ianstone
06-14-2010, 07:35 AM
Two Iranian aid ships headed for Gaza
Mon Jun 14, 2010 11:00 am GMT
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TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iran Radio said on Monday that Tehran will send ships to aid the besieged Gaza Strip in a move likely that Israel regards as a provocation.
Israel accuses Iran of arming the Palestinian Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas), which controls the sector, while Tehran says it only gives moral support to Hamas.
According to the radio report that the ship left port on Sunday, while leaving the other on Friday with food, building materials and toys. The ships are part of international efforts to break the siege imposed by Israel on the Gaza Strip.
The official said the Iranian Society for Defending the Palestinian people "until the end of the siege of Gaza will continue to send Iran's aid ships."
Two weeks ago, Israeli soldiers took the ship from Turkey Ships aid convoy which was heading into Gaza on May 31 and killed nine militants supporting the Palestinians most of them Turks.
The Iran Daily newspaper quoted an official youth organization of the Iranian Red Crescent Society as saying that about 100 000 Iranians have volunteered to be crew members of a possible aid ships.
The senior Iranian official said earlier that the Iranian Revolutionary Guard is ready to provide military escorts for aid ships going to Gaza if ordered Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei this.
But Hossein Salami, deputy commander of the Revolutionary Guards said that there are no plans for this. He was quoted by IRNA news agency as saying on Monday that "this is not on our agenda."
Any military mobilization of this kind risk a major showdown with Israel, which fears that the enrichment program is aimed at producing nuclear bombs.
And the Jewish state sees Iran's nuclear ambitions a mortal threat to them. Iran says its nuclear program aims only to generate electricity or produce radioactive isotopes for use in medicine and agriculture.
Mon Jun 14, 2010 11:00 am GMT
[- (javascript:sizeDown();)] Text (javascript:resetCurrentsize();) [+ (javascript:sizeUp();)]
TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iran Radio said on Monday that Tehran will send ships to aid the besieged Gaza Strip in a move likely that Israel regards as a provocation.
Israel accuses Iran of arming the Palestinian Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas), which controls the sector, while Tehran says it only gives moral support to Hamas.
According to the radio report that the ship left port on Sunday, while leaving the other on Friday with food, building materials and toys. The ships are part of international efforts to break the siege imposed by Israel on the Gaza Strip.
The official said the Iranian Society for Defending the Palestinian people "until the end of the siege of Gaza will continue to send Iran's aid ships."
Two weeks ago, Israeli soldiers took the ship from Turkey Ships aid convoy which was heading into Gaza on May 31 and killed nine militants supporting the Palestinians most of them Turks.
The Iran Daily newspaper quoted an official youth organization of the Iranian Red Crescent Society as saying that about 100 000 Iranians have volunteered to be crew members of a possible aid ships.
The senior Iranian official said earlier that the Iranian Revolutionary Guard is ready to provide military escorts for aid ships going to Gaza if ordered Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei this.
But Hossein Salami, deputy commander of the Revolutionary Guards said that there are no plans for this. He was quoted by IRNA news agency as saying on Monday that "this is not on our agenda."
Any military mobilization of this kind risk a major showdown with Israel, which fears that the enrichment program is aimed at producing nuclear bombs.
And the Jewish state sees Iran's nuclear ambitions a mortal threat to them. Iran says its nuclear program aims only to generate electricity or produce radioactive isotopes for use in medicine and agriculture.