Iran naval ships enter Suez Canal, says Egyptian official

[Aryajet]

What do you think is the purpose of this extra-territorial show? I really can't figure out why so much diesel fuel should be wasted just to go through Suez, dock in Syria for couple of days and return. Thanx for your insight in advance.

Two Iranian ships entered the Suez Canal on Tuesday and were heading towards the Mediterranean, an Egyptian canal official said.

Iran appears to be testing the state of affairs in the Middle East after the fall of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak.

"They entered the canal at 5:45 a.m.," the official told Reuters. No other details were immediately available.

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 its ally the United States, though no group has called for the abrogation of the Israeli-Egyptian peace treaty.

Israel had said it takes 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.

Egypt's ruling military council, facing its first diplomatic headache since taking power on Feb. 11, has approved the vessels' passage through the canal, a vital global trading route and major source of revenues for the Egyptian authorities.

The vessels include a frigate and a supply ship.

The decision was a difficult one for Egypt's interim government. Cairo is an ally of the United States, has a peace treaty with Israel, and its relations with Iran have been strained for more than three decades.

Analysts say that Iran see itself benefiting from the upheaval across the Middle East. Dislodgement and weakening of leaders sympathetic to the United States is likely to embolden Tehran, and lessen the chances of it making concessions on its nuclear program. Iran denies it intends to build atomic weapons.

Last week, the prospect of the Suez crossing was described by Foreign Minister, Avigdor Lieberman, as a provocation by Iran.

http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomac...icial-1.344956

[JAD_333]

Taking the extreme view, this report is heavy with potential fallout from the Iranian move. Note the charge that Iran may be delivering missiles to Hezbollah. I don't know how well respected this news outlet is.

Cairo and Tehran connive to slip Iranian warships through Suez after fake delays
DEBKAfile Special Report February 19, 2011, 12:37 AM (GMT+02:00)
Tags: Egypt Iran Israel Suez Canal warships
Iranian Kharg with missiles for Hizballah

Cairo and Tehran connived to slip the two Iranian warships through the Suez Canal to the Mediterranean Sunday, Feb. 20, after a series of fake delaying tactics agreed between them to cover the flotilla's movements. Egypt's military rulers approved the passage of Iranian flotilla through the Suez Canal without inspecting their freights for banned cargo, taking advantage of the sandstorm over the region which obscured them from spy satellites and helped them to give monitors the slip. Tehran marked this landmark event with an official state TV statement Sunday that the ships had entered the Mediterranean and were on their way to Syria. Sunday, Cairo was still saying they will only reach Suez Monday.

From earlier debkafile reports: Cairo's approval for Iranian warships transit of the Suez Canal has brought Israel and Iran closer than ever before to a naval collision at sea. debkafile reports: Israel has learned that the Iranian cruiser Kharg is carrying long-range missiles for Hizballah which it plans to unload at a Syrian port or Beirut harbor.

US State Department spokesman P.J Crowley said he was "highly skeptical" of the Syrian claim that the two ships' visit was for training. "If the ships move through the canal, we will evaluate what they actually do. It's not really about the ships. It's about what the ships are carrying, what's their destination, what's the cargo on board, where's it going, to whom and for what benefit," Crowley told a news conference.
He was responding to questions in the wake of debkafile's disclosure that the Karg was carrying missiles for Hizballah and indicating that the US and all other UN members were authorized by UN sanctions against Iran to board and search Iranian ships suspected of carrying illegal weapons.

Heavy US and Israeli pressure failed to dissuade Egypt's military rulers from letting the Iranian flotilla through Suez. So now the waterway has been opened wide for Iran to consign heavy weapons deliveries to Syria and Lebanon - in the first instance, and eventually to try and break Israel's naval blockade on the Gaza Strip and bring Hamas the heavy munitions that were impossible to transport through smuggling tunnels.
Israel was closely monitoring the Iranian flotilla, whose visit to the Saudi Red Sea port of Jeddah on Feb. 6, preparatory to transiting Suez, was first revealed exclusively by DEBKA-Net-Weekly 481 on February 10.

Up until now, Saudi Arabia, in close conjunction with Egypt and its President Hosni Mubarak, led the Sunni Arab thrust to contain Iranian expansion – especially in the Persian Gulf. However, the opening of a Saudi port to war ships of the Islamic Republic of Iran for the first time in the history of their relations points to a fundamental shift in Middle East trends in consequence of the Egyptian uprising. It was also the first time Cairo has permitted Iranian warships to transit Suez from the Red Sea to the Mediterranean, although Israeli traffic in the opposite direction had been allowed.
Iran made no secret of its plants to expand its naval and military presence beyond the Persian Gulf and Red Sea to the Mediterranean via Suez: On February 2, Iran's Deputy Navy Commander Rear Admiral Gholam-Reza Khadem Biqam announced the flotilla's mission was to "enter the waters of the Red Sea and then be dispatched to the Mediterranean Sea."

However, Israeli military intelligence which failed to foresee the Egyptian upheaval and its policy-makers ignored the Iranian admiral's announcement and its strategic import, just as they failed to heed the significance of the Iranian flotilla's docking in Jeddah.
debkafile's military sources report that Iran is rapidly seizing the fall of the Mubarak regime in Cairo and the Saudi King Abdullah's falling-out with President Barack Obama (see debkafile of Feb. 10, 2011) as an opportunity not to be missed for establishing a foothold along the Suez Canal and access to the Mediterranean for six gains:

1. To cut off, even partially, the US military and naval Persian Gulf forces from their main route for supplies and reinforcements;
2. To establish an Iranian military-naval grip on the Suez Canal, through which 40 percent of the world's maritime freights pass every day:
3. To bring an Iranian military presence close enough to menace the Egyptian heartland of Cairo and the Nile Delta and squeeze it into joining the radical Iranian-Syrian-Iraqi-Turkish alliance;
4. To thread a contiguous Iranian military-naval line from the Persian Gulf to the Red Sea through the Suez Canal and the Gaza Strip and up to the ports of Lebanon, where Hizballah has already seized power and toppled the pro-West government.
5. To eventually sever the Sinai Peninsula from Egypt, annex it to the Gaza Strip and establish a large Hamas-ruled Palestinian state athwart the Mediterranean, the Gulf of Aqaba and the Red Sea.
By comparison, a Fatah-led Palestinian state on the West Bank within the American orbit be politically and strategically inferior.
6. To tighten the naval and military siege on Israel.

DEBKAfile, Political Analysis, Espionage, Terrorism, Security

[Pedicabby]

hat the Karg was carrying missiles for Hizballah

Would it not be easier to send them by plane? Syrian Air flies to Iran.

5. To eventually sever the Sinai Peninsula from Egypt, annex it to the Gaza Strip and establish a large Hamas-ruled Palestinian state athwart the Mediterranean, the Gulf of Aqaba and the Red Sea.

They could do that and get away with it?

[Skywatcher]

Debka never ceases to amuse me.

What's Egypt supposed to do? The treaties its party to specifically allows for free passage for all in war and peace in the Suez Canal (of course, it hasn't always been that way during WWI and WWII, but still).

[bigross86]

I personally don't see what the hubbub is. If they want to waste the diesel, that's fine. There will be plenty Israeli eyes on them and if they try anything funny, they will be sunk within minutes. The missile claim is kinda worrying, but as far as I know it's just a speculation

[Dreadnought]

Masts on the horizion.......


CAIRO (AP) - Egyptian officials say two U.S. warships have entered the Suez Canal on their way to the Mediterranean, moving closer to the Libyan coast after orders from Defense Secretary Robert Gates.

The officials say amphibious assault ships USS Kearsarge and USS Ponce, entered the canal on Wednesday morning from the Red Sea. They say USS Kearsarge is carrying some 42 helicopters on board.

The two officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to talk to the media.

Gates said on Tuesday he had ordered two ships into the Mediterranean and he is sending 400 Marines to the vessels to replace some troops that left recently for Afghanistan.

Gates also said any military action in Libya must be carefully weighed because of broad consequences for the region.

http://apnews1.iwon.com/article/20110302/D9LN29HG0.html

[coolieno99]

The Iranian ships have re-crossed the Suez Canal after staying couple days at a Syrian port. The transport ship may have unloaded some arms. The last time an Iranian arms shipment aboard the MV Francop was intercepted by IDF resulted in the confiscation of 320 tons of munitions. Apparently Iran learned a hard lesson, and now escort its arms transport with a warship.

[Dreadnought]

JERUSALEM -- The Israeli navy intercepted an Egyptian-bound ship carrying a large delivery of weapons off the country's Mediterranean coast on Tuesday, the military said.

The military said the cargo vessel "Victoria" originated in a Turkish port but insisted that Turkey had no involvement in the shipment. The ship is German-owned, operated by a French shipping company and flying under a Liberian flag, the military said.

The interception occurred about 200 miles off Israel's Mediterranean coast and Israeli troops met no resistance. The vessel is now being hauled back to the Israeli port of Ashdod, according to the military.

The military gave no details on what types of arms were on board, but said it was intended for the use of terror organizations operating in the Gaza Strip. In the past, Israel has accused Hamas militants of shipping arms through Egypt.

German, French and Liberian authorities have been notified of the seizure.

The operation is reminiscent of the November 2009 Israeli takeover of the Iranian Francop vessel off the coast of Cyprus. Israel captured hundreds of tons of rockets, missiles, mortars, grenades and anti-tank weapons on board headed to Hezbollah guerrillas in Lebanon.

In January 2002, Israeli forces stormed the Karine A freighter on the Red Sea, and confiscated what the military said was 50 tons of missiles, mortars, rifles and ammunition headed for Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip.

Israeli Navy Intercepts Egypt-Bound Ship With Arms - FoxNews.com