War by Proxy US/Iran-Iran boat intercepted

Y. Shulamith · 01-25-2009, 07:30 AM

An Iranian boat headed for Gaza was intercepted by the US Navy to be checked for weapons headed to Gaza.

Y. Shulamith · 01-25-2009, 07:33 AM

Last update - 13:50 25/01/2009

'U.S. Navy hunting Iran ships sent to rearm Hamas in Gaza'

By Haaretz Service and The Associated Press

Tags: Israel News, Hamas, Gaza

A United States naval taskforce has been ordered to hunt down weapons ships sent by Iran to rearm its Islamist ally Hamas in Gaza, The Sunday Times reported.

Quoting U.S. diplomatic sources, the British daily said that Combined Task Force 151, which is countering pirates in the Gulf of Aden, has been instructed to track Iranian arms shipments.

The intelligence community in Israel believes that Iran intends on rearming Hamas after the Israel Defense Forces' recent offensive in Gaza seriously depleted the Islamist militant group's arsenal.

Israel launched the 22-day offensive late last month against Hamas in Gaza to try to permanently halt years of militant rocket fire on growing numbers of Israelis and to halt the smuggling of arms that turned Hamas into a threat to much of southern Israel.

Last week, the U.S. military intercepted and searched an Iranian-owned ship that officials feared was carrying arms to Hamas, but two officials said it was unclear Thursday whether those suspicions were founded.

The Cypriot-flagged commercial vessel was tracked by a U.S. Navy ship in the Red Sea over the weekend, one official said. It was boarded and searched with the consent of the vessel's crew on Monday and Tuesday, said another.

The Sunday Telegraph also quoted "well briefed sources" as saying that a second arms smuggling route into Gaza has also been used by Tehran. The Iranian Revolutionary Guard has sent shipments through the Suez Canal into the Mediterranean to anchor off the Gaza coast, inside Egyptian territorial waters, where the Israel Navy is barred.

On Sunday, Shin Bet chief Yuval Diskin told the cabinet that Hamas would resume smuggling arms into Gaza within a few months, despite Israel's destruction of many tunnels used for this purpose during the campaign.

Related articles:

ANALYSIS / Israel preparing for Iran bid to rearm Hamas in Gaza

Palestinian sources: 'Iran unit' of Hamas has been destroyed

Fatah loyalists: Gaza op is 'Allah's revenge' for Hamas actions

Y. Shulamith · 01-25-2009, 07:35 AM

.................

Y. Shulamith · 01-25-2009, 07:42 AM

1. US Navy Intercepts Iranian Ship
by Avraham Zuroff

A U.S. Naval vessel in the Gulf of Aden has been ordered to search for suspicious Iranian ships containing weaponry heading for Gaza. Combined Task Force 151, which is keeping pirates at bay in the Gulf of Aden, has been ordered to track Iranian arms shipments, the Sunday Times reports.

Naval officers from the USS San Antonio, an amphibious transport dockship that serves as the headquarters for the taskforce, last week boarded a cargo vessel registered in Limassol and flying a Cypriot flag.

Upon boarding the ship in the Red Sea, the naval officers discovered numerous crates with the inscription “hazardous materials.” The naval officers asked Egyptian authorities to order the Iranian ship to proceed to an Egyptian port for a detailed search before allowing it to travel through the Suez Canal. According to unconfirmed reports, the navy found armaments. However, the U.S. has not confirmed the media reports.

Probably 'Covert Operation'

Prof. Raymond Tanter, president of the Washington-based Iran Policy Committee, told The Jerusalem Post, “It is not surprising that the U.S. Navy is reluctant to acknowledge the operation, which may have been covert,” adding that legal challenges are present when intercepting ships flying flags of a sovereign country. In last week’s seizure, the Iranian-owned ship was flying a Cypriot flag, “and the maritime law is less able to justify stop and search operations against such ships,” Tanter clarified.

Tanter said he feels that intelligence provided by friendly nations, such as Egypt, helped the U.S. intercept the Iranian boat. Due to concern in intelligence circles that Iran is attempting to ship a ‘dirty bomb’ to Gaza, the U.S. has taken strong measures to prevent the arms from reaching Hamas. Nonetheless, due to legal wranglings, the U.S. has covertly performed the operation, Tanter implied.

In recent weeks, at least two Iranian warships have entered the Gulf of Aden, officially as a means of fighting Somali piracy. Israel nevertheless claims that Iran is attempting to rearm the Hamas-run Palestinian Authority in Gaza.

Israel and the U.S. signed a political-military memorandum of understanding on January 16 regarding the joint tracking of arms smuggling from Iran into Gaza. The agreement includes the American obligation to act together with NATO and other agents in order to prevent arms smuggling into Gaza via the Mediterranean Sea, the Gulf of Aden, the Red Sea, and eastern Africa.

Although one of the IDF’s objectives in the Operation “Cast Lead” was to eliminate smuggling tunnels from Egypt to Gaza, Arab sources estimate that 20 percent of the pre-war total, or 100 tunnels remain open as a possible means to rearm the Hamas terrorist entity.

With the USA boarding an Iranian ship, I'd say that things are shaping up for a spoiler of some sort....and the moron at the head of Iran will spouting his stupid mouth off again.

**Mediocrates** · 01-25-2009, 07:51 AM

Scuttle it, arrest the crew.

Y. Shulamith · 01-25-2009, 07:54 AM

Yes, this is where the proxy war has got to start digging in it's heels, right at the source of the transport of the armaments for Gaza and Hamas. All the naval vessels of the countries of the free world need to be a part of this effort to seize bombs, rockets, guns and ammo flowing in from Iran or any other Arab state that is arming Gaza/Hamas or any other terrorist groups in the ME.