Iran has presented Egypt with an ultimatum: allow the unloading of equipment destined for Gaza at al-Arish or face harsh diplomatic ramifications.

Last week, on the same day the Israeli Navy stopped the Lebanese ship and brought it to Ashdod, an Iranian ship carrying supplies for Gaza made its way through the Mediterranean.

Iranian officials told the Egyptians their ship carried humanitarian aid and demanded the Egyptians allow them to unload the equipment in a Sinai port. The Iranians warned preventing the ship from being unloaded could lead to ramifications up to and including the severance of diplomatic ties.

The Egyptians, as of now, are not allowing the Iranian ship to unload its cargo at any Egyptian port due to concerns the humanitarian aid may conceal a military equipment shipment. They also hope to sever Iran’s grip on the Gaza Strip.

<!–
AdSys ad not found for top_stories:instory –>

A similar Iranian ship that almost reached Gaza was forced away by the Israeli Navy just a few weeks ago. It did not receive Egyptian clearance to dock at any of its ports eventually was forced to return home.

This time around, the Iranians are determined to get their cargo in, even at the price of provoking a crisis between themselves and Egypt.


A concerted Iranian effort to resume military aid to Gaza stands in the background of these new Iran-Egypt tensions.

The Iranian government has recently expressed its concern over the efforts of the United States along with its NATO allies – as well as Egypt – designed to halt the smuggling of arms from Iran to Sinai and from there to Gaza. Egyptian diplomatic sources have said that the Iranians are in a 
state of hysteria due to their fear that a multi-national force will be capable of preventing any transfer of Iranian military equipment through the Red Sea.

Amid this fear over “the closing of the Red Sea,” there is a concerted Iranian effort to get advanced military equipment into Sinai as soon as possible, before the consolidation of any international naval force.


Israel is also in a state of alert due to the stated Iranian intention to intensify the pace of smuggling into Sinai already within the next few months. According to Egyptian sources, the Iranians plan to transfer military equipment into the Gaza Strip at an unprecedented pace. Among other things, this includes much newer anti-tank missiles as well as long-range rockets.

David Bedein can be reached at dbedein@israelbehindthenews.com

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here

Previous articleBoat With Convicted Cleric Terrorist Nabbed By Israel
Next articleIsrael Goes To The Polls
David Bedein
David Bedein
David Bedein is an MSW community organizer and an investigative journalist.   In 1987, Bedein established the Israel Resource News Agency at Beit Agron to accompany foreign journalists in their coverage of Israel, to balance the media lobbies established by the PLO and their allies.   Mr. Bedein has reported for news outlets such as CNN Radio, Makor Rishon, Philadelphia Inquirer, Los Angeles Times, BBC and The Jerusalem Post, For four years, Mr. Bedein acted as the Middle East correspondent for The Philadelphia Bulletin, writing 1,062 articles until the newspaper ceased operation in 2010. Bedein has covered breaking Middle East negotiations in Oslo, Ottawa, Shepherdstown, The Wye Plantation, Annapolis, Geneva, Nicosia, Washington, D.C., London, Bonn, and Vienna. Bedein has overseen investigative studies of the Palestinian Authority, the Expulsion Process from Gush Katif and Samaria, The Peres Center for Peace, Peace Now, The International Center for Economic Cooperation of Yossi Beilin, the ISM, Adalah, and the New Israel Fund.   Since 2005, Bedein has also served as Director of the Center for Near East Policy Research.   A focus of the center's investigations is The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA). In that context, Bedein authored Roadblock to Peace: How the UN Perpetuates the Arab-Israeli Conflict - UNRWA Policies Reconsidered, which caps Bedein's 28 years of investigations of UNRWA. The Center for Near East Policy Research has been instrumental in reaching elected officials, decision makers and journalists, commissioning studies, reports, news stories and films. In 2009, the center began decided to produce short movies, in addition to monographs, to film every aspect of UNRWA education in a clear and cogent fashion.   The center has so far produced seven short documentary pieces n UNRWA which have received international acclaim and recognition, showing how which UNRWA promotes anti-Semitism and incitement to violence in their education'   In sum, Bedein has pioneered The UNRWA Reform Initiative, a strategy which calls for donor nations to insist on reasonable reforms of UNRWA. Bedein and his team of experts provide timely briefings to members to legislative bodies world wide, bringing the results of his investigations to donor nations, while demanding reforms based on transparency, refugee resettlement and the demand that terrorists be removed from the UNRWA schools and UNRWA payroll.   Bedein's work can be found at: www.IsraelBehindTheNews.com and www.cfnepr.com. A new site,unrwa-monitor.com, will be launched very soon.

RELATED ARTICLESMORE FROM AUTHOR