'U.A.E. seized North Korea arms ship bound for Iran'

The United Arab Emirates seized a ship several weeks ago that was bound for Iran and carrying North Korean weapons in violation of a UN embargo, Western diplomats said on Friday.

"They (U.A.E) did seize the ship and it was carrying weapons from North Korea for Iran," a UN Security Council diplomat said on condition of anonymity.

Another diplomat said the U.A.E reported the incident to the Security Council sanctions committee on North Korea. The committee is investigating and sent letters to Tehran and Pyongyang on Aug. 15 informing them of the seizure and demanding a response within 15 days.

"Based on past experience ... we don't expect a very detailed response," the diplomat said.

Diplomats said both North Korea and Iran appeared to be in breach of Security Council resolution 1874, which banned all arms exports from North Korea and authorized states to search suspicious ships and seize and destroy banned items.

The resolution was imposed after North Korea's second nuclear test in May. It first tested an atomic weapon in October 2006. The council imposed sanctions on Pyongyang after its first test but the measures were never enforced, mainly because China showed no interest in seeing them implemented.

Diplomats said the U.A.E seizure, which was done on the basis of the country's own intelligence reports, was an important success for the beefed-up North Korean sanctions regime and would hopefully deter further attempts at skirting sanctions.

The ship seizure was first reported by the Financial Times newspaper.

Tehran has also been punished with three rounds of UN sanctions for its nuclear program, which Western powers fear is aimed at producing atomic weapons. Iran says it has a peaceful atomic program that will generate electricity, not bombs.