Special to WorldTribune.com

TEL AVIV — Israel has determined that Iran financed a weapons ship for the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip.

Officials said the Israeli intelligence community assessed that the Teheran regime sponsored a ship laden with missiles and rockets to supply the Gaza Strip.

The officials said Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps supplied the M-302 long-range rockets and 122mm short-range weapons.

“The ship was organized by Iran, dispatched by Iran, financed by Iran,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said. “The missiles were loaded by Iran in Iran.”

At a March 10 news conference at a naval base in Eilat, Netanyahu focused on the Israeli capture of a Panama-flagged cargo ship off the coast of Sudan on March 5. The military said the ship contained 40 M-302 rockets, with ranges of up to 160 kilometers.

“The weapons on this ship were destined for terrorists in Gaza who are
committed to Israel’s destruction,” Netanyahu said. “The goal was to have these weapons rain down on the heads of Israel’s citizens.”

Netanyahu said the Israeli intelligence community played a major role in
detecting the ship, Klos-C. He said U.S. intelligence confirmed the findings
of Israel, which determined that the weapons were loaded in Iran’s port of
Bandar Abbas.

“Our intelligence services exposed the ship’s wayward route and Iran’s
efforts to disguise it,” Netanyahu said. “They exposed the ship’s deadly
cargo, and its intended destination. I appreciate the close cooperation of
the intelligence services of the United States that have verified all these
facts.”

On March 7, Israeli Defense Minister spoke to his U.S. counterpart,
Chuck Hagel, on the interception of Klos-C. Officials said the two countries
coordinated extensively through military and intelligence channels.

“The secretary and the minister pledged to continue this close
consultation as Israel completes its final inspection of the vessel,”
Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said.

For his part, the prime minister presented the bill of lading found on
Klos-C. Netanyahu said the bill was forged and meant to disguise the Iranian
weapons shipment.

Netanyahu said Iran, which denied any link to Klos-C, could eventually
ship nuclear weapons to its proxies. He also raised the prospect that Iran
could ship weapons, including intercontinental ballistic missiles, for
attacks against adversaries.

“The intercontinental ballistic missiles that Iran is developing are
intended to strike at the citizens of the West,” Netanyahu said. “Come to
think of it, Iran might not need ICBMs. Just as they concealed these weapons
in containers on this ship, they could tomorrow conceal in other containers
the ultimate weapon, nuclear weapons, which they could ship to any port in
the world.”

  Benjamin Netanyahu, Chuck Hagel, dispatched by Iran, financed by Iran’, IRGC, Klos-C, M-302 long-range rockets, Netanyahu: Weapons ship ‘was organized by Iran