Free Republic

Moscow offered two explanations on Monday as to why its Russian-made Pantsir S-1 missile defense system embarrassingly took a direct hit during an Israeli airstrike last week. "One is that it had already used up its ammunition reserve," Aytech Bizhev, the former deputy commander-in-chief of the Russian Air Force, said, according to RT. "The other is that it was simply turned off; it wasn't battle ready." Israeli fighter jets struck dozens of Iranian military sites in Syria last Thursday, killing at least 23 people, including 5 Syrian soldiers.

Exclusive: Tehran will challenge the US by restarting nuclear fuel enrichment and ramp up its military confrontation with Israel. The Iranian leadership reached these decisions on Thursday after Israeli warplanes smashed its military assets in the Damascus area that morning, exclusive intelligence sources report. These steps follow the strategic plans Tehran had drawn up for the eventuality of the US quitting the 2015 nuclear pact. In the coming weeks, therefore, Tehran will choose its moment to abandon the nuclear deal and restart high level uranium enrichment, in the face of President Donald Trump’s warning that this action would meet with...

President Trump announced the U.S. withdrawal from the Iran Deal on May 8. The following day marked a very painful anniversary for many Iranian Jews worldwide: 39 years since the unjust execution of our community leader Habib Elghanian at the hands of the current Iranian regime and Ayatollah Khomeini. While many American Jews may not remember or even know who Elghanian was, to my community of Iranian Jews, he was a remarkable leader whose execution sparked a mass exodus of Jews from Iran. Elghanian’s brutal execution has left a painful scar in the hearts and minds of countless Jews who...

Every action has consequences.  we'll be dealing with the consequences of agreeing to a flawed nuclear deal with Iran for years to come. One of those consequences is that the deal gave Iran tens of billions of dollars in cash, the result of unfreezing Iranian assets.  Iran has used that money to make trouble in several places, including allowing Hezb'allah to assist President Assad in Syria, funding Houthi rebels in Yemen, and giving some extra cash to Hamas in their war of extermination against Israel. The Israeli internal security service Shin Bet is saying the huge demonstrations on the Gaza border with...

Iran is threatening to release the names of Western officials who took bribe money to pass the Iran Nuke Deal. I am not surprised, as an investigator I follow by the name of George Webb spoke about this in one of his latest videos. No wonder John Kerry has been working overtime to save the Iran Nuclear Deal. This is the most corrupt scheme in government history. Those who took kickbacks to pass this Deal should be arrested and charged. Is this not called “treason?” They played politics with a fragile world on the brink of nuclear war. It is...

A radical cleric who led militia into bloody battles with coalition forces in Iraq is on course to win the country's election. Firebrand Iraqi Moqtada al-Sadr formed the Mahdi Army in 2003 which was responsible for bloodshed on the streets of Basra and the shooting down of coalition planes.

The United States has hammered another nail into the “coffin” of the 1947 UN Partition Resolution that called for the internationalization of Jerusalem.The Czech Republic, Romania, Slovakia, the Philippines, Guatemala, Honduras, Bolivia, and various other countries are considering to follow in the footsteps of the United States.The Christian evangelical sector of American voters was what finally clinched Trump’s resolve to transfer the embassy from Tel Aviv and recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.The “price” Israel will pay appears to be continued restraint in construction and an occasional building freeze in Jerusalem.The embassy will open in west Jerusalem, with...

The Obama administration is acknowledging its transfer of $1.7 billion to Iran earlier this year was made entirely in cash, using non-U.S. currency, as Republican critics of the transaction continued to denounce the payments. Treasury Department spokeswoman Dawn Selak said in a statement late Tuesday that the cash payments were necessary because of the "effectiveness of U.S. and international sanctions," which isolated Iran from the international finance system. The $1.7 billion was the settlement of a decades-old arbitration claim between the U.S. and Iran. An initial $400 million of euros, Swiss francs and other foreign currency was delivered on pallets...

WASHINGTON — Texas Sen. Ted Cruz is among a handful of Republican senators expected to attend the controversial opening of the new American Embassy in Jerusalem on Monday, his office has confirmed. The trip comes roughly five months after President Donald Trump formally recognized Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and announced plans to relocate the U.S. Embassy there from Tel Aviv. Cruz, who has long called for such a move, praised the decision as “courageous and heroic.” But many Arab and European leaders slammed Trump for upending a decades-old foreign policy in which U.S. presidents declined to weigh in...

Iran launched dozens of rockets at Israel yesterday, causing little damage thanks to the “Iron Dome” system Israel employs for just such occasions. In retaliation, Israel launched a wide-ranging military strike on Iranian assets in Syria. It might have looked proportional at first, but it has now become apparent that Israel has decided to reduce Iran’s ability to operate effectively in Syria at all:

There’s a major war brewing in the Middle East between Iran and Israel. It is now getting nasty and ugly, and for the first time, Iranian rockets hit Israel mainland targets. After President Trump decided to withdraw the US from the Iran nuclear deal, within hours of his decision, Israel’s Prime Minister Netanyahu, fearing a massive buildup of Iranian forces that have been taking place in Syria over the last several months, began to “retaliate” (read attack them on sovereign Syrian territory) via massive missile and air-strikes, pounding positions held by Iranian soldiers (Iran has a mutual defense treaty with...

Iranian forces in Syria did not ask the Syrian government, or even notify Syrian leaders, before launching 20 missiles at Israel just after midnight on Thursday, Fox News reported. “It appears that the regime of Bashar Assad of Syria wants to distance itself from Iran’s military activity in its very own back yard,” Fox News’s David Lee Miller reported from the Golan Heights on Thursday. Miller said that Fox News had learn from European sources that, “The Iranian major general in charge of the Al-Quds Force in Syria, Qassem Soleimani, launched last night’s attack against Israel without the knowledge or...

WASHINGTON — The Bahraini foreign minister said Israel had a right to defend itself from Iran. The message on Twitter Thursday, a day after Israel once again struck targets in Syria believed to house Iranian materiel and personnel, was unusual for an Arab leader in its blunt defense of Israel. Bahrain is one of a number of Gulf states that have in recent decades moderated their views on Israel and allowed Israelis to visit and do business, but expressions of unadorned support for Israeli military action are exceptional if not unprecedented. “As long as Iran has breached the status quo...

Dramatic Break With Arab Precedent Follows Iranian Missile Assault Bahraini Foreign Minister Khalid bin Ahmed al-Khalifa (far right) with fellow Arab foreign ministers in Cairo in July 2017. Photo: Reuters / Khaled Elfiqi. The foreign minister of Bahrain on Thursday issued an unusually forthright defense of Israel’s sovereign right to defend itself, hours after Iranian forces in Syria aimed a barrage of missiles at the Jewish state, inviting a wave of Israeli air strikes in response. “As long as Iran has breached the status quo in the region and invaded countries with its forces and missiles, any state in the...

The media and political elites who pose as defenders of the poor beleaguered Palestinians don't care about them at all.  They are merely pawns in an effort to rid the world of Jews, starting with the half of world Jewry living in the historic homeland of Jews, Israel.  This has been proven beyond a doubt by the reaction – really a lack of any reaction – to Syria's bombing of a large Palestinian settlement, in the course of that nation's civil war and ongoing ethnic cleansing of Sunni Muslims, who stand in the way of Iran's effort to establish a Shia...

Monday’s opening of the U.S. Embassy in contested Jerusalem, cheered by Israelis as a historic validation, is seen by Palestinians as an in-your-face affirmation of pro-Israel bias by President Donald Trump and a new blow to dreams of statehood. The festive inauguration helps harden Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’ rejection of Washington as a future mediator in the conflict with Israel, likely ushering in a prolonged period of diplomatic vacuum in which other powers are unwilling or unable to step up as brokers. Such paralysis and loss of hope have been major drivers of Palestinian unrest. Underscoring the conflict’s volatility, thousands...

Khaled al-Batsh, organizer of the “Marches of Return," warned Israel against harming Arabs participating in the events, hinting that this could lead to a military response by armed groups. Speaking to the Hamas site “Al-Risala,” Batsh said, "We have behind us men and guns who know very well how to protect our people ... Our backs will not be exposed ... We have organizations of struggle that protect the body and they will put an end to any attempt to harm the people and attack it." Batsh noted that the marches will set out on Monday wherever “Palestinians” are found...

Where is there a list of the countries who support breaking Obama's nuclear deal? MSM gives us plenty of examples of international politicians who oppose breaking the deal.

Barack Obama’s former Secretary of State, John Kerry has been secretly meeting with Iranian officials to salvage Iran’s nuclear weapons program. After the news broke last week Rep. Devin Nunes (R-CA) the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee called on G-men to arrest John Kerry for his treasonous acts. Kerry was working against the Trump administration to salvage the Iranian nuclear deal. Earlier this week President Trump withdrew from the sham Iranian nuclear deal. President Trump knew the deal with the Iranian mullahs was not working. Several leading officials have called on the Sessions DOJ to prosecuted John Kerry for...

OH BOY! Iranian Regime Threatens to Release Names of Western Officials Who Took Bribes to Pass Nuke Deal. (Full title). ... Earlier this week President Trump withdrew from the sham Iranian nuclear deal. President Trump knew the deal with the Iranian mullahs was not working. This was despite former Secretary of State John Kerry working against the Trump administration to salvage the weak deal with the Iranian regime. ... Of course, the Iranian regime is very upset with President Trump’s decision. Now this… Iran’s Foreign Ministry Spokesman Hossein Jaberi Ansari warned Western officials this week that if they do not...