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Reports that two Iranian Navy ships were passing through the Suez Canal early on Tuesday, heading for the Mediterranean, were initially greeted with a tense silence in Israel where officials have described the move as a provocation.
The passage of the ships was expected to pass without incident. Although there was no immediate official response to the reports, an aide to Israel’s defense minister, Ehud Barak, said by telephone on Tuesday that Israel was obviously not happy at the development. But he reiterated Mr. Barak’s view, expressed in an interview with Fox News last week, that while the move was unwelcome, it should not be blown out of proportion.
Israel’s foreign minister, Avigdor Lieberman, was the first to draw attention to Iranian plans to send warships through the canal for the first time in decades, telling an audience in Jerusalem last Wednesday that the ships were due to cross that night and warning that “the international community must understand that Israel cannot ignore these provocations forever.”
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday that Israel viewed the Iranian move “with utmost gravity.”
Referring to the turmoil that is sweeping the region, and that brought down the Mubarak regime in Egypt, Israel’s crucial ally over the past 30 years, Mr. Netanyahu said that Iran was trying “to exploit the situation that has been created in order to expand its influence by passing warships through the Suez Canal.”
This, like other developments, he added, underscored his argument that “Israel’s security needs will grow and the defense budget must grow accordingly.”
Israeli analysts said that the Iranians wanted to show a presence beyond their normal reach, making a point both to Israel and to the United States whose forces are stationed in the Gulf.
Israel has been careful not to point a finger publicly at the Egyptian authorities now in charge in Cairo, although the Egyptians had to give permission for the Iranian ships — a frigate and a supply vessel — to pass through the canal.
Citing a possible purpose for the ships’ movement, Iran’s semiofficial Fars news agency reported on Jan. 26 that Iranian Navy cadets had been sent on a yearlong training mission to defend cargo ships and oil tankers against Somali pirates, Reuters reported. The Fars report said they would travel via the Gulf of Aden into the Red Sea and on through the Suez Canal to the Mediterranean.
Israel has long accused Iran and Syria of providing weapons to Hezbollah, the Lebanese Shiite organization with which Israel fought a war in 2006. Israeli military officials said recently that Hezbollah has around 45,000 rockets and missiles buried underground that could be fired at Israel.
NYTIMES
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