Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said on Monday that no evidence had been found linking Tehran to a shipment of smuggled weapons recently seized in Nigeria.
"Some enemies of Iran and Nigeria claimed that the shipment of contraband weapons found in Nigeria was linked to Iran. But Nigerian officials have ascertained that it [weapons] had nothing to do with Iran," ISNA news agency quoted Mottaki as saying at a press conference in Tehran.
The weapons, including 107-mm artillery rockets and grenades, were discovered in 13 containers labeled "holding construction materials" at Nigeria's port of Lagos in late October.
Mottaki said the cargo, picked up by the French-based shipping firm CMA CGM at the Iranian port of Bandar Abbas, was heading to a West African country via Nigeria.
The incident sparked sharp criticism of Iran from the Nigerian authorities, who feared the arms were being sent to opposition political forces ahead of the forthcoming elections.
Iran is forbidden under UN sanctions, imposed over Tehran's nuclear program, from directly or indirectly exporting any kind of weaponry.
MOSCOW, November 15 (RIA Novosti)
