CYPRUS (Bloomberg) — Cyprus is unloading cargo from a ship that the government of the eastern Mediterranean island says violated an international embargo on arm exports from Iran.

The contents of the Cypriot-flagged Monchegorsk will be kept in Cyprus, the Interior Ministry press service said in a statement on its Web site. Cyprus informed the United Nations Security Council sanctions committee of its actions.

The ship was travelling from the Persian Gulf to Syria carrying weapons destined for Lebanon's Hezbollah militia or the Palestinian group Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip, Israeli newspaper Haaretz has reported. The UN ruled that the cargo of the ship contravened the Iran restrictions, Cypriot Foreign Minister Markos Kyprianou said on February 10.

The US Navy intercepted the ship in the Red Sea last month and found weapons on board, Haaretz said. The vessel was allowed to continue its voyage because American forces had no authority to hold it, according to the newspaper.

On February 11, Iran denied the ship was taking any arms or weapons to Gaza, according to Agence France-Presse.

The UN Security Council in 2007 adopted Resolution 1747, which bans Iran from exporting weapons, as part of measures to cut off funding for the Iranian nuclear programme and missile development efforts.