Two Iranian naval ships sailed through the Suez Canal to the Mediterranean on Sunday heading for Syria, Iran's Al Alam TV said, in what will be the first passage of Iranian naval ships through the canal since 1979. Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman has described it as a "provocation". An Egyptian army source said on Friday that the military, which has been running Egypt since President Hosni Mubarak was toppled from power on February 11, had approved Iran's request to send the ships through the canal. The decision had posed an early diplomatic headache for Egypt's interim government. Cairo is an ally of the United States and has a peace treaty with Israel but its relations with Iran have been strained since the 1979 revolution. Egypt's Western allies are watching for hints of any shift in policy towards its Middle East neighbours.