Iranian warships turn back from Suez canal

guardian.co.uk, Two Iranian warships have withdrawn their application to to sail through the Suez canal after Israel described the move as a provocation.

An unnamed canal official told the Associated Press no reason was given for the decision.

The official identified the two vessels as a frigate and a supply ship, and said they were en route to Syria. He said they were now in an area near the Red Sea port city of Jeddah, in Saudi Arabia.

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 sail through the canal.

On Wednesday night, the Israeli foreign minister, Avigdor Lieberman, told a conference of American-Jewish organisations in Jerusalem that the two vessels were due to pass through the Suez canal.

"Tonight two Iranian warships are supposed to cross the Suez canal on their way to Syria into the Mediterranean Sea which is something that has not happened for many years," he said.

"This is a provocation that proves that the self-confidence and impudence of the Iranians is growing from day to day ... Regrettably the international community shows no willingness to deal with these repeated Iranian provocations."

He said the international community needed to understand that Israel could not ignore such provocations forever.

Israel suspected the ships were carrying weapons intended for eventual delivery to Hezbollah, the Lebanese Islamist organisation and ally of Iran.

Israel's alarm at the presence of Iranian ships in the region comes amid unrest sweeping across Arab countries. Israel is deeply concerned about instability in neighbouring countries and fears that Islamist organisations are growing in influence.

The defence minister, Ehud Barak, said Israel was "attentively monitoring" the ships' progress.

Under international law, only ships from countries at war with Egypt are barred from passing through the Suez canal. But warships need prior permission from Egypt's defence and foreign ministries.

The US state department spokesman PJ Crowley confirmed that Iranian ships were in the area of the canal, but declined to comment further. "There are two ships in the Red Sea," he said. "What their intention is, what their destination is, I can't say."

Last month, Iran's Fars news agency reported that Iranian navy cadets were embarking on a year-long training mission in the Mediterranean, passing through the the Red Sea and the Suez canal. It said the purpose was to train to defend Iranian ships against the threat of Somali pirates.

The Suez canal is the key sea passage between Europe and the Middle East and Asia.

Since Hosni Mubarak was ousted as Egypt's president last Friday, Israel has been deeply concerned about the future of relations between it and its closest ally in the region. Egypt's ruling army council has said the 31-year-old peace treaty between the two countries will be maintained, but Israel remains anxious about whether a future government which is likely to include the Islamist Muslim Brotherhood would review the accord.

Israel's prime minister, Binyamin Netanyahu, has warned that the country must "prepare for the worst".

Although Israel hoped to see genuine democratic reform in Egypt, he said, it and other countries needed to be alert to "possible dangers that may lie ahead".

At least 1,500 workers from the Suez Canal Authority protested on Thursday in three Egyptian cities along the waterway, demanding better pay and working conditions. The workers, however, said their protest would not disrupt canal traffic.