The saga of a ship suspected of carrying arms from Iran to Gaza grew more complicated on Saturday as Cypriot authorities searched the ship, then backed away from previous assertions that it was violating UN resolutions.
Authorities will now conduct a second search, the Cypriot foreign minister said.
Suspicions that the Cypriot-flagged container ship Monchegorsk was ferrying arms from Iran to the Palestinian organisation, Hamas, had been raised by the United States. The US military stopped the vessel in the Red Sea last week, but could not legally detain it or seize its cargo.
The ship continued on to Port Said, Egypt, then headed for Cyprus, where it arrived Thursday. It remains anchored off the island nation's southern port of Limassol under tight marine police security.
On Saturday, Cypriot Foreign Minister Markos Kyprianou said that a first inspection of the Monchegorsk was complete. He refused to give details on the ship's cargo, saying authorities were still trying to determine if it contravened UN resolutions. |