Reports in Arab media Thursday morning said that Iran had canceled its sending two warships to Syria via the Suez Canal after Egyptian officials refused to grant Iran a permit to enter the canal. Earlier, Egyptian officials said that no request for such passage had been made by Iran, and reports on Arab satellite TV stations quoted sources in Iran as saying that the project had been scrapped.
Rumors of the ships' passage spread Wednesday night. Israeli officials said earlier Thursday that there was no danger to Israel from the ships, but that it was clearly an Iranian provocation.