Iran naval ships enter Suez canal

• Two vessels headed towards the Mediterranean, officials say • Israel has said it would take a ‘grave view’ of ships’ passage Two Iranian naval ships have entered the Suez canal and are heading towards the Mediterranean sea, a canal official said. The move is certain to anger Israel. “They entered the canal at 5.45am (3.45am GMT),” the official told Reuters. No other details were available. The Suez canal cuts through Egypt and allows shipping to pass from the Middle East to Europe and vice versa without circumnavigating the southern tip of Africa. The canal’s northern mouth, Port Said, is about 60 miles from Israel, but the ships’ route to Syria, their intended destination, would take them parallel to the Israeli coast. The vessels are a frigate and a supply ship. The Israeli prime minister, Binyamin Netanyahu, has said he would take a “grave view” of the passage of the ships, the first Iranian naval vessels to go through the canal since Iran’s 1979 Islamic revolution. Iran appears to be testing the state of affairs in the Middle East after the fall of Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak. A longstanding peace treaty with Egypt is crucial to Israel’s regional security. Israel is anxious about political upheaval in Egypt and other Arab states aligned with its ally, the United States. Polls in Egypt suggest most of the main political forces will be less compliant with Israel and the US. A recently completed Israeli war game, the first since Mubarak quit Egypt’s presidency, concluded it would boost military preparations but try to avoid confrontation unless it sees a greater threat from arch-foe Iran. Egypt’s ruling military council, facing its first diplomatic headache since taking power on 11 February, has approved the vessels’ passage through the canal, a vital global trading route and major source of revenues for the Egyptian authorities. The decision was a difficult one for Egypt’s interim government. Cairo is an ally of the US while its relations with Iran have been strained for more than three decades. Analysts say Iran sees itself benefiting from the upheaval across the Middle East. Dislodgement and weakening of leaders sympathetic to the US is likely to embolden Tehran and lessen the chances of it making concessions on its nuclear programme. Iran denies it intends to build atomic weapons. Iran Middle East Israel Binyamin Netanyahu Egypt Hosni Mubarak US foreign policy United States guardian.co.uk

Posted by on February 22, 2011. Filed under News, Politics, World News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry