TEHRAN: Iran’s Revolutionary Guards have no plans to accompany aid ships to Gaza, deputy commander Hossein Salami said on Monday as two Red Crescent boats awaited approval to depart for the blockaded enclave.
"Such a thing is not on the guards’ agenda," Salami was quoted as saying by state news agency IRNA following reports the elite force was ready to accompany the aid ships to Gaza.
An aide to Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said last week that Iran’s powerful army was ready to escort the vessels if this was ordered by Khamenei.
An Iranian Red Crescent official said in a report on Sunday that two aid ships organized by the humanitarian group were ready and awaiting foreign ministry approval to leave for Gaza.
The decision to send new aid came after an Israeli commando raid on a Gaza-bound aid flotilla killed nine pro-Palestinian activists on May 31, sparking outrage across Iran’s political spectrum.
Animosity between Iran and its regional archfoe Israel has worsened under the presidency of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, with top commanders repeatedly boasting Tehran has missiles capable of reaching any targets in the Jewish state.
In turn, Israel, which has the Middle East’s sole if undeclared nuclear arsenal, has refused to rule out a resort to military action against Iran to prevent it acquiring a nuclear weapons capability.
Iran denies any such ambition.
