They most certainly are, because the Suez Canal is not "Egyptian territory." It is an international waterway administered by Egypt. Egypt is entitled to revenues from its use, but is absolutely not permitted to deny use of the canal to any ship of any nation in peacetime, nor is it permitted to deny the canal to belligerents in a war that does not involve Egypt. The only time Egypt may deny a ship the use of the canal is when the ship belongs to a nation actually at war with Egypt. That's why there's exactly zero chance of this story being legitimate—for this story to be true, Egypt would have to be prepared to fight a war against the United States, which is just ludicrous.
In 1956, Egyptian president Gamal Abdel Nasser seized the canal and declared it to be the property of the Egyptian people. Britain France, and Isreal invaded Egypt, but the United Nations ordered them to leave and decreed the Suez Canal to be the property of Egypt. The canal closed for eight years in 1967 after Egypt lost a disastrous six-day war with Israel. After the war, Israel controlled the Sinai penisula, which includes the east bank of the canal. The canal reopened in 1975 after tensions cooled. Egypt and Israel agreed to a peace treaty in four years later. Today the Suez Canal is open to every nation.
Well, if this story is true, then Egypt is making herself at war with America and that is not so far fetched. Her peasants are bringing the Mubarak regime to the point of collapse wanting to go to war with us. Mubarak may have to appease them sooner than later.
But you know what this story really makes me realize is that since President Bush has said, You are with us or against us, I don't know of any country shouting, "We are against you." It would actually be refreshing to see Egypt try to sink our carrier in the canal so we can unleash true hell on Cairo from a silo in Montana. That would really make us feel a bit more "really" at war here.