Israel Seizes Weapons Shipment from Iran

Kelly Givens | Contributing Editor to Crosswalk.com | Updated: Mar 05, 2014

Israel Seizes Weapons Shipment from Iran

The Israeli navy seized a ship in the Red Sea on Wednesday that was carrying dozens of advanced Iranian-supplied rocked made in Syria and headed toward the Gaza Strip, SRN News Reports.

Hamas, the militant Palestinian Islamist movement that governs Gaza, denies any involvement. It accused Israel of concocting a story to “justify the blockade” of the coastal territory.

This news follows months of tension between Israel and Iran. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is visiting the U.S. this week, said he approved the ship seizure after consultations with his security chiefs.

“At the same time that it is talking to world powers, at the same time that Iran is smiling and saying all kinds of honeyed words, that same Iran is sending lethal weaponry to terrorist organizations and it is doing so in a complex web of covert, worldwide operations,” Netanyahu said from Los Angeles.

According to the BBC, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) had been tracking the weapons for several months, first flown from Damascus to Tehran and then taken to a port in southern Iran. The ship was eventually intercepted while on its way to Sudan.

This latest discovery does nothing to help the feeble negotiations between the two nations. Last month, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei declared that talks between Tehran and the six world powers meeting in Vienna would “not lead anywhere.” 

Publication Date: March 5, 2014.



Israel Seizes Weapons Shipment from Iran