JERUSALEM (EJP)—Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has urged European Union’s foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton, who is currently on a visit in Tehran, to ask her Iranian hosts about the shipment of weapons, including long-range missiles, that Israel said it caught earlier this week in a cargo vessel en route from Iran to terrorist organizations in Gaza.
At the beginning of his weekly cabinet meeting Sunday, Netanyahu declared: ‘’I call this to the attention of Catherine Ashton, who is now visiting Tehran. I would like to ask her if she asked her Iranian hosts about this shipment of weapons for terrorist organizations, and if not, why not.’’
He added ‘’Nobody has the right to ignore the true and murderous actions of the regime in Tehran. I think that it would be proper for the international community to refer to Iran’s true policy, not its propaganda.’’
He said the interception of the ship carrying the weapons serves to “expose Iran’s real face.” “The Iranian weapons ship reached Israel last night. The operation to seize the ship had two goals: preventing the delivery of deadly weapons to terrorist organizations in the Gaza Strip, which would have directly endangered Israel’s citizens, and exposing the true face of Iran, which was behind this weapons shipment,’’ Netanyahu said, adding that ‘’Iran completely denies its involvement; it is lying in the most brazen manner.’’ He said Israel ‘’will present evidence of this tomorrow and later.’’
Catherine Ashton is in Tehran to further negotiations with Iran about its nuclear program.
A senior minister in Netanyahu’s cabinet lashed out at Ashton for visiting Tehran after the interception of a ship allegedly carrying arms from Iran to Gaza.
“I would expect Catherine Ashton to cancel or at least postpone her visit to Tehran,” said Intelligence Minister Yuval Steinitz.
“The Iranian regime has been caught here in a severe act of smuggling large missiles to a terror organisation, while violating all the UN decisions placing an arms embargo on and from Iran,” he told public radio.
“At this time to go and speak with the Iranians as if nothing happened, is something that should be avoided,” he said.
The Israeli army on Sunday unloaded the Panamean-flagged hip, the ‘KLs-C’, it intercepted in the Red Sea which it said was carrying an Iranian shipment of M-302 rockets.
Ashton’s visit to Tehran, the first by a EU foreign affairs chief since 2008, comes after Iran signed a preliminary deal in November with world powers under which it agreed to curb its disputed nuclear activities in exchange for sanctions relief.
Israel has harshly criticized the interim nuclear agreement signe bythe world powers with Iran and is pressing them to keep a series of crippling economic sanctions in place.