Questions continue to surround the Russian cargo ship that was hijacked in July, with some press reports claiming it was en route to Iran with advanced air defense missiles.
Flaming those allegations now are new reports of a secret trip Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu may have taken to Russia this week to discuss the secret cargo. Netanyahu's recent mysterious disappearance led to a flurry of press speculation and eventual backtracking by the government on his whereabouts. "After initially issuing a vague statement about visiting a top-secret Mossad installation inside Israel, Netanyahu kept silent Thursday as reports emerged that he flew to Moscow aboard a private jet for urgent talks on Iran," the Associated Press reports.
Various accounts speculated that the Israeli prime minister was pushing the Russians to halt arms sales to Iran, or possibly warning of an impending strike against Iranian nuclear facilities. The most interesting speculation, however, is that the secret trip was linked to the mysterious hijacking of a Russian cargo trip off the coast of Sweden in July.Russia is vehemently denying reports that the ship was carrying S-300 missiles bound for Iran.
It's no secret that Iran has been trying to buythe S-300, an advanced surface-to-air missile, from Russia for quite some time. Moscow, however, has been coy about it's own intentions to sell the missiles. For now, Russia's foreign minister is calling the S-300 report a "complete lie."
[Photo: The Kremlin]
