Free Republic

rohl...metals tariffs on Turkey The (The Turkish lira) added to its steep losses on Friday, hitting a fresh record low, after President ( Donald Trump) authorized the doubling of metals tariffs on Turkey.

One of the instruments that the enemies use is creating discord among us. I insist that we stress and place great emphasis on this matter. Brothers, sisters, Muslims in the world of Islam, if this call reaches your ears, you should know that the day when the words “Sunni” and “Shia” appeared in the American discourse, we became concerned. Every insightful person became concerned. What does America have to do with Sunni and Shia? What does such and such a Jewish Zionist politician in America – who has done nothing except for showing malevolence against Islam and Muslims – have...

A top Iranian official has admitted for the first time that Iran knowingly helped al-Qaeda terrorists — including some of the 9/11 attackers — travel secretly through the Middle East. “Their movements [through Iran] were under the complete supervision of the Iranian intelligence,” Mohammad-Javad Larijani said in a recently surfaced interview. That was one of the main accusations leveled against Iran in the U.S. government’s 9/11 Commission Report, which named the nation as a state sponsor of terrorism. Larijani, the secretary of the Iranian judiciary’s High Council for Human Rights and a former diplomat, is a prominent member of the...

-For the year, the Turkish lira is down nearly 40 percent against the U.S. dollar. -The iShares MSCI Turkey exchange-traded fund (TUR), tracking Turkish stocks, is down 39 percent year to date. -Turkey's 10-year bond fell to a record low on Tuesday, pushing its yield up to around 20 percent.

A public university is paying a radical 89-year-old linguist hundreds of thousands of dollars to teach his famously leftist brand of politics, according to records obtained by Judicial after a months-long battle with the taxpayer-funded institution. Judicial Watch launched an investigation after the University of Arizona (UA), located in Tucson with an enrollment of about 40,000, announced that it hired Noam Chomsky to teach a general education course for undergraduates titled “What is Politics?” In the announcement UA describes Chomsky as a “world-renowned linguist” and one of the “most cited scholars in modern history.” The reality is that Chomsky is...

In announcing the imposition of the sanctions against Iran promised back in May, President Trump tweeted on Tuesday: “The Iran sanctions have officially been cast. These are among the most biting sanctions ever imposed, and in November they will ratchet up to yet another level. Anyone doing business with Iran will NOT be doing business with the United States. I am asking for WORLD PEACE, nothing less!” On Monday the president explained why he was imposing the sanctions, and asking other nations to cooperate: “We urge all nations to take such steps to make clear that the Iranian regime faces...

The most murderous dictatorship in all of human history is assembling a massive battery of U.S. lobbyists and propagandists in and around Washington, D.C., sparking growing concerns across the political spectrum about its intentions and the effect this lobbying Leviathan will have on the federal government. That dictatorship, of course, is the Communist Party regime enslaving mainland China. And among the growing roster of political hacks on its payroll are top former officials including ex-House of Representatives Speaker John Boehner, who played a key role in transferring America's productive capacity to Communist China in the late 1990s. Unsurprisingly, the Clintons...

A senior Hamas official said in an interview with the Turkish news agency Anadol that an agreement would be reached between Israel and Hamas by the end of the month. The official said that the agreement would be for five years and would include, inter alia, the halting of arson attacks, the return of dead bodies and the establishment of a port and an airport in the Sinai Peninsula. The official's statement comes after London's Asharq Al-Awsat claimed on Monday that Hamas had agreed to a "gradual ceasefire" in exchange for Israel reopening the Kerem Shalom crossing. Last week, Maariv...

The Israeli intelligence service, Mossad, assassinated a top Syrian rocket scientist on Saturday using a car bomb, the New York Times first reported Tuesday. The scientist, Aziz Asbar, led a confidential unit known as “Sector 4” at the Syrian Scientific Studies and Research Center developing cutting edge missile technology designed to further Syria’s efforts to initiate the long range bombing of Israeli cities. Asbar was killed along with his driver near the research center, which lies in the town of Masyaf and has long been believed to host chemical weapons development. The center has twice been the target of Israeli...

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan told Turkey's Star that CIA and Mossad agents are planning to rescue a pastor Andrew Brunson. According to the report, agents are already in Brunson's neighborhood. Brunson has been held in Turkey for nearly two years. He is currently under house arrest and must wear an electronic tracking device at all times. Last week, Israel released a Turkish woman who transferred money to the Hamas terror group, in a gesture intended to aid Brunson's release. However, Turkey refused to release Brunson, leading US President Donald Trump to impose sanctions on the country. Turkey responded to...

Turkey has delusions that it is a superpower have led to a deepening crisis with the United States, said Simon Waldman, head of the Turkish Studies Research Group at King’s College London. This false impression of its power is one of the root causes of problems with the United States, which also include a weak Turkish state and increasing authoritarianism in the country, Waldman wrote for his blog, simonwaldman.org. “Turkey suffers from delusions of grandeur when it comes to international affairs and finds it difficult to reconcile its self-image of greatness, often emanating from a selective and politicised memory its...

The Trump administration announced Monday the reimposition of sanctions on Iran that were lifted as part of a nuclear agreement with the country. The sanctions will take effect at 12:01 a.m. Tuesday and follow through on the order President Trump gave when he withdrew from the nuclear pact in May. "The United States is fully committed to enforcing all of our sanctions, and we will work closely with nations conducting business with Iran to ensure complete compliance. Individuals or entities that fail to wind down activities with Iran risk severe consequences," Trump said in a statement Monday. "The JCPOA, a...

President Trump is set to reimpose several sanctions against Iran, following his decision to pull out of the Iran nuclear deal. On Monday, the Trump administration is expected to announce the first wave of sanctions targeting Iranian automobile exports, trade and resources needed for nuclear development. The president pulled out of the deal back in May and gave a grace-period for U.S. allies to make prep for the fallout like cutting ties with Iranian businesses. The administration threatened to punish any country still making deals with the Islamic republic when the sanctions take effect.

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said Monday that the leaders of the United States, Saudi Arabia and Israel were isolated in their hostility to Iran. "Today, the entire world has declared they are not in line with US policies against Iran," Zarif said

Palestinian Authority (PA) Chairman Mahmoud Abbas' office claimed that White House Adviser Jared Kushner's reported efforts to limit UNRWA activities are "a continuation of the subversive plots to eliminate the Palestinian problem." A statement from Abbas' office emphasized the need to "oppose" and "foil" the US plan. It is believed that US President Donald Trump's proposed peace plan will remove the question of PA "refugees" from the negotiating table. The peace plan, the contents of which have not yet been revealed, was by the PA as "aiming to eliminate the Palestinian problem and negate all of the Palestinian nation's legitimate...

The timing of the exercise is unusual, as it appears to be similar in scale and nature to a drill that ordinarily happens later in the autumn. It comes just days before the U.S. reimposes sanctions on Tehran after its withdrawal from the 2015 nuclear deal. The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said several dozen boats were out training early Thursday morning. The vessels are mostly small attack boats, and there have been no interactions with U.S. ships in the area, the official added, according to AFP. In a statement, Captain Bill Urban, the military's Central Command spokesman, said...

Full Title: 'Death to the dictator!' Violence on streets of Iran as police use tear gas on furious protesters, including chador-clad women, demonstrating against 'corrupt regime' ruining the country while waging ideological war abroad Protests have broken out in a number of cities against Iranian regime this week Comes after the dramatic drop of Iran's currency and other economic problems 'The nation is forced to beg while the leader lives like God,' protesters chanted 'Death to the dictator!' Violence on streets of Iran as police use tear gas on furious protesters, including chador-clad women, demonstrating against 'corrupt regime' ruining the...

Iran's currency is continuing its downward spiral as increased American sanctions loom, hitting a new low on the thriving black market exchange. The Iranian rial fell to 112,000 to the dollar on Sunday, from 98,000 to $1 on Saturday. The government-set exchange rate was 44,070 to the dollar, compared to 35,186 on Jan. 1. The Iranian rial has been declining steadily for years but the drop has accelerated in recent months after the U.S. decision to pull out of the nuclear deal with Iran in May and announcement of increased sanctions beginning next month.

The White House said the North Carolina native is "a victim of unfair and unjust attention" and should be released. LONDON — Turkey demanded an immediate reversal from the U.S. after its NATO ally imposed sanctions over the treatment of detained American pastor Andrew Brunson. Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu said the Trump administration’s decision was “incompatible with the most simple diplomatic courtesy and mutual respect" and risked regional instability. Relations between the countries have plummeted after Brunson, 50, was arrested in 2016 on charges of "committing crimes on behalf of terror groups without being a member" and espionage. He...

Russia cannot compel Iranian forces to quit Syria, Moscow's ambassador to Tel Aviv said on Monday, rebuffing Israel's long-standing demand that it should work to ensure their total withdrawal from the country. "They are playing a very, very important role in our common and joint effort to eliminate terrorists in Syria," Ambassador Anatoly Viktorov told Israel's Channel 10 television in an interview. "That is why, for this period of time, we see as non-realistic any demands to expel any foreign troops from the entirety of the Syrian Arab Republic," he said. "We can talk with our Iranian partners very frankly...