Iran caught fermenting troubles in West Africa? 15, November 2010
Posted by thegulfblog.com in Africa, Iran.Tags: Iran, Iran arms to West Africa, Iranian ship weapons, Nigeria Iran, Nigeria ship weapons find
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The Nigerian Government is on the verge of reporting Iran to the United Nations Security Council after a huge cache of arms was discovered in Lagos port on a ship from Iran which was met by two Iranians from the Embassy.
The Times of London reports that the Iranian Foreign Minister immediately flew to Lagos to try to placate the Nigerians.
There seems to be little doubt of the origins of the consignment after Nigeria’s Foreign Minister noted that
The consignment did originate from Iran. That’s been confirmed from our own shipping documents and the Iranian foreign minister.
Not much wiggle room there.
The cache including rockets, rocket launchers, shells, grenades and other assorted explosives was intercepted by Nigerian security services. The two Iranians, assumed to be intelligence officials that greeted the shipment, fled back to Iran’s embassy. One is rumoured to be
Sayed Akbar Tahmaesebi, a known member of the al-Quds unit of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards, whose visa to Nigeria was supported with a note from the Iranian Foreign Ministry.
None of this looks very good for Iran. The only reasonable conclusion that can be drawn from these events is that Iran is seeking to ferment issues in Western Africa. Why specifically Iran would want to do this in Nigeria is, as they say, beyond my ken.
The Gulf blog 