Russia denies Arctic Sea carried missiles to Iran

Moscow, Sept 8, Russia today vehemently denied that
a cargo ship whose supposed seizure by pirates sparked an
international mystery was carrying sophisticated Russian
anti-aircraft missiles bound for Iran.
A British newspaper reported at the weekend that the
Arctic Sea had been carrying a batch of S-300 missiles, as
conspiracy theories swirl over the ship's mysterious
disappearance and reappearance.
"Regarding the S-300s on board the Arctic Sea, this is
absolutely untrue," Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov
told reporters, when asked if the ship was secretly carrying
the advanced Russian-made missiles to Iran.
The Arctic Sea, a Maltese-flagged vessel with a Russian
crew, was hijacked near Sweden in late July before it was
recovered by the Russian navy in the Atlantic Ocean several
weeks later.
The seizure of the ship in one of Europe's busiest
shipping lanes, the huge international effort to recover it
and the detention of its crewmen after they returned to Russia
have prompted speculation that it held a secret cargo.
Officially the ship was carrying a load of timber worth
USD 1.7 million dollars from Finland to Algeria, but
speculation has raged that it was carrying weapons or even
nuclear materials.