Thursday, Feb 17, 2011
(Updates with request received, details.)
By Farnaz Fassihi, Charles Levinson and Richard Boudreaux
CAIRO (Dow Jones)--Egypt's Foreign Ministry said Thursday it has received a request from Iran to allow two of its navy ships to pass through the Suez Canal, but that no approval had yet been given.
"We received a request this afternoon for two Iranian warships to pass through the Suez Canal. We have not yet approved it," said Hossam Zaki, a spokesman for Egypt's Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Mr. Zaki said the request will be decided by Egypt's new military rulers.
"It's the armed forces' decision, not ours, and it's being studied by the armed forces," Mr. Zaki said.
Iran's semi-official Press TV, a satellite channel, Thursday cited an unnamed navy official as confirming that Iranian navy ships were en route to the canal. Press TV said Iranian officials were in contact with Egyptian officials in order to obtain passage permission for the vessels, without giving further details.
Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman on Wednesday accused Iran of staging a "provocation" by sending a warship on a course to sail through the Suez Canal and past Israel's Mediterranean coast to Syria. Israel's defense minister and U.S. officials, however, played down the significance of the plans, which Iran first announced weeks ago.
The Israeli newspaper Yediot Aharonot reported Thursday that the Iranian warship is a missile ship, which carries sea-to-sea missiles and torpedoes. It says the other vessel is a freighter that can carry a cargo of 33 tons.
The freighter, the newspaper said, is capable of transporting large quantities of weapons to Syria, which Israel says is a supply conduit for Iranian weapons bound for the Lebanese militia Hezbollah.
Back-and-forth reports on the Iranian vessels have roiled global financial markets, already rattled by the rising political tensions in the Middle East region.
The Israeli government believes the two ships are idling in the Red Sea near the canal, an Israeli official said Thursday, speaking on condition of anonymity.
The Israeli official said the two ships left the Iranian port of Bandar Abbas "around the end of January," landed in Jeddah on Feb. 9 or 10, and sailed from Jeddah on Sunday.
But a Saudi Foreign Ministry official denied Thursday that any Iranian ships had called at Jeddah.
Israeli officials watched with deep unease last week as a popular uprising overthrew Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, depriving Israel of its only reliable ally in the Middle East. The prospect of an Iranian naval presence in the Mediterranean for the first time since Iran's Islamic Revolution of 1979 was viewed by some in Israel as a sign its adversaries, including Iran and Syria, had suddenly become emboldened.
A militarily assertive Iran would also pose a serious challenge to Saudi Arabia and other Arab regimes aligned with the U.S. Under Mr. Mubarak, Egypt had been the cornerstone of a U.S. effort to enlist moderate Arab leaders to counter the rise of Islamic militancy in the region.
State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley acknowledged Wednesday there were Iranian ships in the Red Sea, but said the U.S. didn't know the vessels' destination or intentions. Asked if the U.S. was tracking the ships' movements, Mr. Crowley said: "We always watch what Iran is doing."
Yediot Aharonot also reported Thursday that Suez Canal Authority prevented the passage of an Iranian ship sailing to participate in an international flotilla that tried to supply civilian goods to the Gaza Strip last summer.
--Summer Said contributed to this article.
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
17-02-11 1936GMT
