Report: Cyprus to unload suspect cargo on Iran ship
Ship detained for violating United Nations sanctions on Iran since January 29, after US military authorities said it was carrying arms. Government sources decline to comment on reports that cargo would be taken off vessel Friday morning
Government sources declined to comment on reports by the Cyprus Broadcasting Corporation that the cargo from the Monchegorsk would be taken off the vessel on Friday morning.
The ship has been detained off Cyprus, its flag-state, since January 29 after it was boarded by US naval personnel in the Red Sea. US military authorities said the ship was traveling to Syria from Iran and had been carrying arms.
Cypriot and United Nations Security Council sources have said the ship appears to be carrying material from Iran prohibited under UN resolutions. Iran has denied the ship was carrying weapons.
Iran is under UN and US sanctions over its nuclear program, which Western powers suspect is aimed at making bombs but which Tehran says is for generating electricity.
Cypriot sources say the cargo on the Monchegorsk is of a "conventional" nature, a view echoed by diplomatic sources.
"We haven't seen a complete manifest. But they are basically conventional arms and ammunition as far as we're aware," a senior Security Council diplomat told Reuters.
