The Iranian Foreign Ministry Tuesday summoned the top Egyptian diplomat in Iran to lodge Tehran's protest over what it said Cairo's obstruction in getting Iranian aid to the Gaza Strip, the official news agency IRNA reported. An official with the Israeli Defense Ministry said – according to Israeli newspaper Jerusalem Post –Egypt prevents the Iranian ship from passing the Suez Canal because it carries weapons for Hamas. However, a senior official with the Suez Canal Authority (SCA) has denied that Egypt had prevented the ship, adding that there are international standards for ships' crossing the canal. An official with the Iranian Foreign Ministry said Cairo has not yet issued the necessary permission so that the Iranian ship would anchor on the Egyptian coast. Tehran informed the Egyptian envoy that it had expected that the Israelis would deny the ship access to Gaza, but Egypt's rejection to give permission to the Iranian aid ship was “not justified at all. For his part, an official source with the SCA denied that Egypt seized the Iranian Ship near the canal's southern entrance Speaking to Al-Masry Al-Youm, the source said: "We have not received any information about this ship. There are international agreed-upon standards for the passage of ships, including warships, through the canal. The SCA should receive information about such ships as soon as they enter the Egyptian territorial waters." There is coordination with sovereign bodies with regard to the careful examination of the passing ships' contents, which may have any materials violating the international law and conventions, the source said, in reference to the smuggling of weapons.
