An armada of 11 US warships and one Israeli vessel passed through the Suez Canal Friday June 18 on their o the Red Sea and Persian Gulf, debkafile reports exclusively from its military sources. The fleet, the first of this composition to navigate the Suez Canal, is led by the USS Harry Truman carrier and its Strike Group of 60 fighter-bombers and 6,000 seamen and marines.
Egyptian port authorities imposed exceptional security measures for the ships' passage. All commercial and civilian traffic through the Suez Canal was halted and beefed-up security forces posted along both its shores. Egyptian fishermen were recalled to port from their grounds in the Bitter Lake.
The massive movement of this large US naval-air force plus an Israeli contingent 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