Russian foreign minister: No S-300 anti-aircraft missiles on hijacked ship

Russia's foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, on Tuesday rejected speculation that a hijacked Russian-crewed freighter was carrying advanced S-300 anti-aircraft missiles possibly destined for Iran.

The freighter, the "Arctic Sea," was allegedly hijacked in the Baltic Sea in late July after leaving a Finnish port. Russian naval vessels intercepted the ship weeks later off Cape Verde, thousands of kilometers from the Algerian port where it was purportedly set to deliver a load of timber.

A Russian shipping expert and a European Union anti-piracy official have speculated that the vessel was carrying a clandestine cargo, possibly S-300 surface-to-air missiles for Iran or Syria.

But Lavrov said the presence of S-300s on board the cargo ship was "a complete lie," the state news agency RIA Novosti reported.

The Sunday Times, meanwhile, quoted sources in Russia and Israel as saying the ship was carrying the advanced missiles to Iran and had been tracked by Israel.

The paper also quoted the sources as saying that the Mossad tracked the vessel and later tipped off Moscow that its cargo had been sold by former Russian military officers linked to the Russian underworld.

Iran has long been interested in buying medium-range Russian S-300 air defense systems from Russia. Israel has meanwhile sought to convince Moscow not to deliver the missiles, which could help repel possible Israel and U.S. air strikes against the Islamic Republic's nuclear sites.