Iran is reportedly transporting weapons to Palestine via a covert method
The New York Times reported, citing authorities from the US, Israel, and Iran, that Iran has been using a covert smuggling route throughout West Asia to transport weapons to Palestinians in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. For this purpose, Iran has hired criminal gangs, terrorists, and intelligence agents.
According to three Iranian officials cited by the NYT, the goal of using this covert route is to incite discontent against Israel by arming the enclave with as many weapons as possible. The clandestine project has sparked worries that Tehran wants to use the West Bank as the next hot spot in the long-running conflict between Iran and Israel.
This month, the already intense battle in Gaza assumed a new dimension and put the Middle East in danger of a wider catastrophe as Tehran threatened to react after an Israeli raid on an embassy complex resulted in the deaths of seven officers of the Iranian armed forces.
According to the authorities, there are two main routes by which weapons are smuggled into the West Bank from Iran: via Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, and Israel. According to the authorities, when the weapons cross international boundaries, they are transferred among a diverse group of individuals, who may include members of organized crime groups, radicalized militants, military personnel, and intelligence agents, as reported by The New York Times.
Bedouin smugglers who transport the weapons from Jordan into Israel are considered a crucial component of the operation, according to Iranian officials and observers.
