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Cyprus Fears If Iran Arms Ship is Released, Israeli Navy Will Seize It
Debkafiles ^ | February 1, 2009, 4:30 PM (GMT+02:00)

Posted on 02/03/2009 11:22:51 AM PST by lewisglad

Israel has 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.

Military sources report that after neither the US nor Egypt laid hands on the cargo when they had the chance, Cyprus finds itself stuck Saturday, Jan 31, 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.

Friday, Cyprus president Demetris Christofias said a ship anchored off Limassol was being searched carrying cargo that contravenes UN resolutions. Cyprus state radio reported the vessel may have been traveling from Iran to Syria with weapons destined for Hamas.

Israeli foreign minister Tzipi Livni informed Nicosia that the cargo aboard the Iran Hedayt contravened the UN Security Council Resolution 1747 which forbids Iran to export arms under international sanctions.

But foreign minister Markos Kyprianou later backpedalled by saying the authorities were still trying to determine if the ship's cargo contravenes United Nations resolutions.

After Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff Adm. Mike Mullen said on Jan. 28 that the US Navy had no authority to seize the weapons aboard the Iranian vessel –"The US did as much as we could" - Nicosia too is reviewing its options.

As the arms vessel made its way from Bandar Abbas to the Red Sea, tracked by sources from Jan. 20, Jerusalem counted on the Livni-Rice memorandum of understanding for a joint effort to stop Iranian arms smuggling to Hamas kicking in. There was a precedent.

On Dec. 2, 2002, American warships helped two Spanish warships halt a North Korean cargo vessel and confiscate Scud missiles bound for Saddam Hussein hidden beneath sacks of cement.

But the Iranian cargo for Hamas was not touched and the ship was allowed to proceed.

Jerusalem is watching tensely now to see what the Cypriots do next. If they let the arms ship go without confiscating the missiles aboard, Tehran will be encouraged to send more arms ships to Hamas and the entire international effort to stop Hamas rearming, which was implicit in Israel's unilateral ceasefire, will cave in before it ever took off.


TOPICS: Extended News; Foreign Affairs; News/Current Events; War on Terror
KEYWORDS: redjihad; unholyalliance
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1 posted on 02/03/2009 11:22:51 AM PST by lewisglad
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To: lewisglad

Israel shouldn’t seize it, they should sink it.


2 posted on 02/03/2009 11:24:29 AM PST by Buck W. (BHO: Selling hope, keeping the change.)
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To: Buck W.

Aye, deep six her!


3 posted on 02/03/2009 11:26:32 AM PST by ryan71
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To: lewisglad

Does Tom Clancy write the fiction for DEBKA?

Once you suspend adequate disbelief, it’s really quite exciting.


4 posted on 02/03/2009 11:26:38 AM PST by Nervous Tick (Party? I don't have one anymore.)
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To: Buck W.

Caught by President Bush, and let go by President 9/10.


5 posted on 02/03/2009 11:28:04 AM PST by Diogenesis (Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?)
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To: lewisglad

Bring it on.


6 posted on 02/03/2009 11:30:48 AM PST by Paladin2 (No, pundits strongly believe that the proper solution is more dilution.)
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To: ryan71

7 posted on 02/03/2009 11:32:37 AM PST by lewisglad
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To: lewisglad

Seize it and give the arms to Iranian dissidents.


8 posted on 02/03/2009 11:33:00 AM PST by Enterprise (A Representative Republic - gone now. Foolish people.)
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To: Nervous Tick

Israel’s intel is some of the best in the world! :)


9 posted on 02/03/2009 11:33:11 AM PST by lewisglad
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To: lewisglad

Dear Israel,

It’s called a “limpet mine”.

FWIW.

-A. Bustard


10 posted on 02/03/2009 11:33:54 AM PST by ArrogantBustard (Western Civilization is Aborting, Buggering, and Contracepting itself out of existence.)
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To: lewisglad

Blow it out da water.


11 posted on 02/03/2009 11:35:41 AM PST by Uncle Miltie (Congress declares a National Dividend in the amount of $9,000 per taxpayer instead of Porkulus.)
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To: dennisw; Cachelot; Nix 2; veronica; Catspaw; knighthawk; Alouette; Optimist; weikel; Lent; GregB; ..
Middle East and terrorism, occasional political and Jewish issues Ping List. High Volume

If you'd like to be on or off, please FR mail me.

..................

After Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff Adm. Mike Mullen said on Jan. 28 that the US Navy had no authority to seize the weapons aboard the Iranian vessel –"The US did as much as we could" -

Unmentioned, the US did determine the arms violate the UN embargo, but the embargo doesn't authorize confiscation or detention. So once determining the ship is in violation, it's to be let go.

12 posted on 02/03/2009 11:40:26 AM PST by SJackson (The American people are wise in wanting change, 2 terms is plenty, Condi Rice)
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To: lewisglad

>> Israel’s intel is some of the best in the world! :)

Absolutely true. I have no worries about Israel’s intel.

It’s Debka’s “intel” that I have no confidence in.


13 posted on 02/03/2009 11:41:06 AM PST by Nervous Tick (Party? I don't have one anymore.)
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To: lewisglad

What’s the problem? These arms were destined for Israel anyway. Israel would simply be cutting out the middle-man and the part where the arms go boom and kill people. No problem.


14 posted on 02/03/2009 11:50:21 AM PST by Reaganesque
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To: lewisglad

Surface missles. As opposed to air missles for the Ham Ass air force.


15 posted on 02/03/2009 11:55:45 AM PST by VeniVidiVici (Close Gitmo now! Send them to Alcatraz!)
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To: ryan71

Deep six, but use a large enough bomb that it just disappears, with no survivors and no word of its fate.


16 posted on 02/03/2009 11:58:20 AM PST by MainFrame65 (The US Senate: World's greatest PREVARICATIVE body!.)
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To: Reaganesque

And if the world protests, just deliver them to their original destination - one at a time, but at very high velocity.


17 posted on 02/03/2009 11:59:52 AM PST by MainFrame65 (The US Senate: World's greatest PREVARICATIVE body!.)
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To: lewisglad

18 posted on 02/03/2009 12:06:39 PM PST by rednesss (Fred Thompson - 2008)
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To: Reaganesque
"Israel would simply be cutting out the middle-man and the part where the arms go boom and kill people. No problem."

+5, Insightful.

19 posted on 02/03/2009 1:43:47 PM PST by Paladin2 (No, pundits strongly believe that the proper solution is more dilution.)
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To: Buck W.

zactly


20 posted on 02/03/2009 1:45:04 PM PST by Joe Boucher (An enemy of Islam)
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