Iranian ships have re-entered Red Sea from Suez Canal

Two Iranian naval vessels that sailed through the Suez Canal last month to the Mediterranean Sea have returned to the Red Sea, AFP quoted Iranian naval commander Rear Admiral Habibollah Sayari on Saturday.

"The flotilla...has completed its mission successfully in the Mediterranean Sea and has returned to the Red Sea transiting through the Suez Canal," official Iranian IRNA news agency reported.

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AFP reported that the ships, frigate Alvand and supply carrier Kharg, made a "10-12 hour transit" through the canal, and that the vessels carried a message of "peace and friendship to friendly countries," according to Sayari. 

"The Zionist regime and other enemies could not take any actions against us whatsoever," Sayari added.

Coinciding with political turmoil in Egypt and elsewhere in the Arab world, Iran's decision to send warships close to Israeli territory has rattled politicians in the Jewish state.

The ships arrived on Feb. 23 in Syria, an ally of Iran, after passing through the Suez Canal into the Mediterranean, the first Iranian navy vessels to do so since Iran's 1979 Islamic Revolution.

"The Iranian ships will cross the canal with the convoy starting in the north from the Mediterranean," a canal official, who asked not to be named, told Reuters on Wednesday.