Iran: Arrangement with Egypt will Allow Warships Through Suez

Yesterday, news broke that Iran would be trying to send two warships through the Suez Canal, both marking their increased ability to move with the fall of the Mubarak presidency and in order to show Israel just how close their navy can get.  Early reports today stated that Egypt would not let the ships past and, therefore, the movement was canceled.

Now new reports from Iran's Press TV state that not only will Iran still be trying to send their warships through the Suez Canal, but that they are working with "Egyptian officials" to make it happen.

Talking about the official, the article stated:

He said that the Iranian officials were in contact with officials in Cairo to secure the Iranian vessels' passage, adding that Egyptian authorities believed there was nothing wrong with the passage.

Israel has called the movements an "act of provocation," stating that the exercise is well off course of where Iran's warships usually go and that the ships' destination is off the coast of their nation:

“It’s meant as a clear provocation to Israel, and is also an attempt by Iran to change the subject from the fact that, while Tehran welcomed the downfall of the Egyptian government, they have a problem at home right now where a certain section of their own people would like to see that regime also fall,” Jonathan Spyer, a political scientist at the Interdisciplinary Center Herzliya near Tel Aviv, said in a phone interview.

As the picture above illustrates, Iran plans to send ships from its southern coast through the Arabian Sea, through the Gulf of Aden, through the Red Sea, and then finally through the Suez Canal.  The ships would end up in the Mediterranean, a sea which Israel's western coast borders.

The Obama Administration has yet to publicly comment on the situation, but did announce this morning that it would "rebuke" Israeli settlements in Jerusalem.

Under Mubarak, such a movement would have likely not been approved.

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