Iran offers escort to next aid convoy to Gaza

London, June 7 (ANI): A key aide to Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Hojjatoleslam Ali Shirazi, has warned that Tehran would send naval units of Revolutionary Guard to escort humanitarian aid convoys to the blockaded Gaza Strip.

"Iran's Revolutionary Guard naval forces are prepared to escort the peace and freedom convoys that carry humanitarian assistance for the defenceless and oppressed people of Gaza with all their strength," the Guardian quoted Ali Shirazi, Khamenei's personal representative to the guards corps, as saying.

The threat came as Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, dismissed a UN proposal for an international commission to investigate last week's commando assault on aid ships, in which nine people died.

Israeli forces boarded another aid ship, the Rachel Corrie, carrying Irish and other peace activists, peacefully on Saturday, escorted it to the port of Ashdod, and had its passengers deported.

Netanyahu has defended Israel's right to maintain the blockade by arguing that without it Gaza would become an "Iranian port" and Hamas missiles would strike Tel Aviv and Jerusalem.

Israel's undeclared aim is to weaken or bring down the Hamas government.

Shirazi said Iran should encourage international efforts to break the blockade.

"We should expose our enemies to spontaneous global action and not let them achieve their heinous goals," he was quoted as saying by the semi-official Mehr news agency. (ANI)