Iranian ships passing Suez a signal to Israel
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The passage of two Iranian warships through the Suez Canal on Tuesday, the first time for Iranian naval ships to use the strategic international shipping route in over 30 years, came only days after the ouster of former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, who was seen by Israel as an ally, and raised deep concerns in Israel.
Analysts told Xinhua Wednesday that while the ships themselves do not pose any military risk to Israel, the move is seen as a symbolic move by Iran to show its commitment to its regional allies and a display of its naval capabilities.
Israel observing
Dr. Mordechai Kedar, a senior research fellow at the Begin- Sadat Center for Strategic Studies at Bar-Ilan University, told Xinhua that Israel surely doesn't like what happened with the these ships.
"I believe that the Israeli intelligence is now trying to find out what the Iranians are doing here, where they are and what they aim to do with these ships," he said, adding that "if they came only for sightseeing and to see what's going on in the Middle East, that is okay with us."
According to Iranian official news agency Fars, the two ships are on a yearlong intelligence gathering mission to prepare its cadets to defend Iranian commercial vessels from Somali pirates.
While some other analysts said that the timing is accidental, Kedar holds the opinion that this would definitely not have happened as long as Mubarak were in power, because he wouldn't have let the Iranians cross the Suez Canal.
However, after the changes in Cairo, "the Egyptian army is signaling to Israel that things might be rethought and Israel will have to be very careful when dealing with Egypt," he said.
Kedar added that if the Iranians started dealing with the Muslim Brotherhood, an opposition movement in Egypt which was banned by Mubarak from running in elections, the Egyptian army will not like it at all.
"The Iranians have the ability to undermine the stability in Egypt especially after the latest developments," Kedar said, "So maybe in order to the keep good relations with the Iranians, the Egyptians allow those ships to cross the canal."
Kedar believes that people will see an increase in the Israeli defense budget as a result of the overthrow of Mubarak's regime and the possibility of the Muslim Brotherhood gaining more influence in Egyptian politics.
