Free Republic

Just in time for Purim, the Jewish holiday celebrating the redemption of the Jewish people from plots of genocide in ancient Persia, Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was reportedly hospitalized in critical condition on Wednesday. According to Arab media reports cited by Israel Hayom, Khamenei was urgently brought to a hospital in Tehran after several of his bodily systems had already failed. The reports add that the 76-year-old supreme leader of the Islamic regime has undergone surgery and remains in critical condition. Recently it has been reported that he was suffering from prostate cancer which had spread to additional...

Iran Foreign Minister: We Believe We Are 'Very Close' to Nuke Deal GENEVA — Iran has no intention of building a nuclear weapon, and the sooner the world recognizes that, the sooner there will be a deal aimed at curbing its nuclear capabilities in exchange for the lifting of crippling economic sanctions, Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif told NBC News. "Iran is not about building nuclear weapons," Zarif said in an exclusive interview with Ann Curry Wednesday. "We don't want to build nuclear weapons, we don't believe nuclear weapons bring security to anybody, certainly not to us." Zarif said his...

The senior terrorist operative killed in a drone strike Thursday in Pakistan was a top Al Qaeda planner involved in plotting attacks around the world, a senior U.S. counterterrorism official told Fox News. The official identified the operative as Saleh al-Somali, the network's external operations chief for plots outside Afghanistan and Pakistan, saying there are “strong indications” al-Somali died. "He was engaged in plotting throughout the world, which, given his role, probably included planning attacks against the United States and Europe," the official said. "He took strategic guidance from Al Qaeda’s top leadership and translated it into operational blueprints for...