The Higher Military Council that took over after the overthrow of Hosni Mubarak, was under pressure on Thursday from pro-democracy activists who want the immediate release of political prisoners and the lifting of emergency rule.
Its top priorities after suspending the constitution are restoring law and order and reviving the economy, which was damaged by the 18-day revolution, but the issue of the Iranian warships had threatened to become a distraction.
Israel’s foreign minister had called the proposed passage a “provocation,” and its go-ahead could have put Egypt, a key ally of the United States which has a peace treaty with Israel, in an awkward diplomatic position.
The Suez Canal Authority was “informed today about the cancellation of two scheduled trips of two Iranian warships and no new date was set to cross the Suez,” an official, who declined to be named, said.
Life in Egypt is still far from normal six days after the momentous overthrow of Mubarak, 82, with tanks on the streets of Cairo, banks closed, worker protests and demonstrations given voice by revolutionary fervor and schools shut down.
An ailing Mubarak, holed up with his family in the Red Sea resort of Sharm El-Sheikh, is still coming to terms with the tumultuous events that unseated him and is apparently shunning exile and vowing to “live and die on Egyptian soil.”
Pro-democracy leaders plan to bring one million people out on the streets for a “Victory March” on Friday to celebrate the revolt, and perhaps remind generals of the power of the street.
The military on Thursday was setting a strategy for policing it.
It was not immediately clear which side was behind the cancellation of the Iranian Suez canal passage. Any naval vessels passing through the canal, an international shipping route, must first have approval from Egypt’s foreign and defense ministries, officials said.
If the ships had crossed, they would have been the first Iranian warships to have passed through the canal since Iran’s 1979 revolution.
