US Navy Task Force 151 on the hunt for Iranian ships smuggling weapons into Gaza

US Navy Task Force 151, the recently founded naval force to battle islamic pirates off the coast of Somalia, has been ordered to look for Iranian ships smuggling weapons. According to sources it is believed that the Iranian Revolutionary Guards are smuggling weapons, inlcuding Fajr rockets that can strike at Tel Aviv, on Iranian commercial ships.

The Iranian use two different routes to smuggle weapons into Gaza. The first route, Iranian ships dock in Somlia or Sudan where smugglers bring the weapons to Sinai. Beduoin specialists then smuggle the weapons into Gaza through the tunnels.

The second route, Iranian ships anchor in Egyptian waters, where Israeli warships can't get to, and at night transfer the weapons onto palestinian fishing boats. Times Online

AN American naval taskforce in the Gulf of Aden has been ordered to hunt for suspicious Iranian arms ships heading for the Red Sea as Tehran seeks to re-equip Hamas, its Islamist ally in Gaza.

According to US diplomatic sources, Combined Task Force 151, which is countering pirates in the Gulf of Aden, has been instructed to track Iranian arms shipments.

Last week the USS San Antonio, an amphibious transport dockship that serves as the command and control centre for the taskforce, boarded the former Russian cargo vessel Monchegorsk, which is registered in Limassol and flying a Cypriot flag.

The ship docked at an Egyptian Red Sea port for a detailed search during which, according to unconfirmed reports, weapons were found.[...]

A document circulated to ministers by Israeli military intelligence last week suggested that despite the bombardment, the Iranian Revolutionary Guard is well advanced with a huge programme of arms resupply for Gaza.[...]

In recent weeks at least two Iranian destroyers have been sent to the Gulf of Aden on the pretext of fighting piracy. The Israelis suspect that the destroyers, which are currently in port in Aseb in Eritrea, may have had some role in the shipments.