On Politics, We Can Always See the Whites of Their Eyes.
News Blackout: Iranian weapons ship in US control
by: Clyde Middleton posted: 2009-01-31 17:22:00
Viewed 8265 times. 27 Comments.
UPDATE 6. Feb 5. More updates on a separate post.
UPDATE 5. Feb 3. Facts are known but not disclosed: The Foreign Affairs Ministry [Cyprus] said in a statement Tuesday that authorities have completed two inspections of the ship and have sent a report of their findings to the UN Security Council Sanctions Committee. No details about the ship's cargo were given.
UPDATE 4. Jan. 31. The drama builds: Israel informed Washington, Cairo and Nicosia that surface missiles bound for Hamas are concealed in the steel holds of the Cypriot-flagged Iran Hedayt which the US intercepted but did not stop in the Red Sea last week. / DEBKAfile's military sources report that after neither the US nor Egypt laid hands on the cargo when they had the chance, Cyprus finds itself stuck with hard choices: the US and Israel are pressing Nicosia not to let the ship go without a further search for fear Israel will seize it and precipitate an armed clash with Iran. Tehran on the other hand threatens Nicosia with diplomatic and economic retribution if the vessel is not released forthwith.
What might be on the ship? DEBKAfile's military sources reveal a formidable addition to Hamas' arsenal: The missile fired from Gaza out to the Mediterranean last week was not a Qassam as reported but a C-802, the Iranian shore-to-ship Nur C-802 missile, which is based on the Chinese "Silkworm." / It was launched by Iranian officers who are training Hamas operatives in its use before delivering a large consignment.
UPDATE 3. Jan. 29. Cyprus has the ship now. Go here for more details.
UPDATE 2. Jan 28. - US military chief confirms interception of Gaza-bound Iranian arms ship.
UPDATE. Jan 25. "We received orders to let the ship go," an official said. "The assessment was that the cargo was not for Hamas." Un hunh. How convenient. How spineless.
(INTERIM UPDATES at end of article.) Obama's first foreign policy test is on his desk. Iran loaded a ship for delivery of weapons to Hamas at a time when they thought everyone would be busy - Israel leaving the Strip; the US changing administrations. Intelligence sources learned of the shipment - we searched for, found, and have now boarded the ship - and promptly find ourselves in a quagmire: Secret compartments with missiles inside - undeclared on the manifest. We cannot get to the compartments without docking at a bigger port. Iran will not sit quietly. We just placed a news blackout on the incident.
Debka reported on January 20, 2009, that that an "arms-smuggling vessel started its voyage as the Iran-Hedayat and changed its name in mid sea to Famagustus registered to Panama. The captain was ordered by the Iranian Revolutionary Guards to unload its cargo at a smugglers cove on the southeastern coast of Sinai opposite the Gulf of Suez, to be picked up by armed Bedouin gangs and moved to El Arish in northern Sinai. From there the contraband rockets were to be slipped gradually into the Gaza Strip.
"The cargo consists of 50 Fajr rockets whose range is 50-75 km, scores of heavy Grad rockets, new, improved launchers whose angle of fire can be precisely adjusted, tons of high-quality explosives, submachine guns, rifles and pistols and armor-piercing missiles and shells (of types used successfully by Hizballah against Israeli tanks in 2006).
"The shipment, the largest Tehran has ever consigned to the Palestinian Hamas in Gaza, includes also a large number of anti-personnel and anti-vehicle mines, equipment for assembling roadside bombs and advanced communications and night vision gear."
The latest update indicates a different name for the ship: Cypriot-flagged Iranian freighter Nochegorsk. And now the plot thickens:
"But the US and Egyptian governments are in a fix. To break the Iranian ship's holds open and expose the rockets destined for Hamas, the facilities of a sizeable port are needed. It would have to be Egyptian because the other coastal nations - Eritrea, Sudan and Somalia - are hostile or controlled by pirates. Both the US and Egypt are hesitant about precipitating a full-blown armed confrontation with Iran. The timing is wrong for the new Barack Obama administration, which is set on smoothing relations with Tehran through diplomatic engagement. Cairo has just launched a campaign to limit Tehran's aggressive drive in the Middle East but does not want a premature clash.
"DEBKAfile's Iranian sources disclose that the ship's captain had orders not to resist an American boarding team but impede a close look at its freight. The Navy Coast Guard searchers first found a large amount of ordnance and explosives in the ship's hold, which the Iranian captain claimed were necessary for securing Iranian freighters heading from the Red Sea to the Suez Canal. But then, the US searchers using metal detectors perceived welded steel compartments packed with more hardware concealed at the bottom of the hull.
"The option of towing it to a Persian Gulf port for an intensive search was rejected because the Gulf emirates hosting US bases were almost certain to shy away from involvement in the affair. Moreover, Tehran would be close enough to mount a naval commando operation to scuttle the ship before it was searched."
W caught the Iranians red-handed. Will Obama let them off the hook? Will he place the ship in UN hands? The world is watching to see how he handles it.
UPDATES.
Israeli News is joining the discussion. 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.
Ha'Aretz offers a benign assessment: 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.
World Net proffers the "UN has a rule but no enforcement mechanism" story: The ship is now docked at an Egyptian port on the Red Sea after being escorted by the U.S. Navy out of the Suez Canal, which leads to the Mediterranean, the defense officials said. Due to complicated maritime laws, the U.S. and Egypt may let the ship sail to the Mediterranean, where either Israeli or Egyptian naval units would need to decide whether to entirely halt the vessel.
Tags: Hamas, Obama, Israel, Iran, News Blackout,
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Comments 27
absolutely right, steve. if obama just lets this ship go free - no UN action, no US action - then the world will know. do anything you want, they will be told - if you're caught, we'll just talk.
Its going to be interesting to see what's inside the hull. There are other options than Egypt, but that involves Europe or Diego Garcia. Great find PR.
thanks, kudzu.
yes, there are LOTS of options that lead to opening that hull. if obama lets the ship sulk away without accountability, without seizure of its illegal content, we will be paying for that lack of leadership dearly.
Take photos of the munitions, green-light the IDF blow the ship to Hell, show the photos at the UN, and tell Iran to kiss our collective butts.
Holy cow. In my mind this is the equivalent of finding WMDs in Iraq. I can't believe the news is all about Gitmo when something of this magnitude happens -- but then, maybe that's intentional? This is a huge fork in the road for Obama and the blackout is cover because he has no idea what to do...possibly the biggest decision in Obama's 4-year term, no exaggeration.
This is a great post, Clyde.
thank you, rose. now let's see what obama does. this is the stuff of which we will see his decisiveness.
I am confused. Why is this a difficult decision? This is a direct attack on the middle east peace initiative. Instead of sending food, aid, medicine to the Palestinians, Iran is arming Hamas to the teeth?
THIS IS NOT A TOUGH DECISION. No fly zone, no ship zone, stricter embargos and more international pressure. Duh?
Where is the BBC on this one? Oh, too busy comparing Israel to Rwanda...right.
This world sickens me.
So why is this story being ignored? When it involves Somali pirates and oil tankers, the media's all over it! Oh wait, that's another way to hammer "big oil". It's bad enough Obama thinks abortion is a legitimate form of birth control, now it seems he thinks giving Hamas a pass is OK for Israeli population control...
why is this story being blacked out in the US MSM? excellent question. i think because it underscores president bush's approach to iran, it conflicts with president obama's "rodney king" approach to international diplomacy, and it beyond the ability of hillary (PBUH)/mr. iq biden's ability to stand firm on the world stage.
why hasn't a demand for accounting been made on the UN floor? where is Ban on all this?
Simple. Obama doesn't know what to do. Can you imagine the idiocy of going to the Iranians to have "let's play nice" discussions when we have busted them red-handed?
Has anyone seen Mitchell lately? Could he be deployed somewhere trying to make a deal with Egypt? The problem is, Egypt is probably marginally more interested in busting Iran right now than we are, so I don't think it's a question of finding a friendly port so much as plain unwillingness to deal with the consequences.
Let's sum this up Johnny Lunchpail reading the headlines style: Bush administration captures Iranian ship packed with weapons headed for Hamas. Obama administration takes office, learns about it, takes no action and covers up the entire thing.
How's that going to go over?
We need to bring an end to Obama's illegal and immoral war, and stop his use of illegal phone taps!
you are so right, mike. my panties are all in a bunch over this. i was at starbucks with buffy and jim the other day. i had a double half caf mocha turkish blend. my poodle was outside - like she'd hurt anything! anywho, they're all, like, "tell me obama is not going to be another lbj!" and i'm thinking, "what's an lbj?" anywho, they say, "it's like, friday! he's been in office almost a week. why is the war still going on!" and buffy began crying and jim just sat there like a republican - empty head and no soul. i think he's gay because i seen him and timmy together - but that's another story! anywho, so i'm like to buffy, "i know! almost a whole week! but at least he keeps his Blackberry! i mean, look at the bright side. i bet he's texting with those people right now. telling them to fight their own silly wars. we got stuff here for them to do. i support the troops!" then like buffy was happy again.
Clyde:
This is running in very summary form on CBS:
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/01/22/ap/national/main4747186.shtml?source=search_story
Thanks, Rose. Still waiting to see something about this on TV. Looks like it's being effectively buried so far.
yeah - just pulled the article. cbs is plain vanilla reporting. no details at all. full of anonymous crap. pretty remarkable.
Clyde:
It isn't pulled, but it's backpedaling like crazy. To get the article to come up, I had to copy/paste the address in Word, then set it for "keep text only", then paste into address box and click, so:
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/01/22/ap/national/main4747186.shtml?source=search_story
It's very weird---first I have trouble getting into TWO different news forum sites, that I know both have articles on this story; then I can't get this link from your site to work at first (and when I clicked on it for the third time, my entire computer shut itself down and re-booted), and now you say the original link is gone to this story. Plus, I noticed a LOT more "OOps! This link appears to be broken" messages from Google than I EVER "used" to get---and all since Jan. 20.
Are they already messing with Internet access to info in the U.S.?
sorry, cm, i used "pulled" sloppily - i read it. doesn't say anything - full of plain information.
i noticed when i clicked on rose's link, it added our PR url to the beginning, but when i checked the comment in the editor - those extra characters aren't there. i'll let robert know.
what i find interesting from everything i have read is: only debka is providing the details of the missiles in false compartments, although a place or two elsewhere does mention missiles; everyone is saying the UN (sometimes "complex maritime law") outlaws what iran has done - but it's half a law, lacking an enforcement mechanism; and the UN is being totally silent on this attempted re-arming of Hamas.
the World Net update provided last indicates that we might release the ship and let the israelis have at it. now that could be fun.
There are buried stories on a couple of other sites -- I've read that (1) it looked like it might not be going to Hamas because there was artillery on board, and Hamas doesn't typically use artillery, and (2) it was actually en route to Hezbollah (not necessarily in the same reporting).
Oh, Hezbollah. I feel much better now. I don't suppose the artillery was a plant for this very reason, do you?
Why doesn't Obama use this oppurtunity like he does with everything else? He could point to this incident for months as his "ability" to deal with tough situations...
http://righteousrantings.blogspot.com/2009/01/iranians-bearing-gifts.html
This is very very dissapointing. Not like we can prove that Obama gave the go-ahead on letting the ship go, but the idea that Iran can act with such impunity and continue destabilizing the region is depressing. I would loved to have point out how spineless President Zero is, but the notion of what 60 tons of weapons can do is sobering enough.
unfortunatly this story has been buried by all the mainstream news media except 2 websites and 3 blogs- which only a few of us read. americans dont want to hear about the bad iranian despots, they want to HOPE that everythng can be worked out as if you can rehabilitate serial killers like hamas.
Whoa, what I am confused. If US let the ship go, why or how is pressuring Cyprus to handle the ship? Makes no sense. We let the ship go, yet are now pressuring other countries to do something we should have done ourselves!? wtf?
Arkady - In a word...exactly.
Because Obama has never had to commit to anything, or make a decision that had real consequences, or be responsible for an outcome. So we let the ship go, but we're apparently going to talk about how very wrong it all is -- and how everyone involved or that even knows about it is wrong, but the US is the most wrong of all. The guy just went on Al-Aribiya and told the Arab world that we're really, really sorry we've been the Great Satan. This is what he thought he needed to do with his first televised interview as President.
The most frightening thing about this story is the fact that the media is no longer just His bestest buddy;
They take orders now?
I think I fear that more than Iranian made soviet knock-offs in the hands of Hamas. Israel can handle their own (for now), this is...REALLY BAD.
When you begin to ask yourself with increasing frequency, "Am I just paranoid, or...", you start to get worried.
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Didn't the Iranians watch the news about the election. 'The One' was elected and everything is going to be happiness and light. He was going to resolve the conflict with his personality and intelligence. All they had to do was wait a short two months.
Have fun Democrats. Being responsible is a lot different than complaining about things.