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Iran is sending two aid shipments towards Gaza, officials said today, a move likely to further heighten tensions with Israel.
One ship left on Sunday and another, carrying food, construction materials and toys, was due to depart later this week, Iranian state radio said. According to the country's ISNA news agency, the shipment is being organised by the Society for the Defence of the Palestinian Nation, which insists it is not connected to the Iranian state. "Until the end of the Gaza blockade, Iran will continue to ship aid," an official from the organisation was quoted as saying by Reuters.
Israel has maintained a three-year blockade of Gaza, and two weeks ago intercepted an international flotilla of ships attempting to break this. Nine Turkish activists died in the military assault. A spokesman for the organisers of the flotilla said the Iranian ships had no connection with his group and he had no information about Iran's plans.
Israel would view a similar action by Iran as particularly provocative, as it accuses the nation of supplying weapons to Gaza's Hamas rulers, something denied by Tehran.
Earlier this month, an aide to Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said Revolutionary Guard naval forces would be willing to escort future aid convoys, a move that could potentially have placed them in direct collision with Israel's military and stoked regional tensions dangerously.
But the deputy head of the force, Hossein Salami, said this would not happen. "No such issue is on the Revolutionary Guard's agenda," he was quoted as saying by Iran's IRNA news agency.
It was not clear if the two ships will attempt to sail directly to Gaza or go to adjoining Egypt. In January last year an Iranian boat was refused permission to unload a shipment of supplies for Gaza after it docked in Egypt.
One shipment would leave from Iran's southern port of Bandar Abbas while another would go from the north of the country into Turkey, ISNA quoted the Association for Defending the Palestinian Nation as saying.
A delegation of Iranian MPs who hope to visit Gaza have already confirmed they will not travel on the aid ships but will attempt to enter the territory via Egypt. Alaeddin Boroujerdi, head of the foreign relations and national security committee in Iran's parliament said Egyptian authorities were "positive" about the planned visit, but had yet to issue formal permission.
One ship left on Sunday and another, carrying food, construction materials and toys, was due to depart later this week, Iranian state radio said. According to the country's ISNA news agency, the shipment is being organised by the Society for the Defence of the Palestinian Nation, which insists it is not connected to the Iranian state. "Until the end of the Gaza blockade, Iran will continue to ship aid," an official from the organisation was quoted as saying by Reuters.
Israel has maintained a three-year blockade of Gaza, and two weeks ago intercepted an international flotilla of ships attempting to break this. Nine Turkish activists died in the military assault. A spokesman for the organisers of the flotilla said the Iranian ships had no connection with his group and he had no information about Iran's plans.
Israel would view a similar action by Iran as particularly provocative, as it accuses the nation of supplying weapons to Gaza's Hamas rulers, something denied by Tehran.
Earlier this month, an aide to Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said Revolutionary Guard naval forces would be willing to escort future aid convoys, a move that could potentially have placed them in direct collision with Israel's military and stoked regional tensions dangerously.
But the deputy head of the force, Hossein Salami, said this would not happen. "No such issue is on the Revolutionary Guard's agenda," he was quoted as saying by Iran's IRNA news agency.
It was not clear if the two ships will attempt to sail directly to Gaza or go to adjoining Egypt. In January last year an Iranian boat was refused permission to unload a shipment of supplies for Gaza after it docked in Egypt.
One shipment would leave from Iran's southern port of Bandar Abbas while another would go from the north of the country into Turkey, ISNA quoted the Association for Defending the Palestinian Nation as saying.
A delegation of Iranian MPs who hope to visit Gaza have already confirmed they will not travel on the aid ships but will attempt to enter the territory via Egypt. Alaeddin Boroujerdi, head of the foreign relations and national security committee in Iran's parliament said Egyptian authorities were "positive" about the planned visit, but had yet to issue formal permission.