Free Republic

President Obama spoke to French President Francois Hollande on Friday to discuss the nuclear talks with Iran, which have reportedly hit a snag over the question of easing sanctions. The two leaders discussed the nuclear negotiations, as well as the conflict in Ukraine, according to the White House. “The presidents reaffirmed their commitment to achieving a long term comprehensive deal that fully and verifiably addresses the international community’s concerns about Iran’s nuclear program, while noting that Iran must take steps to resolve several remaining issues,” the White House said in a statement. A round of talks in Switzerland concluded Friday...

Legislation requiring congressional review of any Iran nuclear deal will get the 67 Senate votes needed to overcome a presidential veto, Sen. Bob Corker predicted Friday. The Tennessee Republican said despite “drama” around the issue in recent weeks, he believes his legislation will be successful. “I believe ultimately we will have a veto-proof majority to make that happen,” Corker said during a speech at the Republican National Lawyers Association’s 2015 National Policy Conference. The Foreign Relations Committee is expected to mark up Corker's bill next month, after a deadline for negotiators to reach a framework for a final deal. The...

For almost a decade, Arab regimes have worried about alleged Iranian plans to create a "Shiite crescent" from the Persian Gulf to the Mediterranean, encompassing Iraq, Syria, Lebanon and a yet-to-be liberated Palestine. Now fresh fears have grown that the "crescent" may take another shape as well -- from the Persian Gulf to the Gulf of Aden, and including chunks of Saudi Arabia and Yemen. Since January, for instance, Iran has intensified pressure on Bahrain, where a Shiite majority has grievances against the Arab Sunni ruling elite. An archipelago connected with the Saudi mainland by a bridge, Bahrain provides the...

The Houthis, Iranian backed rebels have taken control of Yemen’s capital, Sanaa. The comparison to Hezbollah is apt as Reuters is reporting that the Houthi are blocking the appointment of Yemen’s president. So what’s Iran’s interest in Yemen? It was spelled out by Michael Segall of the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs two and a half years ago. A couple of Segall’s observations are sobering: "Iran regards Yemen in general, and its Shia northern part in particular, as a springboard for subversion and for creating a tangible threat to Saudi Arabia, its main religious-political rival in the region. Iran also...

The United States has conducted an escalating campaign of deadly airstrikes against the extremists of the Islamic State for more than a month. But that appears to have done little to tamp down the conspiracy theories still circulating from the streets of Baghdad to the highest levels of Iraqi government that the C.I.A. is secretly behind the same extremists that it is now attacking.

Iraq has cut cooperation with the United States on archaeological exploration because Washington has not returned Iraq's Jewish archives, Tourism and Archaeology Minister Liwaa Smaisim has said. The fate of the archives, which were removed from Iraq following the 2003 US-led invasion, is a long-running point of contention between Washington and Baghdad, which has for years sought their return. Smaisim, a member of powerful anti-US Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr's movement, said in an interview with AFP that Iraq will use "all the means" to pursue the return of the archives. "One of the means of pressure that I used against...

Top Persian Gulf clergyman weighs in on Israeli, Saudi hackers' electronic sparring; endorses 'cyber Jihad against Zionist enemy' "Cyber jihad is effective," senior Kuwaiti Iama Tareq Mohammed Al-Suwaidan announced on his twitter account Wednesday. The prominent clergyman announced that "there is a need to unite hacker efforts, within the framework of cyber Jihad against the Zionist enemy." He went on to explain that the recent slew of Arab cyber attacks on Israel's financial institutions as well as the El Al website were "efficient Jihad which will reap great rewards, Allah willing." Al-Suwaidan's Twitter account is immensely popular and has over...

Iranian President Mahmud Ahmadinejad arrived in Lebanon on Wednesday to a hero's welcome and blaze of fanfare that belied the country's rising intercommunal tensions and Western misgivings about his visit. Shouts of "khosh amadi" ("welcome" in Persian) and showers of rice, sweets and petals greeted the Iranian leader as he waved to crowds from an open-topped car after arriving in Beirut at the beginning of a two-day trip. It's Ahmadinejad's first visit to Lebanon, where Iran has cultivated close relationship with Hezbollah, the Shi'ite Islamist group that fought a bitter five-week conflict with Israel in 2006. He was expected to...

BEIRUT, Lebanon (AP) — Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah said Thursday that the Lebanese government had declared war on his Shiite militant group by declaring its private telecommunications network an illegal threat to state security. Nasrallah vowed to fight any attempts to disarm Hezbollah in a speech that hiked tensions already running high after a long-simmering political crisis between the Hezbollah-led opposition and the government erupted into sectarian violence. "Those who try to arrest us, we will arrest them," he said. "Those who shoot at us, we will shoot at them. The hand raised against us, we will cut it off."...

IRAN: TEXT MESSAGE TELLS PRESIDENT HE SHOULD WASH MORE Tehran, 14 April (AKI) - Iran's hardline president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, has apparently been incensed by an anonymous text message suggesting he does not wash enough. Ahmadinejad has taken legal action over the offending text, has fired the president of a phone company and has had four people arrested and accused of colluding with the Israeli foreign intelligence service, Mossad, the anti-government website Rooz Online reports. Poking fun at the president, the regime's senior figures and its policies, has reportedly become a national pastime in Iran. The Iranian authorities are paying particular...

Diplomats: Iran Doing Last-Minute Nuke Processing Friday, November 19, 2004 PHOTOS Click image to enlarge STORIES BACKGROUND • Bush to Push Nuke Issue at APEC Forum • State, Powell Defend Comments About Iran's Nuke Program • Iranian Leader Urges Protests • U.S. Rules Out Nuke Talks With Iran • Exiles: Iran Has Bomb Blueprints • Iran: Europe Must Support Us • Iraq's Neighbors to Hold Meeting • Euro-Iran Nuke Deal in Jeopardy • Extremists Going From Iran to Iraq • Iran Closer to Finalizing Nuclear Deal • Iran: Deal Reached With Europeans on Nukes • Iran: Nuke Talks in 'Final...