Iran's navy offers to escort Gaza ships (MSNBC news)

dna1987

Muslim Guy
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/37537320/ns/world_news-mideastn_africa/

TEHRAN - Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards are ready to provide a military escort to cargo ships trying to break Israel's blockade of Gaza, a representative of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Sunday.

"Iran's Revolutionary Guards naval forces are fully prepared to escort the peace and freedom convoys to Gaza with all their powers and capabilities," Ali Shirazi, Khamenei's representative inside the Revolutionary Guards, was quoted as saying by the semi-official Mehr news agency.

Any intervention by the Iranian military would be considered highly provocative by Israel which accuses Iran of supplying weapons to Hamas, the Islamist movement which rules Gaza.

The Guards, with their own navy, air force and command structure separate from the regular armed forces, are seen as fiercely loyal to the values of the Islamic Republic.

"If the Supreme Leader issues an order for this then the Revolutionary Guard naval forces will do their best to secure the ships," Shirazi said. "It is Iran's duty to defend the innocent people of Gaza."

Last Monday Israeli troops killed nine activists on board one ship in a convoy trying to deliver aid to Gaza, sparking international outrage, especially in Muslim countries.

Another ship was boarded on Saturday and pro-Palestinian activists have promised more as they challenge the blockade imposed four years ago with the stated aim of stopping arms getting to Hamas.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel will continue to stop ships reaching the shore and creating "an Iranian port in Gaza," a reference to Iran's support for Hamas.
This might just start a full scale war. If the Iranian ships get fired on, they will surely fire back.

The end result may not be too good either. Israel has over 200 nuclear bombs. And if the Iranian navy, while protecting any aid ships to Gaza, were to be attacked, how many other countries do you think would send in their navy to help out? How many other Muslim countries do you think would officially help out?
 

arzafar

Junior Member
well tbh i think israel will end the gaza blockade and all these things will come to a halt.
 

dna1987

Muslim Guy
First Iranian Ship Leaves for Gaza

* First ship left Iran Sunday, another leaves this week

* Iran says will continue until Gaza blockade lifted

* 100,000 Iranians volunteer to crew ships - report

TEHRAN, June 14 (Reuters) - Iran is sending aid ships to blockaded Gaza, state radio said on Monday -- a move likely to be considered provocative by Israel which accuses Tehran of arming the Palestinian enclave's Islamist rulers, Hamas.

One ship left port on Sunday and another will depart by Friday, loaded with food, construction material and toys, the report said. The boats would be part of international efforts to break Israel's isolation of the Gaza Strip.

"Until the end of the Gaza blockade, Iran will continue to ship aid," said an official at Iran's Society for the Defence of the Palestinian Nation.

While Israel has long suspected Iran, which rejects the Jewish state's right to exist, of supplying weapons to Hamas, Tehran says it only provides moral support to the group.

Israeli troops two weeks ago boarded a flotilla of Turkish aid ships heading to Gaza on May 31 and killed nine pro-Palestinian activists, most of them Turks.

Public opinion in Muslim countries was outraged by the killings. An official of the Iranian Red Crescent Society's youth organisation said some 100,000 Iranians had volunteered as potential crew for aid ships, Iran daily reported.

A senior Iranian official said earlier Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards were ready to provide a military escort to aid ships heading to Gaza if Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei so commands. [ID:nLDE65509B]

But the Guards' deputy head, Hossein Salami, said there were no plans to do so. "Such a thing is not on our agenda," he was quoted as saying by the official IRNA news agency on Monday.

Any such military mobilisation would risk a major confrontation with Israel, which fears Iran's nuclear enrichment programme is aimed at developing atomic bombs.

The Jewish state regards Iran's nuclear ambitions as a mortal threat. Iran says its nuclear programme is meant solely to yield electricity or isotopes for medicine and agriculture.

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/LDE65D0HG.htm
 

Aisya al-Humaira

الحمدلله على كل حال
Assalamualaykum wa rahmatullah,

So, are the ships most likely not going to be attack unlike the Freedom Flotilla due to the "power" that Iran have?

Or...the same will happen to them?

Of course we will still pray that inshaAllaah this one might be a success.

Waa'laykummusalam.
 

dna1987

Muslim Guy
I don't know. In my opinion, I fear this could escalate into a major war.

However, this latest aid ship that has left is not being escorted by the Iranian military. It is just made up of more volunteers.
 
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