Canal officials say the frigate, supply ship have entered the canal marking the first time in 30 years Iran's military ships have traveled the waterway.
CAIRO — Suez Canal officials on Tuesday said two Iranian naval vessels have entered the strategic waterway en route for the Mediterranean Sea.
Canal officials said the ships — the frigate Alvand and the supply ship Kharq — entered the canal early morning and were expected to reach the Mediterranean later in the day. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly about the matter.
The Khark has 250 crew members and can carry three helicopters and the Alvand is armed with torpedoes and anti-ship missiles.
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu told the cabinet on Sunday that Iran was sending the ships through the canal in a move aimed at exploiting the current instability in Egypt. He called the move “grave” and referred to it as an “Iranian attempt to expand its influence in the region.”
“I think that today, we can see what an unstable region we live in, a region in which Iran tries to exploit the situation that has been created in order to expand its influence by passing warships through the Suez Canal,” Netanyahu said, during the weekly cabinet meeting in Jerusalem.
Israel Navy ships have traversed the canal in the past, and in at least one case, an Israeli Dolphin-class submarine also passed through in what appeared to be a message to Iran. Some foreign media reports say that Dolphins can fire nuclear-tipped cruise missiles.
Israeli defense officials said that the ships did not pose a threat to the Israel Navy which would be watching the Iranian vessels from a distance and would not engage them.
The move marks the first time in three decades that Iranian military ships have traveled the waterway that links the Red Sea to the Mediterranean.
Iranian officials said the ships are headed to Syria for a training mission.