Israeli website DEBKAfile is reporting that Iranian warships attempting to pass through the Suez Canal to the Mediterranean Sea and Syria are in a standoff with five US warships — the USS Enterprise aircraft carrier, the USS Leyte Gulf, the USNS Arctic, the USS Kearsarge and the USS Abraham Lincoln.
The USS George Washington carrier and the USS Carl Vinson were also deployed in the Gulf of Aden.
The standoff began Friday, February 18, when the USS Enterprise carrier, escorted by the USS Leyte Gulf and USNS Arctic, cornered the Iranian Navy’s Kharg cruiser and Alvand missile destroyer at the Red Sea entrance. The USS Fearsarge reached the Bitter Lake first.
The market showed concern that anti-government unrest in Egypt would disrupt canal traffic sent oil prices to a two-year high on February 2, 2011.
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DEBKAfile US warships box in Iranian flotilla, delay Suez passage
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The Suez Canal with Port Said and the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Great Bitter Lake near Ismailia at south-central, and the Gulf of Suez to the south.