Berlin says 'no' to financing Israel's purchase of sixth submarine
IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency
Berlin, July 23, IRNA -- Germany has rejected an Israeli request to subsidize the sale of a sixth German-made submarine and two combat ships, an official said here on Friday.
Talking at a regular weekly press briefing, government spokesman Ulrich Wilhelm said there had been "no concrete negotiations" between ermany and Israel on the issue.
He stressed that Berlin had also made "no pledge to finance" the 1.6 billion US dollars arms deal.
Wilhelm refused to comment on possible informal talks on the case.
The German government, which very rarely talks publicly about military deals with the Zionist regime, had already delivered three of the Dolphin diesel submarines in 1999 and 2000, which are widely believed to carry nuclear missiles.
Another two are on order from north German-based Kiel shipyard Howaldtswerke-Deutsche Werft (HDW) and scheduled to be delivered by 2012.
Dolphins cost around 700 million US dollars but those in Israel's submarine fleet were extensively financed by Germany, which says it remains committed to the security of the Jewish state founded as a result of the Nazi-era mass killings of Jews.
Tel Aviv had also hoped for similar financing package on two Meko corvettes, built at ThyssenKrupp's Blohm+Voss shipyards in Hamburg.
HDW is an affiliate of ThyssenKrupp.
A die-hard supporter of Israel, Germany, has become a major arms supplier of the Zionist state despite a legal German constitutional ban to send arms to crisis regions like the Middle East.
There are no official statistics available on the sale of German weapons to Israel as almost all arms exports are shrouded in utmost secrecy.
OT**1420
End News / IRNA / News Code 1241985
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