"Israel views with gravity this Iranian initiative and other developments that reinforce what we have said in past years about Israel’s security needs"

Two Iranian naval vessels, Khark and Alvand, have entered Tuesday the Mediterranean Sea after Egypt issued authorization for the move that Israel considered as a “provocation”.

The Iranian vessels entered the southeastern Mediterranean after going up the canal for the first time since the 1979 Islamic Revolution, reportedly en route for Syria.
  
Suez Canal officials confirmed the patrol frigate Alvand and support ship Khark had completed the crossing after entering the narrow waterway at dawn.

The 1,500-ton patrol frigate Alvand is armed with torpedoes and anti-ship missiles, while the larger 33,000-ton supply vessel Khark has 250 crewmembers and can carry three helicopters, according to Press TV.

This marks the first time since the victory of Iran's 1979 Islamic Revolution that Iranian military ships have traveled the waterway that links the Red Sea to the Mediterranean. Egypt's official news agency, MENA, reported on Friday that Cairo had "agreed to allow the two Iranian warships to transit the Suez Canal."

Iran's Navy has announced that dispatching Iranian vessels to the Mediterranean is aimed at strengthening friendly relations with other countries and conveying Iran's message of peace and security in international waterways.

Israel has made clear it views the passage as a provocation. A senior Israeli security source told AFP Israel would "not initiate any action" against the Iranian vessels, but if the Iranians deviated in any way that could be considered "a provocation" there would be an "immediate Israeli response."
  
The Israeli navy immediately went on high alert and the troops were briefed on how to respond in such an event, he said.
  
"We are talking about an unprecedented Iranian military presence in the Mediterranean, and that is a provocation to which the international community must react firmly," Israeli foreign ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor told AFP earlier on Tuesday.
  
On Sunday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu denounced the ships' arrival in the region as an Iranian power play, just days after his Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman, branded their voyage "a provocation."
  
"Today we are witnessing the instability of the region in which we live and in which Iran is trying to profit by extending its influence by dispatching two warships to cross the Suez Canal," he claimed. "Israel views with gravity this Iranian initiative," his office quoted him as saying.