The true face of Iran
Israel is proclaiming its position on the Iranian threat with newfound confidence, after its dazzling military accomplishment last weekend.
On Saturday, in a culmination of months of intelligence work, a ship that was being used to smuggle Iranian arms to Gaza docked in Eilat. The Israeli navy had seized the vessel carrying rockets that the Iranian regime appears to have donated to Hamas, in the hope they would one day slam into Israeli homes.
“Each one of these rockets poses a threat to the safety of the citizens of Israel – each bullet and each rocket that was discovered had an Israeli address,” said military chief of staff Benny Gantz.
Altogether, the shipment contained 40 surface-to-surface rockets, 181 mortar shells, and 400,000 assault rifle rounds.
When Israel seized the Klos-C on the Red Sea, near Sudan, the arms were concealed between crates of commercial cargo. Some of the rockets could have reached Tel Aviv or Jerusalem from Gaza.
Israel claimed that its discovery is proof of what it has long been saying – even when Iran is engaged in negotiations with the West, it cannot be trusted. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said at Sunday’s cabinet meeting that the operation was successful in “exposing the true face of Iran”.
He added: “Iran completely denies its involvement; it is lying in the most brazen manner.”
He took a swipe at the European Union’s foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton, one of the key figures in the negotiations between the West and Iran. He said of the arms discovery: “I call this to the attention of Catherine Ashton, who is now visiting Tehran. I would like to ask her if she asked her Iranian hosts about this shipment of weapons for terrorist organisations, and if not, why not.
“Nobody has the right to ignore the true and murderous actions of the regime in Tehran. I think that it would be proper for the international community to refer to Iran’s true policy, not its propaganda.”
In a separate speech Netanyahu said: “Iran is currently holding talks with the major powers, and is smiling, even as it grossly violates international law and arms terrorist organisations with equilibrium-changing weapons. This is what we are exposing to the world and have just done so in a very methodical way.”
He subsequently expressed disappointment at the reaction of much of the international community to the weapons find. Its “determination to ignore the truth” is “hypocritical” he said, remarking that he heard only “a few faint condemnations of Iran from the international community.” He added: “We even saw representatives of the world powers shaking hands and smiling with the heads of Iran’s regime, at the same time we were unloading these missiles here in Eilat.”
Deputy Defence Minister Danny Danon claimed that the discovery makes a mockery of diplomacy attempts by Iranian President Hassan Rouhani. “While Rouhani continues his globetrotting charm offensive, Iran is actively funding and arming terrorists throughout our region,” said Danon. “It should now be clear to the international community that any easing of the sanctions against Iran will directly result in a strengthening of the terror organisations that operate under the auspices of the ayatollahs.”
Gantz expects to discover more smuggling attempts. He described efforts to get contraband arms to terrorists as “continuous” and told soldiers who captured the ship: “There are many other missions ahead of us.”
Aviv Kochavi, the head of military intelligence, described the shipment as another example of “the ongoing effort of the Iranians to undermine the stability of the Middle East.” He said that Iran aims “to undermine regimes and to support all forms of terror organisations.”
The arms that were seized are thought to have been made in Syria and, several months ago, flown to Tehran. They were then transferred to Iran’s southern Bandar Abbas port. There, they were loaded onto the ship that Israel discovered, the Klos-C. As the crates containing weapons were surrounded by other cargo, the ship’s crew was unaware that it had been turned into a terrorists’ delivery service. More cargo was loaded on during a stop in Iraq, further hiding the arms.
“We have solid information that proves Iran’s relationship with the shipment,” a senior IDF Intelligence officer said Monday. “Firstly, the containers were sealed in Iran, and they have Iranian authenticity seals on them, including seals of the Iranian postal company. The cement bags that were used to hide the weapons were clearly marked as coming from Iran.” The officer added that the rockets are larger than rockets currently in terror arsenals in Gaza, and could have wreaked far more damage than rockets fired to date by Gaza militants.
NATHAN JEFFAY
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