CAIRO: Following two days of controversy, Egypt has cleared two Iranian warships traveling to Syria to pass through the Suez Canal on Friday, according to Egypt's state news agency MENA. The news has prompted concern from the Israeli government. The Egyptian authorities, according to MENA, received the request for the ships to pass through Iran's Chargé d'affaires in Cairo. Egypt has also received guarantees that these ships are not carrying weapons, nuclear or chemical materials. The warships are set to arrive at Port Said, then continue to Syria. Suez Canal officials said on Friday that it would be the first time an Iranian warship has passed through the Canal since the Islamic Revolution in 1979 that toppled the Iranian Shah, which was followed by severance in bilateral relations between Egypt and Iran. However, other ships pass through the waterway regularly. Earlier on Friday, an official from the Egyptian Ministry of Foreign Affairs told local newspapers that the Iranian request was passed on to the defense ministry, which will consider the approval or the rejection of the passage of any warship through the canal. The remarks came despite a denial from another Suez Canal official onThursday that the waterway's management had received any requests by Iranian warships to transit the canal. As previously reported by Bikya Masr, Israeli media reports on Thursday indicated that Iran had backed down from any confrontation with Israel over the transit of the warships. Israel's Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman stated Wednesday night that two Iranian warships were bound for Syria, and he called this a “provocation,” while Defense Minister Ehud Barak described the Iranian move as “hostile” and stressed that Israel is closely monitoring the situation. Maritime law and conventions place a responsibility on the host state to allow innocent passage through international straits and waterways, unless the country where the ship comes from is at war with the host state. BM
