Two Iranian Warships Enter Suez Canal

ASSOCIATED PRESS
02/22/2011

CAIRO — Two Iranian naval vessels entered the Suez Canal on Tuesday en route to Syria, officials said, the first time in three decades that Tehran has sent military ships through the strategic waterway.

Canal officials said the ships — a frigate and a supply vessel — are expected to reach the Mediterranean later in the day.

Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman made clear last week that the passage was seen a provocation, but Israeli officials had no immediate comment Tuesday.

The canal linking the Red Sea and the Mediterranean enables ships to avoid a lengthy sail around Africa.

The Iranian ships are headed for a training mission in Syria. In Syria, officials at the Iranian embassy said it would mark the first time in years that Iranian warships dock in a Syrian port.

The ships paid about $300,000 in fees for the passage, according to a Maritime agent. The officials all spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized to speak publicly about the matter.

Iran's request to send the warships through the Suez Canal came at a particularly difficult time for Egypt as the nation's new military rulers try to focus on pressing domestic issues, including restoring security after the uprising that ousted longtime leader Hosni Mubarak.

The military rulers apparently had no choice but to grant the ships passage because an international convention regulating shipping says the canal must be open "to every vessel of commerce or of war." Egypt also cannot search naval ships passing through the waterway.

Iranian warships have not passed through the Suez Canal since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

Is a confrontation at sea about to happen between Isreal and Iran? The probabilities are climbing.

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