INTERVIEW-Nigeria says Iranian arms shipment was illegal

Thu Feb 24, 2011 3:58pm GMT

[-] Text [+]

* Shipment illegal whatever its destination - foreign min

* Iran says weapons part of legitimate trade with Gambia

* Nigeria says still has good relations with Iran

By Felix Onuah

ABUJA, Feb 24 (Reuters) - An Iranian arms shipment seized in Nigeria last year, which Tehran says was part of a legitimate trade deal with Gambia, was illegally exported regardless of its destination, Nigeria's foreign minister said.

Nigeria reported Iran to the U.N. Security Council in November for an apparent breach of U.N. sanctions imposed over its nuclear programme. Tehran said the shipment was part of a legitimate sale by a private company to Gambia.

"We're part of an international community, we signed on to a resolution that approves sanctions and one of the sanctions was the transportation of arms and ammunition from Iran," Nigerian Foreign Minister Odein Ajumogobia told Reuters on Thursday.

"Whether it was destined for Nigeria or Gambia or anywhere else it was an illegal shipment and therefore we had obligations under international law and under our obligations to the United Nations to do what we did." Continued...

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