Iran ready to escort Gaza ships

[Casino67]

Ynet.com:

Revolutionary Guards say 'fully prepared' to escort peace, freedom convoys to Gaza Strip; 'Iran's duty to defend people of Gaza'

Reuters
Published: 06.06.10, 17:49

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 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.



Iran does not recognize the Israeli state and President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has often predicted its imminent demise.



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 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.



Shirazi said Iran should encourage more international efforts to break the blockade. "We should expose our enemies to a spontaneous global action and not let them achieve their heinous goals," he said.



Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said Israel will continue to prevent ships from reaching the shore and creating "an Iranian port in Gaza", a reference to Iran's support for Hamas.



The Revolutionary Guards, with their own navy, air force and command structure separate from the regular armed forces, are seen as fiercely loyal to the Supreme Leader.



"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."



Israel and its ally the United States have refused to rule out military action against Iran to prevent it from getting nuclear arms capability – something Israel sees as a threat to its survival.



Tehran says its nuclear program is for energy generation and medical purposes and calls its nuclear-armed adversaries hypocrites for trying to block its technological progress.

[Sabre86]

If Iran tries this, the only purpose is to give them justification to launch an all out assault on Israel.

 

Since they don't have nukes, yet, and even if they had some kind of crude device, it would not be missile deliverable; they would likely launch missiles armed with chemical warheads.

 

Of course, within minutes of their launch, Israeli Jericho II and Jericho III missiles would be flying toward their targets.

[Argyle58]

This wouldn't even be an option for Iran if we didn't have an invertebrate bootlicker residing in the White House.