have been under Egypt's administration since 1906. Israeli passage In March 1949, Israeli forces took control of the area around the coastal village of Umm al-Rashrash, later renamed Eilat, as part of Operation Uvda. The uninhabited islands of Tiran and Sanafir gained strategic importance since they controlled all shipping to Eilat, Israel's only access to the Red Sea. In May 1948, Egypt blocked passage through the Suez Canal to Israeli-registered ships and to ships (Israeli or otherwise) carrying cargo to and from all Israeli ports. Since all land trade routes were blocked by other Arab states, Israel's ability to trade with East Africa and Asia, mainly to import oil from the Persian Gulf, was severely hampered. In December 1949 Egypt started to erect military installations on Tiran, Sanafir and the Sinai coast opposite the islands to control the straits. Soon after, the Egyptian Government officially denied an intention to interfere with peaceful navigation, communicating its accord with Saudi Arabia to the UK and the US on 30 January and 28 February 1950 respectively: In the same accord, Egypt claimed its right to the islands as well as possible right for the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia: 2016–22 transfer As Saudi media explained in 2016, Saudi King Abdel Aziz al-Saud granted Egypt permission to defend the islands since he was afraid of possible Israeli expansion while his kingdom lacked a suitable naval force to protect them. According to a 2016 statement by the Egyptian Cabinet Information and Decision Support Centre, the Egyptian Chief Delegate to the UN had denied any territorial claims on the islands in May 1967, after the then Egyptian President Gamal Abd al-Nasser closed the Straits of Tiran to Israeli shipping (which was considered as a casus belli by Israel to initiate the Six-Day War): "Egypt did not seek at any time to claim that the sovereignty of the two islands has been transferred to it. Rather Egypt sought only to take over defending the two islands." Shortly thereafter Tiran Island was captured by Israeli Defence Forces troops during the Six-Day War. In January 1968, the US government stood behind a failed attempt to induce Israeli withdrawal from that island as an opening move to a larger peace process. Tiran remained under Israeli control until its return to Egypt in 1982 in fulfilment of the 1979 peace treaty signed by Egypt and Israel. The treaty includes a guarantee of