Iranian Foreign Minister, Manouchehr Mottaki who visited Nigeria last week and held a meeting with his Nigerian counterpart, over the matter said yesterday in Tehran that the issue of an alleged Iranian arms shipment intercepted in Nigeria was a “misunderstanding” that has been settled.
“A private company which had sold conventional defence weapons to another country in West Africa had transferred the shipment via Nigeria which raised some doubts with relevant officials,” Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki told reporters.
Mottaki said an Iranian national who was in Nigeria as the representative of the company “had offered explanations to Nigerian authorities and I believe the misunderstanding has been cleared up.”He did not specify whether the firm was Iranian.
Investigations ongoing
A spokesman for Nigeria’s Foreign Ministry, Mr Ozo Nwobu however said “investigations are ongoing to determine the level of Iranian involvement and it will be inappropriate for us to comment before allowing them to be concluded”. The spokesman declined to comment on Iran’s assertion that the issue was the result of a misunderstanding and that it had been resolved.
In the heat of the row between Nigeria and Iran over the arms shipment, Iran last week replaced her ambassador to Nigeria. Mottaki did not however say whether the replacement was connected to the weapons case. Spokesman of the Nigerian Foreign Ministry also said the new ambassador’s appointment had no connection with the arms seizure.
Nature of misunderstanding
In Iran, Mottaki did not elaborate on the nature of the misunderstanding or how it was resolved. His statement was the highest-level Iranian comment so far on the case. In late October, Iran’s then ambassador to Nigeria, Hussein Abdullahi, said there was no clear evidence linking his country to the shipment.
Read More:http://www.vanguardngr.com/2010/11/arms-shipment-nigeria-iran-disagree/
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