Suez Canal's Sudden Importance To China, Iran, And Israel

 Nadene Goldfoot                                             

Information coming to us is that Iran's present meshugana government be as it is, is looking into using the Suez Canal for shipping. They have competition going on already.  

Officially, Israeli-registered ships and vessels carrying cargo to or from Israeli ports are permitted to use the Suez Canal under the 1979 Egypt-Israel Peace Treaty.

 However, in practice, Israeli-affiliated commercial shipping frequently faces severe logistical hurdles, delays, and security risks when navigating the region.

   Follow the red line: Mediterranean Sea and Indian Ocean 

In late June, shortly after the United States and Iran agreed on a ceasefire, the International Maritime Organization (IMO) announced an operation to move trapped ships and more than 11,000 seafarers out of the Strait of Hormuz. The strategic international waterway has been effectively closed by the Iranian regime since the U.S. and Israel attacked Iran at the end of February.President Trump's assertion last week, which he quickly backed away from, that the U.S. could control the Strait of Hormuz and collect tolls itself, likely did little to quell concerns about the independence of international waterways.

The canal was strategically important, as it provided the shortest ocean link between the Mediterranean Sea and the Indian Ocean.

Historically, there is: The Blockade Era: From 1948 until the 1979 peace treaty, Egypt strictly prohibited all Israeli shipping and cargo bound for Israel from passing through the canal, a major source of tension that led to the Suez Crisis. 

The Suez Crisis, also known as the second Arab–Israeli war, the Tripartite Aggression in the Arab world and the Sinai War in Israel, was a British–French–Israeli invasion of Egypt in 1956. Israel invaded on 29 October, with the primary objective of re-opening the Straits of Tiran and the Gulf of Aqaba as the recent tightening of the eight-year-long Egyptian blockade further prevented Israeli passage. After issuing a joint ultimatum for a ceasefire, the United Kingdom and France joined the Israelis on 31 October, seeking to depose Egyptian president Gamal Abdel Nasser and regain control of the Suez Canal, which Nasser had nationalised earlier in the year.

The Right of Passage: The 1979 peace treaty normalized relations and legally secured Israeli passage through the Suez Canal, formally opening the route to Israeli vessels. 

                                   CIA map 1996 SW Asia

Current Challenges: While the waterway remains vital for global trade, geopolitical tensions, fluctuating tolls, and recent Red Sea security crises make transit unpredictable. Consequently, Israel has explored alternatives like the proposed Ben Gurion Canal project to bypass Egyptian-controlled waters entirely.  The Ben Gurion Canal is a proposed $16 billion to $100 billion mega-project to carve a 160-mile waterway across the Negev Desert, connecting the Red Sea (Eilat) to the Mediterranean Sea. Conceived in the 1960s, it has resurfaced as a strategic alternative to the Suez Canal to bypass Houthi threats and challenge Egypt's regional trade monopoly. The project remains heavily conceptual, with no active construction or finalized official blueprints. Experts debate its feasibility, as the harsh desert terrain, logistical hurdles of carving through solid rock, and the immense financial cost present massive obstacles to the canal ever moving past the proposal stage.

Special Treatment: Iranian officials have indicated that while new fees will be charged for ships using the Strait of Hormuz, "friendly" nations such as China will receive special considerations. Beijing has generally viewed open passage as being compatible with regional toll or service fee mechanisms. 

China's Resilience: Despite the severe impact of blockades on global markets, China is uniquely positioned to weather the crisis. Thanks to extensive strategic petroleum reserves, a massive electrified transportation sector, and robust clean-energy dominance, China has avoided the worst of the economic shocks.

Geopolitical Stance: China has criticized the U.S. and Israeli naval actions but has used the crisis to promote itself as a stable global partner rather than engaging in direct military confrontation.

Resource:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suez_Crisis