Iran is arranging with Egyptian officials to have two of its warships pass through the Suez Canal, Iran's state-run Press TV said Thursday.

Press TV cited an unidentified naval official as saying Iranian officials were in contact with Egypt to arrange passage for the warships and that Egyptian authorities believed there was nothing wrong with their planned journey. The broadcaster said the official was confirming previous reports that Iranian warships would use the waterway.

After the report aired, officials with the Suez Canal Authority said no Iranian naval vessels had been granted permission to sail through the waterway, according to Bloomberg.

"We don’t have any information or a license from any ministry in Egypt," the canal’s head of traffic, Ahmed Manakhly, told Bloomberg after the Iranian report.

Egypt's Defense Ministry must approve any vessel’s use of the canal, Manakhly said, but, "according to the rules which govern navigation through Suez -- international rules -- we cannot forbid any vessel from passing through the Suez Canal if there is no war between Egypt and that country."

Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman had said Wednesday that Iran was planning to send two gunboats through the canal to Syria, which would involve heading through the eastern Mediterranean, off Israel’s coast, a clear "provocation."

"It’s meant as a clear provocation to Israel, and is also an attempt by Iran to change the subject from the fact that, while Tehran welcomed the downfall of the Egyptian government, they have a problem at home right now where a certain section of their own people would like to see that regime also fall," said Jonathan Spyer, a political scientist at the Interdisciplinary Center Herzliya near Tel Aviv, during an interview with Bloomberg.

Iran’s opposition has called for nationwide rallies Feb. 20 to mourn those killed in anti-government protests this week, according to the website of former Prime Minister Mir Hossein Mousavi, who challenged President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in the 2009 election.

The Iranian navy’s use of the canal would be "both a provocation and their right," Cliff Kupchan, Iran analyst at the Eurasia Group, told Bloomberg Thursday in an interview from Washington.

"Given they haven’t done it in a long time and they are doing it in the context of Middle East instability, it is certainly a provocation," he said.

Kupchan said the use of the canal by Iranian warships would be important because it would "signal Iran’s growing influence in this time of flux."

"These guys are masters at disinformation, roiling markets, keeping everyone guessing," he said. "Sometimes they pull the punch, sometimes they throw the punch."

-- Molly Hennessy-Fiske

Photo: A February 2009 image shows the Iranian warship Alvand in the Persian Gulf. Egypt's Suez Canal Authority on Thursday said it had received no request to allow Iranian warships passage to the Mediterranean, after Israel said two vessels were on their way. Credit: Majid Jamshidi / AFP/Getty Images

Under tight security, hundreds of Iranians marched through the streets Wednesday in a government-sanctioned funeral for Tehran Art University student Saane Zhaleh, who died in violent clashes between pro-reform demonstrators and the police Monday.

Described by the government as the "martyr Basij," Zhaleh is said by the authorities to have been killed by government opponents when he joined Basiji militiamen to help put down the protests, which were prohibited by the government.

The opposition says he was shot by police. State television showed marchers carrying Iranian flags and shouting slogans against opposition leaders, including "Death to Karroubi!" and "Death to Mosavi!" referring to Mehdi Karroubi and Hossein Mousavi, who were under house arrest during the demonstrations.

Fresh video said to be from Monday's protest rallies in Tehran show scenes of chaos and tumult on the streets of the Iranian capital. In the footage above, purportedly filmed in Tehran on Monday, protesters are seen in the streets along with what appears to be burning garbage containers. According to a description of the clip, demonstrators are trying to build barricades in the streets.

Below, a video posted on the Facebook page of Iranian opposition leader Mir-Hossein Mousavi is billed as showing protesters marching in a Tehran street on Monday, calling for the release of political prisoners. At one point in the video, the crowd suddenly turns and starts running in the opposite direction. According to Mousavi's Facebook page, they did so because they came under tear-gas fire. 

Video clips uploaded to the Internet are said to show crowds of protesters out in streets of the Iranian capital on the day the political opposition had called for a rally. The video clip above purportedly depicts crowds of students at a protest rally at Tehran's Sharif University on Monday. Sources told Babylon & Beyond that the gathering at Sharif University started in the early afternoon and that protesters chanted anti-government slogans and Allah o Akbar--God is Great-- before members of the Basij militia arrived at the scene to disperse the crowds.

 Below, rally-goers are purportedly seen marching in the streets of Tehran while chanting anti-government slogans on Monday.

Fresh video footage uploaded to YouTube shows a heavy security deployment in Tehran amid reports that throngs of political opposition supporters have taken to the streets of the Iranian capital for a protest rally. The clip above is said to show members of the Iranian paramilitary Basij militia riding motorcycles on their way to protest gatherings in Tehran on Monday.

And here below, a video supposedly filmed in Tehran on Monday is said to show a field security force positioned in a street.

--Alexandra Sandels in Beirut

Video credit: YouTube

Dramatic video footage has emerged from Iran, where the political opposition is planning to hold protests on Monday despite warnings from the authorities.

The clip above, said to have been filmed in Tehran's Ghasr Square on Monday, shows a person sitting on a crane high up in the sky while what appears to be security forces are positioned nearby on the rooftop of a building.

Unconfirmed reports said the person mounted on the crane was a woman chanting anti-government slogans who threatened to commit suicide. A portrait of Iranian martyrs is said to be the item seen hanging from the crane in the video.

Iranian authorities and the opposition continue to battle over the legacy of Tahrir Square, with both sides claiming an affinity with the popular protest movements in Egypt and around the region.

The Iranian judiciary on Wednesday rejected a request by opposition leaders Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karubi to hold a rally Monday in support of the antigovernment uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt, the Iranian Labor News Agency reported.

"If an individual truly shares the brave Egyptians and Tunisians motivation, then he will participate in the rally to be held on [Friday], the anniversary of the Islamic Revolution's victory, along with the government and the nation," said Iranian Judiciary Spokesman Gholamhoseyn Ezhe'i.

"On the other hand, choosing another day [to hold a rally] means these individuals wish to be in a separate front and will create divisions," he added. "This is a political act but the people have to be aware, and if required, they [people] will respond to them."

Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei has characterized the protests in Tunisia and Egypt as an "Islamic awakening" similar to Iran's own 1979 Islamic Revolution, the 32nd anniversary of which is to be celebrated Friday across Iran. Mousavi and Karrubi, meanwhile, have likened the protests in the Arab world to the antigovernment protests they led following the 2009 disputed presidential elections.

-- Meris Lutz in Beirut

Photos: Opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi, left, has likened the protests in Tunisia and Egypt to his own "green movement." (Credit: kaleme.com); Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, right, has called the same protests an "Islamic awakening." Credit: IRNA

Iranian opposition leaders slammed the government and ruling elite on Tuesday, just three days before the 32nd anniversary of the Islamic Revolution, accusing them of exploiting religion in order to suppress popular resistance to their rule.

"Unconditional obedience to power holders is enshrined in divinity and sanctity, refusal to question the rulers is an act of piety and any criticism is ridiculously interpreted as hypocrisy and conspiracy with foreigners and Zionism," read a statement issued by Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi on the opposition website Kaleme (Persian link).

The statement went on to criticize the government's reaction to the protest movement that erupted after the disputed June 2009 presidential elections.

"Alas, what happened to the election’s outcome following a quasi-coup by authoritarians denied the nation its basic right to determine its own fate," the statement continued.

Both the Egyptian foreign ministry and the opposition Muslim Brotherhood have said the popular protest movement sweeping the country has nothing to do with Iran, or Islam.

But that hasn't stopped Iranian officials from continuing to try and cast the uprising as an "Islamic awakening" in the tradition of their own 1979 Islamic Revolution.

On Tuesday, a spokesman for the foreign ministry praised the "justice-seeking" protest movement sweeping Egypt and warned against the meddling of foreign powers in Egypt's affairs.

"Anyone who tries to interfere in the internal affairs of this country and cause a diversion on the path of the popular movement will have to deal with the Egyptian nation," Ramin Mehmanparast told a news conference, according to state television.

When asked specifically about the Egyptian foreign ministry's statements, Mehmanparast questioned the authority of the ministry to speak for the people.

"A great movement is taking place in Egypt, and the first step of this movement was to question the trust and authorities of a person who controlled the government," he said. "Therefore, if someone is not to be trusted from the Egyptian people's point of view, their remarks will definitely have no authority for us."

Many in the Iranian opposition, however, have accused members of the government of being hypocritical in their support of protests in Egypt and Tunisia after brutally cracking down on Iranians who went to the streets following the 2009 disputed presidential elections.

Iran's two main opposition leaders have called on Tehran's hard-line rulers to walk the walk instead of just talking the talk. 

Mir-Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi have asked the Interior Ministry, which is controlled by an acolyte of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, to allow for a march at Tehran's Azadi Square on Feb. 14 in support of the Egyptian uprising and the Tunisian revolution. 

Iran's hard-line authorities won't approve a permit for the march, especially at the same site where up to 3 million anti-government protesters staged a rally on June 15, 2009. 

These days, only rallies by supporters of the Iranian government, often bused in and handed free food, are allowed.

But the audacity of the request suggests how the political contagion wending its way through the Arab world may affect Iran, a non-Arab Muslim country that nonetheless maintains strong connections to its neighbors. 

Iran's spiritual and political leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said the popular uprisings against Western-backed autocrats in Tunisia and Egypt represent an "irreversible defeat" for the United States.

Speaking amid heightened security during the Friday sermon at Tehran University, Khamenei went on to draw comparisons between Iran's Islamic Revolution and the recent Arab protest movements, characterizing the protests in Tunisia, Egypt, Yemen and around the region as an "Islamic awakening."

He also accused the United States of propping up corrupt leaders in the region in order to protect its own interests and those of its ally Israel.

"This is a war between two willpowers: the willpower of the people and the willpower of their enemies," he said. "The Israelis and the U.S. are more concerned about what would happen to their interests in post-Mubarak regime."

Iranian opposition leaders Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karrubi slammed what they described as the rising number of "rubber-stamp" death penalties in Iran during a meeting with Grand Ayatollah Assadollah Bayat Zanjani on Monday, according to the reformist news website Tagheer.

The two former presidential candidates blamed the government for using the threat of death by hanging to intimidate people and spread fear in the society.

“Regardless of the legality of the accusations, every human being is entitled to his rights during any judicial procedure,” they reportedly said in a statement. “Will the execution of nearly 300 people in the past year alone achieve anything other than intimidating the nation and further isolating Iran on the international stage?"

According to a tally by Agence France-Presse, Iranian authorities have already executed 67 people in 2011 at a rate of about two hangings a day. The agency reported 179 executions in 2010. The Netherlands recently froze diplomatic relations with Iran after authorities executed Zahra Bahrami, a dual Dutch-Iranian citizen.