Iran to Send Aid Ships to Gaza; Moment of Israeli-Iranian Confrontation?

Certainty of violence. That’s the future in the region. The question is how deadly.

Is Iran’s aid ship to Gaza this coming week the moment of confrontation Israel has been waiting for?

Will Hosni Mubarak, President of Egypt, let it happen? Up the Red Sea, through the Suez Canal?

Is President Obama more crazy than President Bush in carrying out Israel’s will?

Surely, such trivia as human rights and international law aside, the Obama administration realizes the ramifications of an Israeli-Iranian clash, with Turkey and most of the world looking on Israel’s militarism with contempt at best.

So, will the administration attempt to avoid the Israeli-Iranian confrontation that rightwingers have been praying for?

Obama’s first 17 months in office do not inspire confidence in administration action.

AlJazeera says the “move is likely to further heighten tensions in the region.” It’s potentially much worse than that.

From AlJazeera:

Iranian ships carrying aid supplies are due to set sail for Gaza in the coming week, Iran’s state news agency has reported.

The move is likely to further heighten tensions in the region.

Iran’s semi-official Mehr news agency said the first ship carrying humanitarian aid will leave the port of Khorramshahr this week, heading towards Gaza.

“This ship will pass through territorial waters of Oman, Yemen and Egypt before it reaches Gaza. It is said that the ship contains only humanitarian aid and there are no peace activists on board, ” the agency said.

A second vessel will be sent at a later date from the Turkish city of Istanbul to Gaza.

In January 2009, an Israeli warship approached an Iranian aid boat heading for the Mediterranean territory and told it to leave the area, 70kms from Gaza.

The ship went on to Egypt, which borders Gaza, but was refused permission to unload.

A Turkish flotilla of ships trying to break Israel’s blockade of Gaza was stopped by Israeli naval vessels on May 31 and nine activists on one of the ships were killed when the Israeli military boarded it and gunfire broke out.

Israel says its troops were attacked with knives, metal poles and other objects.