Iran warships enter Mediterranean

   
Two Iranian warships on Saturday entered the Mediterranean Sea after crossing the Suez Canal ,a move that will escalate  tensions between Iran and Israel .


Navy commander Admiral Habibollah Sayari
said this move  is to show Tehran's "might" to regional countries, and also convey Tehran's "message of peace and friendship."

Reacting sharply ,Israeli foreign ministry denounced the deployment as a "provocation" and a "power play."Of course,the United States  and Israel will be closely watching the movements .

Actually this is the second time that Iranian warships  have crossed the Suez Canal since the Islamic republic's 1979 revolution.

In February 2011,Iranian warships entered the Mediterranean , 1,500-ton patrol frigate Alvand and 33, 000-ton support ship Khark, passed through the canal and headed to the Syrian port of Latakia.


The United States and Israel expressed their deep concerns over Iran's latest move as speculation is rife  of a pre-emptive Israeli strike on Iran to stop its suspected nuclear weapons program.


Sayari said the "naval deployment to the Mediterranean would show "the might" of the Islamic republic to regional countries, and also convey Tehran's "message of peace and friendship."

Not mentioning the number of vessels crossing the canal and what missions they are planning to carry out in the Mediterranean, but said the flotilla had previously docked in the Saudi port city of Jeddah.Two Iranian ships, the destroyer Shahid Qandi and supply vessel Kharg, had docked in the Red Sea port on February 4,according to Iranian media.

The Suez canal is of utmost strategic importance as it provides a passageway through wich two-thirds of Europe oil passes .Egypt has sovereignty over it. But Egypt guarantees the right of free passage by ships belonging to Israel and all other nations on the basis of the Constantinople Convention of 1888.



   
Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak  called on the world to tighten sanctions on Iran before the  country enters a "zone of immunity" against a physical attack to stop its nuclear programme. Barak  phrase "zone of immunity"means  a point where Tehran's nuclear programme becomes invulnerable to physical attack.
   
    Attack on Iran -a costly affair
Maintaining that an attack on Iran would  be a costly affair  ,British Foreign Secretary William Hague said he favoured  diplomacy and  sanctions to pressurise Iran as striking at Iran's disputed nuclear program would have "enormous downsides."


Israel, the US, Britain and others suspect that the Islamic Republic is using the programne as cover for the manufacture of atomic weapons .

Moreover  Israel has also blamed Tehran for attacks on Israeli targets in India, Georgia and Thailand.


Hague said that allowing Iran to proceed with its nuclear program unchecked would lead to a Cold War-style arms race in the Middle East which in turn will destabilise the region."And so, the most serious round of nuclear proliferation since nuclear weapons were invented would have begun with all
the destabilizing effects in the Middle East," he said. "That would be a disaster for world affairs."