the West tout this as the potential start of a new era of moderation. After all it is the first election since the conclusion of nuclear negotiations between Iran and six world powers. But the nuclear deal cannot be the only criteria by which the West determines the prospects for moderation in Iran. Equally or more important is...

Saudi Arabia has commenced a massive military drill in which 20 nations are participating. The move comes amid ongoing deadly conflicts in the Middle East. More than 2,500 warplanes, 20,000 tanks and 450 helicopters will be part of the exercise. Riyadh has billed the manoeuvre as "the largest and most important" drill ever staged in the region. Up to 350,000 troops from various Gulf nations, and other allies such as Pakistan, Jordan, Chad and Sudan will take part in the drill, the Saudi Press Agency said. The exercises would involve ground, naval and air forces personnel.

John Brennan, the CIA director, told a Senate committee Tuesday that the violence and instability in the Middle East was the worst it had been in 50 years, painting a dire picture of a region he said was facing "unprecedented" bloodshed. Brennan spoke at the Senate Intelligence Committee's annual worldwide-threats hearing, emphasizing the threats the US faces as the Middle East devolves further into chaos. "The Middle East right now I think is racked by more instability and violence and inter-state conflict than we've seen certainly in the past 50 years," Brennan said. "And the amount of bloodshed and humanitarian...

In open defiance of recent US sanctions on Iran's ballistic missile program, Iranian Defense Minister Hossein Dehghan on late Tuesday told local media that Tehran will soon be rolling out an upgrade of its nuclear-capable medium-range Emad missiles. The "next generation of Emad with improved precision" will be unveiled in the next Iranian year which starts on March 20, Dehghan said as cited by the semi-official Fars News Agency. Emad is said to have a 1,700 kilometer range, putting Israel and much of eastern Europe squarely in its sights. [...] In light of an Iranian Emad test on October 10,...

Saad al-Hadithi spoke to The Associated Press after an earlier statement from the prime minister's office seemed to dismiss the idea entirely. "Baghdad is the capital for all Iraqis and it's not possible for a wall or a fence to isolate the city," the earlier statement said. The plan for the wall was originally drafted by the Interior Ministry as an effort to curb near-daily attacks carried out by the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) and cut down on checkpoints inside the city that snarl traffic. The Interior Ministry's spokesman, police Brig. Gen. Saad Maan, told The Associated...

What a difference a year makes in Syria. And the introduction of massive Russian airpower. Last February, President Bashar al-Assad’s regime and its Shiite auxiliaries mounted a large-scale attempt to encircle Aleppo, the northern city divided between regime and rebels since 2012 and battered by the dictator’s barrel bombs. Islamist and non-Islamist mainstream rebels — to the surprise of those who have derided their performance, let alone their existence — repelled the offensive at the time. What followed was a string of rebel advances across the country, which weakened Assad so much that they triggered Moscow’s direct intervention in September,...

Saudi Arabia is not ruling out developing a nuclear bomb if its regional rival Iran obtains one, Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir told the Reuters news agency on Tuesday. Asked if Saudi Arabia had discussed seeking a nuclear bomb in the event Iran managed to obtain one, al-Jubeir replied the country would do "whatever we need to do in order to protect our people". "I don't think it would be logical to expect us to discuss any such issue in public and I don't think it would be reasonable to expect me to answer this question one way or another,"...

Obama Admin: Congressional Crackdown on Terror Will Violate Iran Deal ‘Iran Czar’ tells Congress nuke deal prohibits congress from restricting terrorist visas BY: Adam Kredo December 21, 2015 Senior Obama administration officials are expressing concern that congressional attempts to tighten laws preventing terrorists from entering the United States could violate the Iran nuclear agreement and prompt Tehran to walk away from the agreement.Congress is considering measures that would tighten the Visa Waiver Program to make it harder for potential terrorists to legally enter the United States by increasing restrictions on individuals who have travelled to countries with prominent terrorist organizations...

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu told reporters following his meeting Monday with President Barack Obama that the meeting had been one of the better ones the two have had. "The conversation took place in a pleasant atmosphere, I would say constructive and businesslike," he said in a briefing following the meeting in Washington. "What was seen on the outside, was evident inside as well. [It was ] one of the best meetings I have had with Obama and I think the other side felt the same way." The prime minister said that "the conversation was very relaxed, and honest. No one...

Don't know if this has been seen before. These Egyrtian commentators don't think to highly of Obama. They laugh at him, his body, his wife and how no one can trust him.

Over the years, Israelis have had to defend themselves from foreign armies, suicide bombers and missiles. Over recent weeks, they’ve been confronting a new threat: young Palestinians wielding butcher knives. Unlike the cutthroats of the Islamic State and al Qaeda, these fanatics aren’t able to bind their victims and behead them. But videos on social media teach would-be assassins how to use sharp instruments to inflict maximum damage on unsuspecting Israelis. An imam in Gaza has been recorded on the pulpit brandishing a six-inch knife, urging his “brothers” to go out in the streets, find a Jew and “Stab!” Attacks...

As seen through multiple recent events, the nations of the world are increasing their efforts to weaken or remove Jewish sovereignty in Jerusalem. Is this a fulfillment of Zechariah 12:3’s prophecy that, at the End of Days, the nations of the earth will gather against Jerusalem? In the 1920s, the Muslims began calling the Kotel (Western Wall) the Al-Buraq Wall and the Kotel Plaza the Buraq Plaza. According to Muslim tradition, Al-Buraq was a horse with wings that carried Muhammad back and forth between Mecca and Jerusalem. Historically, the Kotel is a part of the outer, western retaining wall of...