Israeli media reports on Thursday indicate that Iran has backed down from any confrontation with Israel over the transit of two of its warships through the Suez Canal to the Mediterranean Sea. Israel's Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman stated Wednesday night that two Iranian warships were bound for Syria, and he called this a “provocation.” No other source has confirmed that the Iranian ships were headed to Syria. Israeli military sources have expressed equal if not greater concern about the possibility that the Iranian ships might have been headed to the Gaza Strip. But, the Israeli Defense Ministry was reportedly interested in playing down the situation, as was American State Department spokesperson P.J. Crowley. An Iranian convoy destined for Gaza in the immediate aftermath of Israel's Operation Cast Lead (27 December 2008 to 18 January 2009), and reportedly loaded with aid supplies, desisted at the last minute rather than face an actual confrontation with the Israeli Navy at that time. Apparently in large part to stop a series of Free Gaza aid expeditions launched in August 2008 with the stated aim of breaking the Israeli blockade, Israel on 3-4 January 2009, as it began the ground phase of Operation Cast Lead, declared a formal naval blockade of Gaza's entire maritime space, which extend 20 naval miles straight out to sea, as defined by the maps attached to the 1994 and 1995 Oslo Agreements. Avi Issacharoff reported Thursday in Haaretz (here) that “plans by two Iranian naval ships to cross the waterway were canceled … It was not immediately clear which side was behind the cancellation, but the Al-Arabiya daily reported that Egyptian authorities had blocked the ships from crossing … An Egyptian canal official who declined to be named said that Suez Canal Authority was ‘informed today about the cancellation of two scheduled trips of two Iranian warships', adding that ‘no new date was set to cross the Suez as part of the southern convoy coming from the Red Sea'. The official, who identified the ships as the Alvand and Kharg, said the vessels were near the Saudi Arabian Red Sea port of Jeddah.” The same Haaretz story noted that “If the ships had crossed, it would have been the first time since Iran's 1979 revolution that Iranian warships had passed through the canal, officials said … Iran's semi-official Fars news agency reported on Jan. 26 that Iranian navy cadets were going on a year-long training mission into the Red Sea and through Suez to the Mediterranean.” The New York Times reported Wednesday night that “a possible purpose for the ships' movement [was a report on 26 January by] Iran's semi-official Fars news agency … that Iranian navy cadets had been dispatched on a year-long training mission to defend cargo ships and oil tankers against Somali pirates and would travel via the Gulf of Aden into the Red Sea and on through the Suez Canal to the Mediterranean”. The same NY Times story (here) also said “A member of the Suez Canal board said that warships could pass through only on approval of the Egyptian ministries of defense and foreign affairs and that so far the canal authority had received no notice of such expected movement. However, he added that notice sometimes came only hours in advance.” Israel's freewheeling DebkaFile reported on Wednesday that the two Iranian warships were docked in Saudi Arabia's Red Sea port of Jeddah since 6 February. Saudi Arabia is not a close ally of Iran. The Jerusalem Post's Yaakov Katz (with material from AP) reported that “A senior Suez Canal official says two Iranian warships have withdrawn their application to transit the waterway following expressions of concern by Israel over the plans. The official said no reason was given for Thursday's decision to withdraw the application. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media, also said it was not known if the vessels intended to transit the waterway at a later date … Egypt's official MENA news agency, however, quoted Ahmed al-Manakhly, a senior Suez Canal official, as denying that the waterway's management had received any requests by Iranian warships to transit the canal. Vessels intending to transit the Suez Canal, which links the Red Sea and the Mediterranean, must give the waterway's authority at least 24-hour notice before entering the canal. Only ships that don't meet safety requirements are banned from using the canal. In the case of warships, a clearance from the Egyptian defense and foreign ministries is required in advance, but is rarely withheld.” Former Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser's decision to bar all Israeli transit through the Suez Canal in 1967 was a belligerent act under maritime law and convention which place a responsibility on the host state to allow innocent passage through international straights and waterways. However, international law experts do not agree that this decision, however belligerent, was still not sufficient provocation to justify Israel's launch of the June 1967 war, which Israel has said was to “preempt” an act of actual aggression. Iran is expected to continue to avoid arousing Israeli alarm on this issue. BM
