March 6, 2014 | Quote
What the Iranian Arms Shipment Means
Yesterday Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu went to great lengths to emphasize the nature of the Iranian regime and its true intentions. Likewise, Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.) cautioned, “Iran is actively sponsoring the proxy war in Syria sending money, weapons and fighters every week — every day. Simultaneously, it is sponsoring attacks against Sunnis in Iraq and promoting regional sectarian violence that could easily result in a broader regional conflict. Make no mistake, while they are smiling at our negotiators across the table, they are plotting in the backroom.” Both were proven correct by the latest discovery of Iranian aggression:
The Israeli navy seized a ship in the Red Sea on Wednesday that was carrying dozens of advanced Iranian-supplied rockets made in Syria and intended for Palestinian guerrillas in the Gaza Strip, the military said. The disclosure came as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was in the United States to press his case for tougher international action against Iran over its disputed nuclear program and support for Islamist guerrilla groups.
Israel’s Deputy Defense Minister Danny Danon responded to the news, “Iran’s true intentions were revealed yet again today. While [Iranian President Hassan] Rouhani continues his globe-trotting charm offensive, Iran is actively funding and arming terrorists throughout our region. It should now be clear to the international community that any easing of the sanctions against Iran will directly result in a strengthening of the terror organizations that operate under the auspices of the Ayatollahs.”
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Mark Dubowitz of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies and a key architect of sanctions, warns, “The nuclear talks with Tehran already have constrained the Obama administration’s willingness to respond to a range of Iranian provocations including the arming of anti-American terrorists like Hamas, Hezbollah, Iraqi Shiite militias and the Taliban, extremist groups in Yemen and Bahrain, and rogue regimes like Assad’s.” The notion of containment after Iran gets a bomb is therefore preposterous. “Iran’s threat network will be supercharged when the Islamic Republic becomes a threshold nuclear state and American willingness to push back forcefully will be even more severely constrained,” Dubowitz tells me. “That freedom for terror, after all, is a major reason why Tehran has pursued nuclear weapons capability in the first place.”