Political Cartoons

The Suez Canal is indeed the shortest route between the Indian Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea, by way of the Red Sea. However, you can tell your Facebook person the Suez Canal is owned and maintained by the Suez Canal Authority of Egypt, not Syria. And international treaty states the canal may be used "in time of war as in time of peace, by every vessel of commerce or of war, without distinction of flag." - meaning, basically, it does not matter who Iran is or is not friends with, they still get to use it.