Free Republic

Top News Story U.S. Says Quds Force Operations Director Among Detained Iranians International Herald Tribune reported that the The U.S. ambassador said Wednesday that one of the Iranians detained by U.S. forces in Iraq during two raids over the past month was the director of operations for Iran's Revolutionary Guard Quds faction, the organization responsible for funding and arming Iraqi militants.   Hezbollah Protests Meant to Weaken Western Resolve Against Iran, Expert Says CNSNews reported that Iran and Syria are funding Hezbollah's "urban intimidation" campaign in Lebanon to crush the emerging democracy and weaken Western resolve to stop Iran's...

Top News Story Ahmadinejad: Be assured that the US and Israel will soon be destroyed YNet News reported that Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Israel and the United States will soon be destroyed. Plus photos the MSM ignores.Fars News Agency reported Ahmadinejad in a meeting with Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Mualem here on Tuesday assured that the United States and the Zionist regime of Israel will soon come to the end of their lives.   How Iran is planning to deal with Americans Amir Taheri, Gulf News reported that Ahmadinejad believes the most the US might do militarily is...

Top News Story World Press ponders: Will the US Fight Iran or Not? Brian Walden, BBC News pondered how best to respond to Iran's bullish nuclear ambitions. Hawks can be dismissed as warmongers; doves can be blamed for a policy of appeasement, as our history shows.The Guardian reported that one of the papers close to Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is threatening suicide attacks against American targets in response to the Iranian publics concern over a possible US attack on Iran - suggesting the highest levels are involved in ringing the alarm over the American deployment.People's Daily Online...

Top News Story Iran to Test-Fire Missiles in Military Exercises FOX News reported that Iran plans three days of military maneuvers, including short-range missile tests, beginning Sunday.   Iran president defies UN sanction resolutions Reuters reported that Ahmadinejad said on Sunday that U.N. Security Council resolutions against Tehran would not affect Iran's nuclear policies even if 10 more of them were passed.   Iraqi Police Detain 3 Iranians in Mosul Yahoo News reported that Iraqi police detained three Iranians who were found without documentation in the northern city of Mosul.   Rice: More Iran Sanctions May Come Gulf News...

Top News Story Iran’s strongman loses grip as ayatollah offers nuclear deal The Times Online reported that Iran's supreme leader is considering a change of policy on the country’s nuclear program in an effort to defuse growing tension with the West.   Leading Senator Assails Bush Over Iran Stance The New York Times reported that Senator John D. Rockefeller IV, the new chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, on Friday sharply criticized the Bush administration’s increasingly combative stance toward Iran.   This Holocaust will be Different Benny Morris, The Jerusalem Post argued that the second holocaust will not be...

Top News Story US plans envision broad attack on Iran - analyst Reuters reported that U.S. contingency planning for military action against Iran's nuclear program goes beyond limited strikes and would effectively unleash a war against the country, a former U.S. intelligence analyst said on Friday.   Chirac seeks to cut a deal with Iran that undermines the US Amir Taheri, Asharq Alawsat reported that France's President Jacques Chirac wants to try his luck with the Khomeinist regime in Tehran in the hope of persuading it to reduce its nuclear ambitions, abandon Hezbollah, and join France in creating a...

Top News Story Iranian and Turkish troop build-up along border with Iraqi Kurdistan Adnkronos International reported that Iran is amassing troops along its border with Iraq's Kurdistan region near the Bashamagh crossing.KurdishMedia.com reported that the Turkish army have gathered and intensified its forces on Iraqi Kurdistan’s boarder ready for attack.   Iran makes its move in Afghanistan Jamestown.org reported an increasing number of critical reports about Iran's secret contacts with insurgent groups in Afghanistan, specifically those groups fighting against the U.S. presence in the country.   Islamic Republic permits media attacks on Ahmadinejad's policies AJC.com reported that in Iran...

Top News Story Iraq: Iranian arrested in Erbil is wanted in Austria Adnkronos International reported that one of the five Iranians arrested last week by the US army in the northern Iraqi city of Erbil is wanted in Austria in connection with the assassination of Kurdish leader Andol Rahman Ghassemlu in 1989.   Russia completes missile delivery to Iran Al Jazeera reported that Russia’s defense minister confirmed that Moscow completed the delivery of TOR-M1 surface-to-air missile defense systems to Iran.   Iran finances regime militias in Syria MiddleEast Newsline reported Iran has been financing the formation of militias loyal...

Top News Story Why the Bush administration thought Iran wanted a stable Iraq... Eli Lake, The New York Sun argued that when President Bush announced the new Iraq strategy, acknowledging that Iran was effectively at war with us in Iraq by supplying terrorists with advanced improvised explosives, his thoughts turned to Lawrence Franklin and the in 2002, the Bush administration decision that locked America into an impossible position.   First-ever Communiqué by the GCC, U.S. Plus Egypt and Jordan The Wall Street Journal reported that the foreign ministers of the Gulf Cooperation Council met to discuss regional security and...

Top News Story Regime Change is "Preferable" to a U.S. Attack on Iran FOX News reported that former U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. John Bolton argued that regime change, he said is "preferable" to a U.S. attack on Iran's nuclear sites.Salon interviewed Michael Ledeen whose catchphrase, "Faster, please!" refers to the speed with which he'd like the United States to compel regime change in Iran.   Rice: Talk of Israeli Strike in Iran Shows Risks Reuters reported that Condoleezza Rice said on Sunday that speculation about an Israeli attack on Iran's nuclear facilities underscored the risk of failing to...

Top News Story The Biggest Mideast Alignment since the 1950's The Jerusalem Post reported that the Middle East has undergone a dramatic shift in alignments, perhaps more significant than anything that has happened since the 1950s.   Iran, Venezuela agree to thwart ‘US domination’ YNet News reported that Presidents Chavez, Ahmadinejad said they are ready to spend billions of dollars to finance projects in other countries to help thwart US domination.The Scotsman reported that Venezuela and Iran are ready to spend up to £1 billion to help other countries free themselves from domination by the United States.   Cheney's...

Top News Story Iran: The Backlash Begins Robert Tait, The Sunday Herald reported that Ahmadinejad has started to feel the unmistakable chill of public disaffection.   Detained Iranians May Have Targeted U.S. Troops ABC News reported that the five Iranians detained in Iraq Thursday during a raid in Irbil belong to Iran's elite Revolutionary Guard and may have helped insurgents attack American troops.   Rice: U.S. Aims to Curb Iran Aggression CBS News reported that Condoleezza Rice said that the recent U.S. raids that President Bush approved against Iranian targets in Iraq are part of broad efforts to confront...

Top News Story Tehran's Limited Options Amir Taheri, Asharq Alawsat argued that having lost the initiative on the issue of Iran's nuclear ambitions, the Khomeinist leadership in Tehran is trying to hide behind a number of threats.   Iran's anti-U.S. President Heads to Venezuela The Washington Post reported that Ahmadinejad left Iran on Friday for his second trip to Latin America in four months, starting with a visit to Venezuela and talks with its anti-U.S. President Hugo Chavez.   Squeezing Iran The Wall Street Journal argued that the United States has known for years that Syria and Iran are...

Top News Story Ahmadinejad's strategic guru captured in Iraq? Reuters reported that U.S. forces stormed an Iranian government representative's office in the northern Iraqi city of Arbil early on Thursday and arrested five people, including diplomats and staff.Iran Press News reported that based on unconfirmed received reports from reliable sources in Iraq, Hassan Abbasi was among those who was arrested in the Thursday, January 11th early-morning raid in the Iraqi town of Arbil.DoctorZin, Regime Change Iran - If confirmed, Hassan Abbasi's capture would be a major blow to the Iranian effort to support the insurgency in Iraq. He is...

Top News Story Arabs see no choice but to prep for war Amir Taheri, The New York Post reported that the Arabs are increasingly worried because Iran's new leadership under President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad refuses even to consider their concerns over its nuclear ambitions. During the 2005 presidential campaign, Ahmadinejad described the GCC states as "gas stations, not countries."Adnkronos International reported that there is widespread fear among Persian Gulf nations over Iran’s nuclear program in light of the fact that Iran is considered a highly seismic country and thus prone to devastating earthquakes.   What exploded in Central Iran? Fars...

Top News Story Winds Definitely Turning Against Ahmadinejad Iran Press Service reported a newspaper that belongs to the leader of the Islamic Republic sharply criticized Ahmadinejad's behavior in the difficult nuclear problem, mostly the “personalization” of the nuclear issue.The Jerusalem Post reported that Ahmadinejad is in danger of losing the next election due to a greater than ever housing shortage crisis in Iran.   US bans, freezes Iranian bank's assets The Jerusalem Post reported the US government stepped up efforts Tuesday to disrupt financing of Iran's nuclear weapons program, banning its fifth-largest state-owned bank from using the American financial...

Top News Story An Update: The "Supreme Leader" Dead of Dying? Michael Ledeen, Faster Please provided further updates on his earlier report on the death of the Supreme Leader Khamenei. He points out that Khamenei has not been seen in public for 5-6 days now.James Lewis, The American Thinker reported that the mullahs of Tehran are in midst of the most dangerous power struggle since Jimmy Carter handed Iran to Ayatollah Khomeini in 1979.Pajamas Media provided a roundup of today's major news reports debating whether or not the Islamic Republic's Supreme Leader is dead or dying. Photo.   Rafsanjani...

Top News Story Israel Denies Plan to Attack Iran The New York Sun reported that Israel swiftly denied the report in the Times that Israeli pilots were training to strike targets in Iran with low-yield nuclear weapons. Pajamas Media challenged the report from the Sunday (London) Times for January 7, 2007: “Two Israeli air force squadrons are training to blow up an Iranian facility [Natanz] using low-yield nuclear “bunker-busters”, according to several Israeli military sources.   Three US Norfolk-based amphibious assault ships set out for Persian Gulf Saturday DebkaFile reported that part of the USS Bataan Strike group carrying...

Top News Story Revealed: Israel plans nuclear strike on Iran The Times Online reported that ISRAEL has drawn up secret plans to destroy Iran’s uranium enrichment facilities with tactical nuclear weapons.   Impending Iran crisis Kenneth R. Timmerman, The Washington Times reported that over the next three to six months we should expect the very real possibility of a war with Iran which could spread far beyond the Persian Gulf.   Military Shakeup Places US Command In Fighting Stance DEBKAfile believes that the new Iraq strategy which the US president is due to unveil next week - and is...

Top News Story Khaleej Times TEHERAN - Iranian reformist parliamentarians on Saturday blamed President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s government for failing to prevent United Nations sanctions. The UN Security Council voted unanimously on Dec. 23 to impose sanctions on Iran’s trade in sensitive nuclear materials and technology in an attempt to stop uranium enrichment work that could produce material that could be used in bombs. Reformist former President Mohammad Khatami suspended Iran’s nuclear work for more than two years in an effort to build confidence and avoid confrontation with the West, but resumed uranium enrichment in February last year. “The only...