Maybe, maybe not -- but this is an interesting development.

After a long hiatus, the Israeli Navy has returned to sailing through the Suez Canal, recently sending one of its advanced Dolphin-class submarines through the waterway to participate in naval maneuvers off the Eilat coast in the Red Sea.

IDF sources said the decision to allow navy vessels to sail through the canal was made recently and was a definite "change of policy" within the service. In 2005, then OC Navy Adm. David Ben-Bashat decided to stop sending Israeli ships through the canal due to growing threats in the area.

Why is this significant? Because the Dolphin-class subs are equipped with cruise missiles (which can be armed with nukes -- but need not be) that would need to be launched from the Gulf of Oman in order to strike Iran. Other than using the Suez Canal, the only way to reach firing range would be to sail around the Cape of Good Hope, necessitating multiple refuelings.

This is not indicative that a strike on Iran is imminent -- but does indicate that Israel is prepared to act expeditiously to deploy forces in a manner consistent with self-defense from the regime of Mahmoud the Mad and the Mullahs in Teheran.