Free Republic

A State Department spokeswoman said Wednesday that the agency does not believe Hillary Clinton violated any ethics requirements by interacting with Clinton Foundation donors. "We feel confident that all the rules were followed," Elizabeth Trudeau, State Department spokeswoman, said amid a backlash over previously undisclosed emails that showed the special access foundation donors enjoyed in the early months of Clinton's tenure at the agency. Trudeau shut down questions during the agency's daily briefing about emails that suggested a Clinton Foundation official had informed one of Clinton's top aides that it was "important to take care of" an individual whose name...

The Obama administration's State Department has confirmed that the Iran nuclear deal negotiated by Secretary of State John Kerry on instructions from President Obama is a "political" commitment only. And commentators quickly pointed out that means a future president "could repudiate it any time, without violating either domestic or international law." And they note, so, too, could Iran. The confirmation of the legal status of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, the deal with Iran and the U.S., the U.K., France, Germany, Russia, China and the European Union, comes from Julie Frifield, an assistant secretary for legislative affairs in the...

How the Obama administration is facilitating Iran's unprecedented killing binge. President Obama is determined to defend the Islamic Republic as a legitimate government that should receive sanctions relief. He has even overstepped his constitutional authority by signing the nuclear deal (a treaty) in the United Nations Security Council without getting the two-third vote of the Senate. He did not give Congress time to review the nuclear deal as he previously promised. The Obama administration is advocating for a regime that has been on an execution spree on an unprecedented level, according to Amnesty International's latest report. Since the beginning of...

A State Department official told PJM today that U.S. demands for the return of three Americans held by Iran and one missing in Iran are not in the framework nuclear agreement.In fact, the administration intends on keeping the return of the U.S. citizens separate from any deal, even though it says their cases have been brought up on the sidelines of the talks.Decorated Marine veteran Amir Hekmati was seized while visiting extended family for the first time in August 2011. Saeed Abedini was convicted in January 2013 for establishing Christian house churches. Washington Post reporter Jason Rezaian has been...

U.S. negotiators repeatedly shifted their goals during talks over Iran's nuclear program in response to intransigence from Tehran's representatives, according to a published report. Meanwhile, France's top diplomat urged caution Friday about the possibility of a final deal being agreed to and admitted that his country had initially held out for firmer terms. Diplomats representing the so-called P5+1 powers and Iran announced that they had a framework of an agreement Thursday after marathon talks in Switzerland that stretched two days past their original deadline.

Houthi Yemen coup moves Iran’s Middle East hegemonic ambitions forward - upheld by Washington"The strings of the pro-Iranian Houthi rebels’ coup which toppled the Yemeni government in Sanaa were pulled from Tehran and Washington. US intelligence and shared US-Iranian support helped the Houthis reach their goal, which is confined for now to parts of central Yemen and all of the North.... Friday, Feb. 6, the rebels dissolved parliament and seized power in the country of 24 million. They propose to rule by a revolutionary council. ... debkafile’s Saudi intelligence sources reveal that the dominant figure of the uprising was none...

US Intel Contradicts Obama Claim On 60 Minutes About Islamic State Private briefings, public testimony conflict with president’s ‘60 Minutes’ claim By Guy Taylor -September 29, 2014. U.S. policy leaders, including President Obama, were repeatedly warned by the U.S. intelligence community over the last year that the Islamic State movement was gaining significant strength and would pose a major threat to regional stability if left unchecked by Iraq’s struggling military. The warnings, some in private and others in public testimony, conflict with Mr. Obama’s nationally televised proclamation Sunday night that US intelli House Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Rogers specifically challenged...

CBS News reports that the Obama administration has asked Israel to stop killing Iranian nuclear scientists. It was widely suspected that Israel had been behind a series of assassinations of key figures in the Iranian nuclear program, but never quite confirmed--until CBS' Dan Raviv cited sources close to Israel's Mossad intelligence agency. Israel and the US have both used a variety of unconventional methods to attack Iran's nuclear program.

Iranian officials say that the White House is misleading the public about the details of an interim nuclear agreement reached over the weekend in Geneva. Iran and Western nations including the United States came to an agreement on the framework for an interim deal late Saturday night in Geneva. The deal has yet to be implemented The White House released a multi-page fact sheet containing details of the draft agreement shortly after the deal was announced. However, Iranian foreign ministry official on Tuesday rejected the White House’s version of the deal as “invalid” and accused Washington of releasing a factually...

I'll be the first person to admit how little I know about foreign affairs. I often think we have entirely too much involvement in the affairs of other countries and want America to be left alone. We need to tend to our own rat killing and for the most part, allow other countries to do the same. That doesn't mean we can not collaborate on certain issues, but I lean more than a little libertarian in my view of foreign affairs. Having said that, there are times when we have to stand by our allies, and we have a strong...

The main purpose of US President Barack Obama's visit to Israel in the spring is to warn Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu against attacking Iran, unnamed officials told Army Radio on Sunday. According to the officials, the urgency of the trip is because in his speech to the United Nations in September, Netanyahu had flagged the spring of 2013 as a significant time in the context of the Iranian nuclear threat.

A Chicago lawyer is the key player behind the secret talks between the US and Iran. Yedioth Ahronoth reported Monday. A close friend of Michelle Obama, Valerie Jarrett is assisting the US government communicate behind the scenes with the representatives of Iran's supreme leader Ali Khamenei. Jarret, who was born in the Iranian city of Shiraz, is a senior advisor to US President Barack Obama. Last month, The New York Times reported that the US government is engaged in secret talks with Iran aimed at establishing a direct line of communication once the US presidential elections are over. The National...

Soon after he took office, President Barack Obama began a process ultimately designed to reestablish full US diplomatic relations with Iran, including a reopening of embassies, an Israeli daily reported Sunday. The initiative, part of a wider shift in America’s diplomatic orientation, aimed at reaching understandings with Tehran over suspending its nuclear program, Maariv claimed, citing “two Western diplomats very close to the administration.” The initiative led to at least two US-Iran meetings, the report said. Israel was made aware of the contacts, and opposed them. But Iran rebuffed the “diplomatic hand” offered by the White House, Maariv reported.

The freshly appointed chairman of a federal investigation into the Benghazi massacre is an apologist for Islamic terrorism who has a cozy relationship with Iran, the world’s leading state sponsor of terrorism. And to add insult to injury, at press time Tuesday evening the chairman of this new State Department panel, former Ambassador Thomas R. Pickering, was poised to participate in a panel discussion at the National Cathedral in Washington, D.C., on “what role the faith community can play in fighting Islamophobia.” The news comes on the heels of a new report by the Investigative Project on Terrorism that found...

Last week, Reza Kahlili, a former Revolutionary Guard member wrote that Iran had reached a deal with the Obama Administration to preserve portions of its nuclear program. Hossain Ebrahimi told reporters yesterday that Obama sent the regime a secret message. On Saturday, the Iranian regime confirmed this report. The Iranian regime revealed on Saturday that the Obama Administration sent them a secret message through the Swiss Embassy recognizing their nuclear rights. The Swiss government, acting through its Embassy in Tehran, serves as protecting power for U.S. interests in Iran. Fars News reported, via Weasel Zippers: Senior Iranian parliamentary sources revealed...

Last week, Reza Kahlili, a former Revolutionary Guard member wrote that Iran had reached a deal with the Obama Administration to preserve portions of its nuclear program. Hossain Ebrahimi told reporters yesterday that Obama sent the regime a secret message. On Saturday, the Iranian regime confirmed this report. The Iranian regime revealed on Saturday that the Obama Administration sent them a secret message through the Swiss Embassy recognizing their nuclear rights. The Swiss government, acting through its Embassy in Tehran, serves as protecting power for U.S. interests in Iran. Fars News reported, via Weasel Zippers: Senior Iranian parliamentary sources revealed...

Iran says its scientists have produced the nation's first nuclear fuel rod, a feat of engineering the West doubted Tehran was capable of. Sunday's announcement comes after Iran has said it was compelled to manufacture fuel rods on its own since international sanctions banned Tehran from buying them on foreign markets. (snip) It's unclear if the rod contained pellets or was inserted empty, as part of a test.

A week after U.S. forces pulled out of Iraq, Iran has announced its willingness to expand its military and security links with Baghdad. The AFP reports Iranian General Hassan Firouzabadi praised the "forced departure" of U.S. troops, saying it ""was due to the resistance and determination of the Iraqi people and the government."

A couple of days ago Conunderground.com was the first to point out that the circumstances surrounding the “crash” of the top secret RQ170 Sentinel drone simply didn’t add up. And we were tight! The story continues to develop and it doesn’t look good! To recap, first we were told that Iran might’ve shot it down and then the story changed to “the drone crashed on Iranian soil ” After realizing that the Iranians were about to parade a perfectly functional drone with nary a scratch on it, the official story changed to “the drone landed because it wants to live”...

The State Department has awarded 4,453 permanent resident "Diversity Visa" applications to would-be immigrants from Iran, a state sponsor of terrorism that was recently implicated in a plot to assassinate the Saudi Arabian ambassador to the United States.The lottery program for Diversity Visas awards prospective immigrants with the chance to obtain a permanent residency visa. The 4,453 prospective Iranian immigrants will still have to pursue their visa applications on their own, according to the State Department’s website. To be eligible, applicants must have at least a high school education or two years of work within the previous five years at...