As reported earlier this week, Iran has arrested suspected spy pigeons that may have been the second wave of animal agents sent in after 14 spy squirrels were caught last year before they could bring down the Iranian government.

Israelis are adamantly rejecting any suggestion that they dispatched Mossad pigeons to Iran.

In his blog, Jerusalem Post News Editor Amir Mizroch reports that Mossad pigeons could not fly from Israel to Iran, thus debunking the idea.

"Israeli pigeon grower and expert Daniel Mizrachi says that pigeons were used extensively in WWI, WWII and during Israel’s War of Independence in 1948 to carry messages," Mizroch writes. "One pigeon was even given a medal of honor for getting it’s message home even after it was shot and wounded. But can a pigeon fly the 3,000 Km (1,900 miles) from Israel to Iran? Mizrachi says pigeons can fly between 1,000 - 1,500 Km (620 -930 miles) in 24 hours, and that technically, they could make the trip in a couple of days. However, a pigeon’s natural inclination is to return home from whence it came, so it is more likely the pigeons were bred, raised and trained in Iran. It is very unlikely that a pigeon can be sent to fly to Iran, and that the bird would complete its journey - in a straight line that is."

Of course, no one said these (alleged) Mossad spy pigeons were launched from Israel.

It would be much more likely that they would have been dispatched from northern Iraq, where Kurds are believed to have a longstanding relationship with Israeli spies, or perhaps from eastern Turkey, which also borders Iran...

Whatever the case, the discussion reminds me of the classic skit from "Monty Python and the Holy Grail" where King Arthur is dragged into an esoteric argument over the flight velocity of African and European swallows.

Watch the absurdity unfold here: