Free Republic

What we know Iran has launched more than 100 drones toward Israel, military officials said, beginning its retaliatory attack weeks after a suspected Israeli strike on the Iranian consular building in Syria killed two of Tehran’s top commanders. The Biden administration expects Iran will also launch dozens of cruise missiles and ballistic missiles targeting Israeli government sites, not civilians or religious sites, a U.S. official said. It will be hours before the drones arrive and Israel will aim to intercept them, Israeli military officials said. The U.S. and Israel have coordinated on a defense plan, including the USS Carney and...

Sirens sound across Israel's north, south, Jerusalem and West Bank ■ IDF: Over 200 missiles, drones launched from Iran, most intercepted; army base in southern Israel sustained minor damage ■ U.S., U.K. and Jordan reportedly intercept drones ■ IDF deploys GPS jamming ■ Israeli war, security cabinets convened ■ Israel intensifies emergency guidelines, shuts down schools and large gatherings U.S. Embassy in Israel directs U.S. government employees to take shelter until further notice Israeli cabinet members authorize Netanyahu, Gallant and Gantz to make decisions on response to Iran's attack IDF: Residents of northern Golan, Nevatim, Dimona, Beer Sheva, Eilat no...

Authorities have released very little information about their investigations and announced no arrests, but they have accused Iran's "enemies" of using the suspected poisonings to undermine the clerical establishment. Some Iranians believe the girls' schools are being targeted by hard-line elements to stop them receiving an education. Others suggest the authorities may be punishing girls for their leading role in the nationwide anti-government protests that erupted in September. Since then, a total of 127 schools in 25 of Iran's 31 provinces have been affected, according to a tally by the reformist news outlet Etemad Online. Students have said they smelled...

Iran could now produce “one bomb’s worth of fissile material” in “about 12 days,” a top US Defense Department official said Tuesday. Under Secretary of Defense for Policy Colin Kahl offered one of the most striking US government assessments to date of Iran’s “breakout time” as efforts to try to restore the Iran nuclear agreement remain halted and Tehran continues to breach the restrictions set out by the deal. Kahl said that “Iran’s nuclear progress since” the Trump administration withdrew the United States from the 2015 nuclear deal “has been remarkable.” “Back in 2018, when the previous administration decided to...

Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei: The Earthquake in Turkey and Syria Is a “Small Thing” Compared to Political Issues Like Palestine or American Interference in the Region #Iran #earthquake #EarthquakeTurkeySyria #Khamenei pic.twitter.com/g2ey6bY6mg— MEMRI (@MEMRIReports) February 20, 2023

International inspectors this week found Iran has uranium enriched to 84% purity, just 6% below that needed to produce a nuclear weapon, Bloomberg News reported Sunday. The International Atomic Energy Agency is preparing its quarterly report on Iran's nuclear program, and two monitors found the near-nuclear weapon capability — the highest found to date.

On Saturday, Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, tweeted: “Martyr Soleimani is an eternal reality that will live on forever. His assassins – including Trump & the like – will go down in history’s garbage bin, but of course after receiving retribution in this world for the crime they committed .” This is a clear threat, but Twitter has not banned or suspended Khamenei’s account. After all, he was threatening Donald Trump, and as far as Twitter is concerned, what could be wrong with that?Khamenei was referring, of course, to Qasem Soleimani, the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps Quds Force commander...

(Subtitle) Isolated and embattled, Russia and Iran are increasingly cooperative. Russia once viewed the G-20 group of leading economies as the world’s key cooperative forum. No longer. The November 15-16 meeting in Bali will not be attended by Vladimir Putin and there is therefore little chance that his isolation will be illustrated through face-to-face condemnations from Western leaders. That’s not to say that Russia has no friends, just that it has fewer than before its all-out war on Ukraine began in February. North Korea, for example, has reportedly drawn closer to the Kremlin through supplies of military equipment to aid...

We’ve reported on the ongoing protests in Iran following the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini, reportedly from being beaten while in custody following her arrest for “unsuitable attire.” Late in October, the Biden Administration announced it was levying sanctions against 14 Iranian officials in response to the government’s crackdown.

The recent massive investigations in Albania of a group of Iranian regime spies did not grab headlines in the US. But its revelations are truly newsworthy. Unable to crush the unfolding uprising at home, the Iranian regime is striking overseas. Terrorist plots targeting the MEK in Albania, France, the US and Denmark have been foiled. One Iranian diplomat is jailed in Belgium, three have been expelled from France and the Netherlands, and the terrorist arrested in Denmark has been exposed as closely linked to the regime’s ambassador in Norway. Thankfully, those attacks have been to no avail. What recently happened...

The Gatestone Institute’s Khaled Abu Toameh warns that the White House has “effectively decided to sacrifice the Arabs, their interests, demands and fears in order to appease Iran.” Not to mention America’s own interests, which as president, Biden is supposed to pursue. Earlier this year, Biden unilaterally dropped sanctions on Iran’s nuclear program put in place under President Donald Trump. The hope was to entice Tehran into negotiations. The result was to encourage the Mullahs to demand even more. Senator Ted Cruz (R-Texas) warned at the time, “As a result of President Biden’s weakness and appeasement, this administration is ramping...

Intel officials told VICE World News Hadi Matar had been in contact with members of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard. .. The 24-year-old man accused of stabbing author Salman Rushdie had been in direct contact with members of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps on social media, European and Middle Eastern intelligence officials told VICE World News. Hadi Matar has been charged with attempted murder after Rushdie, 75, was repeatedly stabbed on stage ahead of a speaking event in Chautauqua, New York, on Friday. On Sunday, Rushdie’s son Zafar Rushdie said his father was in a critical condition and had sustained “life-changing” injuries...

Excerpt: "Biden yesterday reaffirmed his commitment to returning to the 2015 JCPOA nuclear deal with Iran– a deal which saw the Obama government send $100 billion to Iran, including a C-130 Hercules carrying $400 million in cash on January 16, 2016, as CNN reported. The Islamist regime then used that money to wage war in Yemen, Lebanon, Iraq, Gaza and around the world, massively destablizing the world. Now, Biden’s offer to the Ayatollahs threatens to dwarf even that gargantuan act of treason. “Under the deal, Iran gets a financial package worth up to $275 billion in the first year and...