Qatar is pouring petrodollars into Egypt to outdo Saudi Arabia’s bid for a land bridge to Egypt and to gain high-end assets such as control of the Suez Canal and the acquisition of Egyptian coastal resorts. Qatari Prime Minister Hamad Bin Jassim said the emirate would double its grants and loans to Egypt from $2.5 to $5 billion bringing the grand total in a single year to $7 billion.  Hamad denied this generosity was tied to plans to invest in the Suez Canal, but no one believed him, especially in Riyadh.

Obama is keen on Muslim Brotherhood collaboration in the war on al Qaeda and other terrorists, including those sponsored by Tehran, and offered to build a hi-tech security radar fence to defend the Suez Canal from the terrorists and smugglers infesting Sinai.

The delays and uncertainty surrounding the two Iranian warships' transit of the Suez Canal to the Mediterranean are the result of a standoff between them and five US warships deployed in recent days at and around the waterway, debkafile's sources disclose. A battle of nerves is underway since Friday, Feb. 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 Kearsarge reached the Bitter Lake first. 

The two Iranian warships transited the Suez Canal and have reached the Mediterranean, Iran state TV announced Sunday, Feb. 20.  Cairo is still saying they will sail only Monday.  debkafile reports Tehran and Cairo have connived fake delays to obscure the ships' movements. Egypt's military rulers' permission for their passage was not contingent on an inspection of their freights for banned cargo. Sunday, the region was beset with a sandstorm which would have masked the flotilla from spy satellites.

Without serious aforethought, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Ehud Barak waved through another 3,000 Egyptian troops into North Sinai, raising their number to 4,000 and virtually scrapping the key demilitarization clause of the 1979 peace treaty. No conditions were laid down and no timeline or operational limits set, debkafile's sources report.  Israel asked the military rulers in Cairo – directly and through Washington - to deny Iranian warships passage through the Suez Canal – but was ignored.

Twenty-four hours after Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak said the Egyptian upheaval had no military connotations for Israel, the Iranian frigate Alvand and cruiser Kharg transited the Suez Canal on their way to Syria.  Wednesday night, Feb. 16, their passage was termed "a provocation" by Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman. In Beirut, Hizballah leader Hassan Nasrallah said he was looking forward to Israel going to war on Lebanon because then his men would capture Galilee.

Egypt and its population of 82 million are on the point of a calamitous breakdown as large sections of the economy are shut down by strikes against state-appointed managements and Vice President Omar's Suleiman's leadership. As protesters continue to fill Cairo's Tahrir Square, trains have stopped running, food is running low and lifeline highways are blocked by protesters. Egypt's Foreign Minister Abul Gheit called on the army Wednesday, Feb. 9, to take over government and save Egypt from total anarchy.

A fresh surge of popular anti-Mubarak protest ripping across Egypt Tuesday, Feb. 8 – from the Western Desert to North Sinai - has brought the country close to a military coup to stem the anarchy. Vice President Suleiman conveyed this warning to a group of Egyptian news editors as the disorders began their third week began to spread to places of work. In Cairo, rebellious staff sacked state-appointed managements and set up "revolutionary committees" to run them.

From mid-week Israel has been feeding Vice President Omar Suleiman intelligence at his request and with Washington's approval. It includes aerial intelligence from the main hubs of unrest and naval patrols to secure Suez Canal passage. Israel has beefed up its border units on the Egyptian border and surveillance ...

An armada of 11 US warships and one Israeli vessel passed through the Suez Canal Friday June 18 on their way to the Persian Gulf, debkafile's military sources report. The fleet was led by the USS Harry Truman carrier and its Strike Group.
This massive military movement is a strong new factor in the continually rising Middle East tensions of the last two weeks to which Iran has not so far responded.