The White House on Wednesday slammed Iran after the Israeli army intercepted a vessel carrying a concealed shipment of arms to Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip.
“These illicit actions are unacceptable to the international community,” White House press secretary Jay Carney told reporters aboard Air Force One.
“We continue to have enormous issues with Iran — its sponsor of terrorist organizations, its bad behavior in the region that manifests itself in many ways,” he continued.
The White House said that Israeli and U.S. national security advisers, as well as intelligence and military officials, had coordinated on the issue. The Pentagon was also involved in developing potential unilateral steps after the U.S. became aware of the shipment.
Israeli officials, in a dossier provided to The Washington Post, said the shipment included Syrian-made surface-to-surface rockets that had been flown to Tehran from a weapons factory in Damascus. The shipment was then transported by sea from Iran to Iraq and then Sudan, where it was expected to be smuggled through Egypt to the Gaza Strip.