Iranian Navy Quietly Assertive

As tensions run high across the Middle East, two Iranian naval ships have sailed through the Suez Canal and back again, managing to irritate the Israelis without provoking a full-scale confrontation.

The vessels, a frigate and a naval supply ship, were the first to navigate the canal since Iran’s Islamic Revolution in 1979. They crossed into the Mediterranean on February 22 and docked at the Syrian port of Lattakia until their return voyage, travelling back through the Suez Canal on March 3 on their way back home.

Their appearance off the coast of Israel was cause for consternation in that country. While Israeli defence minister Ehud Barak admitted that there was little his country could do about the convoy, Foreign Minister, Avigdor Lieberman, condemned the Iranian action as a “provocation”.

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