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UK, US diplomats urge UN to investigate seized Iranian arms shipment
The UK’s Ambassador to the United Nations (UN) and his US counterpart both called yesterday for a UN investigation into the Iranian arms shipment which Israeli naval forces seized earlier this month.
Speaking after a meeting of a UN Security Council committee on sanctions against Iran, the UK’s ambassador, Mark Lyall Grant, addressed the seized weapons, which Israel says were sent by Iran and destined for Palestinian groups in the Gaza Strip. He commented: “This is not the first time that we have seen reports of potential arms transfers to Gaza involving Iran.” Lyall Grant agreed with his American counterpart Rosemary Di Carlo who said that the committee should investigate the incident and “should be prepared to impose real consequences, such as possible sanctions designations on those responsible.”
In a complex operation, Israeli naval forces took control of the ship, the Klos-C which was flying under a Panamanian flag, in international waters near the Sudanese coast, a full 930 miles from Israel. The vessel was towed into the southern Israeli port of Eilat and found to contain 40 Syrian-made long range M-302 rockets, 180 mortar shells and 400,000 bullets. The shipment had apparently been sent to Tehran from Damascus and was headed for Port Sudan, from where it is thought it would have been smuggled overland into the Gaza Strip.
Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu subsequently noted, “I heard only isolated and weak condemnation of Iran from the international community regarding this deadly shipment.” He challenged the international community to take a more robust stance, saying “Nobody has the right to ignore the true and murderous actions of the regime in Tehran.”
In the meantime, the P5+1 powers (UK, US, France, Russia, China and Germany) held further talks with Iran this week in Vienna to work towards a long-term agreement regarding Tehran’s nuclear programme. Both Lyall Grant and Di Carlo emphasised yesterday that international sanctions against Iran should continue to be pursued vigorously while negotiations continue.