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Analysts weigh diplomatic impact of Iranian arms capture
The Israeli media is dominated this morning by coverage of the interception yesterday by Israeli naval forces of an Iranian arms shipment near the Sudanese coast en route to Palestinian groups in the Gaza Strip.
There is widespread praise for the complex operation, with Israel Hayom describing it as “Our forces at their best.” Writing in Haaretz, Amos Harel says that the operation effectively “postponed the war no one wants” as the delivery of powerful, long-range M-302 rockets to Gaza “would have forced Israel to rethink its deterrence strategy.”
Several analysts comment on the diplomatic implications of the seizure. Writing in Maariv, Amir Rappaport notes that Israeli leaders chose to undertake a complex naval operation far away from home, rather than a safer precision air strike on the arms delivery. He explains, “In the current situation, it is better to capture the weapons and embarrass Iran than to destroy them” in an attempt to expose Iran’s support for terror at a time when Iran’s image in the West has softened and crucial talks are taking place over Tehran’s nuclear programme.
In Yediot Ahronot, Sima Kadmon agrees that political considerations played a large role in yesterday’s events. He commented, “If we were cynics, we would argue that this couldn’t be a coincidence, and that the day and time of the operation were chosen meticulously”; with Prime Minister Netanyahu in the United States where he is making the case for a total dismantlement of Iranian means of enrichment.
In Haaretz, Amos Harel notes that yesterday’s Iranian arms capture was not the first by Israel, with the Victoria cargo vessel seized with advanced weaponry in 2011 and the Karine A intercepted in 2002, which played a significant role in discrediting former-Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat. However, in Yediot Ahronot, Alex Fishman predicts “It is unlikely that the capture of the vessel [yesterday] will change the US and Europeans’ position on the Iranian issue. This certainly will make no impression on Russia and China.”