Israel Matzav

Hmmm....

Last Sunday, I reported that brothers Sammy and Yuli Ofer were sanctioned for selling tankers to Iran. In Sunday's Times of London, occasionally sensationalist columnist Uzi Mahnaimi claimed that the Ofers' company was actually ferrying commandos for raids in Iran (for those, like me, who refuse to pay for access to the Times of London, you can find the full article here). (Hat Tip: David R via Globes).

Military experts suggested the cargo ships had carried Black Hawk helicopters, hidden in modified containers, for use by commando teams in reconnaissance missions against Iran’s secret nuclear sites. Israel is conducting a massive intelligence operation to monitor Iran’s nuclear weapons programme.

By using giant freighters with helicopters and men hidden in containers on their decks, the Israeli forces would possess a logistical platform similar to a helicopter assault warship and one that could approach the Iranian coast without suspicion.

Defence sources said some ships from the group controlled by Ofer and his brother Yuli were known to have given Israeli forces access to Iranian waters.

At least 13 ships owned by the Ofer Brothers Group have docked in Iran over the past decade, using the port of Bandar Abbas on the southern coast and the Kharg Island oil terminal in the Gulf, according to Equasis, a shipping information database.

The Raffles Park, a ship sold to Iran by the Singapore-based Tanker Pacific, had docked off the Iranian shore four times between September 2002 and January 2010, according to Equasis records. The US State Department said Tanker Pacific was owned by the Ofer Group but the company has said this is “a mistake” and denied any wrongdoing.

Israel has said the matter is one between the company and the State Department and it will not back Ofer’s efforts to be removed from the American blacklist of companies found trading with Iran.

Sammy Ofer passed away on Friday. In a statement, Prime Minister Netanyahu praised him as a 'Zionist through and through.'

Hmmm.

Labels: Blackhawk helicopter, Iran, Ofer Brothers, Uzi Mahnaimi

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 2:33 PM