Boxing champ Muhammad Ali is asking Iran to release two American hikers held since 2009 on spy charges. Ali released to The Associated Press a letter he wrote to supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Ali’s letter asks Ayatollah Ali Khameini to release Josh Fattal and Shane Bauer, who have been held on espionage charges since July 2009, when they were arrested while hiking in northern Iraq near the Iranian border.
A third hiker, Sarah Shourd, was released on bail in September 2010.

Two Iranian naval vessels entered the Suez Canal on Tuesday en route to Syria, officials said, the first time in three decades that Tehran has sent military ships through the strategic waterway.

Yesterday DEBKAfile reported that US Navy warships boxed in two Iranian of the 12th Flotilla, but today Suez Canal officials report taht two Iranian naval vessels have entered the Suez en route for the Mediterranean Sea, and FoxNews is reporting on the air at 10:40 CT that the ships have reached the Mediterranean Sea.

Canal officials report Iranian ships entered the canal early Tuesday morning and are expected to reach the Mediterranean later in the day.

Tuesday February 22, 2011 marks the first time in three decades that Iranian military ships have traveled the Suez Canal that links the Red Sea to the Mediterranean Sea.

Israel, which has been repeatedly threatened by Iran with total destruction, has declared it views the passage as a provocation.

Iranian officials say the ships are headed to Syria, also an enemy of Israel, for a training mission.

Suez Canal officials say the ships are expected to pay a fee of $290,000 for the crossing.

Pundits say Iran is taking advantage of Egypt’s current weakness during its February 2011 revolution.

Kharg Island is a continental island in the Persian Gulf belonging to Iran. It is located 25 km (16 miles) off the coast of Iran and 483 km (300 miles) northwest of the Strait of Hormuz. Administered by the adjacent coastal Bushehr Province, Kharg Island provides a sea port for the export of oil and extends Iranian territorial sea claims into the Persian Gulf oil fields.

See also …

FoxNews.com Iranian Warships Complete Suez Canal Transit

FoxNews.com — Iran warships to begin Suez Canal passage Tuesday

DEBKAfile US warships box in Iranian flotilla, delay Suez passage

View Larger Map
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.

Clashes between Iranian police and tens of thousands of protesters wracked central Tehran on Monday killing one person, as opposition supporters tried to evoke the spirit of Egypt’s recent popular uprising.

Hillary Clinton: “What we see happening in Iran today is a testament to the courage of the Iranian people, and an indictment of the hypocrisy of the Iranian regime.”

Hashim Safi Al-Din: New Hizballah commander of Israeli frontline
Hizballah’s Hassan Nasrallah has placed Hashim Safi Al-Din, his cousin and heir apparent, in command of southern Lebanon and its border with Israel.

Tehran views the newly appointed South Lebanon commander, Hashim Safi Al-Din, is its most stalwart partisan in the Lebanese Shiite Hizballah leadership since Imad Moughnieh passed away two years ago in an exploding car in Damascus.

The move and other signs point to speculation that Lebanon is upgrading Iran-backed preparations for an armed clash.

See more …
DEBKAfile Iran, Hizballah upgrade war preparations, new Israel front line commander

Iran is reported to have told officials in Turkey that is agrees to talks with five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council plus Germany in Turkey. The LA Times reports that Iran has agreed to talks with the United States and other world powers on the Islamic Republic’s nuclear program, provided negotiations take place in neighboring Turkey. The LA Times reports the offer probably was meant to put diplomatic pressure on the U.S. and its allies, but did not provide detailed information about the specific U.S. officials involved in the talks about what officials are skeptical about the negotiations.

Turkey’s semiofficial Anatolian news agency quoted Foreign Ministry officials as saying that “parties had agreed in principle to hold the talks in Turkey,” though no date or specific site has been set.

Meanwhile, early Sunday Senator Lindsey Graham (R. South Carolina), member of the Armed Services and Homeland Defense committees, said: “The US should consider sinking the Iranian navy, destroying its air force and delivering a decisive blow to the Revolutionary Guards.” In an address to the Halifax International Security forum, he declared “They should neuter the regime, destroy its ability to fight back and hope Iranians will take the chance to take back their government.”

Turkey has recently opposed the latest round of United Nations sanctions on Iran — cutting a deal with Brazil and Iran to send about half of Iran’s nuclear fuel supply to Turkey in exchange for plates to power a malfunctioning Iranian medical reactor.

The Islamic Republic continues to enrich uranium — producing some fuel at 20% rates of purity.

See also …
LA Times Iran pushes for nuclear talks in Turkey

Wikpedia Special nuclear material

The United States Navy has positioned a second aircraft carrier, the USS Abraham Lincoln, in the Persian Gulf — a proximity to Iran. The announcement came from the Pentagon Tuesday, October 19, two days after the vessel put into port at Fifth Fleet headquarters in Manama, Bahrain. USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN-72), is the fifth Nimitz-class supercarrier in the United States Navy. The USS Truman has about 90 fixed wing aircraft and helicopters.

The USS Harry S. Truman aircraft carrier is already in the area of the Persian Gulf and the northern Arabian Sea. The USS Truman also has about 90 fixed wing aircraft and helicopters.

April 18, 2010 — Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Sunday extolled the country’s military might during an annual army parade, saying the country is so powerful today that no one would dare attack it.

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has praised Iran’s military might, saying it deters all enemies from daring to attack the country.

Iran’s armed forces have such strength that the enemies will not even harbor the thought of attacking the country, Ahmadinejad said on Sunday during the annual military parade commemorating Iran’s Army Day.

The Iranian president stated that the best way to establish peace and security in the region is through cooperation and empathy among regional countries.

Experience shows that foreign interference in regional affairs is the root cause of all the tension and insecurity in the region, he added.

SOURCE:
Tehran Times: Iranian military hold parade on Army Day

Israeli President Simon Peres publicly charged Syria on Tuesday with transferring Scud missiles to the Lebanese Shiite militant group Hezbollah. Israeli and Syrian officials have publicly charged each other with preparing for war. The U.S. official said Syria’s arms transfer could have been a form of deterrence against Israel.

Opponents of the White House’s policy that engagement with Damascus can convince Syria to reduce its strategic alliance with Iran, exclaimed the news Tuesday was evidence that Syrian President Bashar Assad has no intention of breaking Syria’s strategic ties to Tehran and Hezbollah.

The Obama Administration has reversed its push for sanctions against Iran by the end of March, with or without the UN Security Council. On February 25, 2010 Israeli defense minister Ehud Barak was given ‘the end of March’ in his talks with administration officials regarding sanctions against Iran. On March 2, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Security Council action would take ‘several months.’ The sudden reversal has taken tension off Tehran and left Israel in an uncertain situation.

SOURCE: DEBKAfile US backs off speedy Iran sanctions promised Israel

Iran executed by hanging Mohammad Reza Ali Zamani and Arash Rahmanipour, accused of involvement in an armed anti-government group, as the public prosecutor Abbas Jafari Dowlatabadi announced that death sentences have been issued against opposition activists involved in protests over June’s disputed presidential election. The new verdicts brings to nine, the number sentenced to death over the protests. The two were hanged at dawn on Thursday.

Over 100 dissidents were placed on trial after the disputed election in June 2009.

SOURCES:

Scotsman.com Two executed as Iran’s leaders step up post-election purge of opposition

TIMESONLINE Iran hangs alleged dissidents to warn opposition