
Erdogan: Hamas is a political party, not an “arm of Iran. If the whole world had given them the chance of becoming a political player maybe they would not be in a situation like this after the elections that they won.”
A ship suspected of carrying arms from Iran to Gaza had no weaponry aboard but carried material for making munitions, Cyprus said Friday. Cypriot authorities began unloading the cargo Friday. The government said it breached a UN ban on Iranian arms exports. Defense Minister Costas Papacostas said more than 90 containers loaded with “raw material that could be used in the manufacture of munitions” would be stored at a naval base. The Cypriot-flagged Monchegorsk has anchored off the port of Limassol since it arrived Jan. 29 under suspicion from US officials of ferrying weapons from Iran to Hamas in Gaza.
BUT: “Cypriot authorities began unloading the cargo Friday. The government said it breached a UN ban on Iranian arms exports.”