Guess Whose Ships Have Been Calling at Libya?

No, this is not a conspiracy theory. It’s merely an observation, and a warning. There’s trouble enough in Libya right now, without the added presence in Libya’s ports of ships from Iran.

But that’s part of the current scene. Among the regular visitors to Libya these days are a number of Iranian cargo ships, blacklisted by the U.S., and linked through a web of front companies to Iran’s state merchant fleet , the Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines, or IRISL. Since 2008, IRISL has been under U.S. sanctions, for its role in helping Iran’s military with such stuff as illicit procurement for Iran’s ballistic missile program.

This is not to suggest that Iran, or its shipping traffic, is in some way connected to the horrific Sept. 11 attack on the U.S. diplomatic post in Benghazi. We simply don’t yet know who was behind that. But given the record of Iran’s regime as the world’s most active state sponsor of terrorism, its hegemonic plans, and its taste for killing Americans and friends of America, it should stir a certain unease that Iranian ships are calling at Libyan ports. Such as the Parmis, an Iranian container ship that put in to Benghazi on August 30. More in my article on Forbes: “About Those Blacklisted Iranian Ships Calling at Libyan Ports…”