Iran will not send a ship to Gaza Strip in defiance of Israeli warnings, an Iranian lawmaker said Saturday, citing Israeli "restrictions." Mahmoud Ahmadi Bighash told ISNA news agency that instead of sending a ship, an Iranian delegation of lawmakers would travel to Lebanon and sail on one of the aid ships expected to head to Gaza from there.
The Iranian ship called "Infants of Gaza" had been expected to sail Sunday for Gaza carrying 1,100 tons of relief supplies and 10 pro-Palestinian activists but plans were canceled "due to restrictions imposed by the occupying Zionist regime," Bighash said.
Israeli security officials said the prospect of an Iranian ship headed for Gaza had Israel deeply worried, and that naval commandos were training for the possibility of taking on a vessel with a suicide bomber on board.
