Iran still to send aid ships to Gaza

Iran has brushed aside threats by Israel to block Iranian aid shipments to Gaza, saying the plan to send relief aid ships to the besieged strip is still on the agenda.

Speaking to reporters on Sunday, Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Mohammad Reza Sheibani dismissed reports that Iranian officials had reversed their decision to deploy a blockade-busting ship to Gaza.

“The plan to send nongovernmental aid ships to Gaza is still on the agenda,” Sheibani explained.

The comments came after earlier media reports quoted an Iranian lawmaker as saying that the plan for sending 1,100 tons of relief supplies and 10 pro-Palestinian activists had been canceled “due to restrictions imposed by the occupying Zionist regime.”

Israeli Chief of Staff Gabi Ashkenazi said last week that Tel Aviv would block Iranian and Lebanese aid shipments to the Gaza Strip, referring to the humanitarian mission as “flow of arms.”

“We have the right to inspect and prevent the flow of arms into Gaza. We can’t let Gaza become an Iranian port,” he said.

Meanwhile, Sheibani said Iran had plans to dispatch humanitarian and medical aid to Gaza by plane via the Egyptian border.

“We have raised the issue with Egyptian officials and are awaiting their response,” he said.

He went on to criticize the US support for Israel and the failure of international organizations to take serious measures against the Israeli acts.

“The Zionist regime seeks to turn this international humanitarian move into a political-security issue to cover its own problems,” he stated.

The pro-Palestinian campaign comes after Israeli commandos stormed the Gaza Freedom Flotilla aid convoy on May 31, killing at least 9 civilian activists and injuring dozens of others in international waters.