Iran is trying to kill us all, says Israel after arms find

ISRAEL's prime minister has said Iran is aiming to kill as many Israeli citizens as possible, accusing it of sending the Lebanese guerrilla group Hezbollah "enough weapons to extend any war against Israel for one month".

Prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu said a shipment, of hundreds of tons of weapons – on a ship seized by Israel – which it says was bound for Hezbollah, was a war crime that should be investigated by the UN Security Council. Hezbollah denied that the arms were bound for them.

Israeli naval commandos intercepted the Antiguan-flagged ship Francop on Wednesday in waters off Cyprus and discovered hundreds of crates of rockets, missiles, mortars, anti-tank weapons and munitions.

Israel claims the weapons came from Iran and were headed for Lebanon but has not yet provided any proof.

"Their goal was ... to kill as many civilians as possible," Mr Netanyahu said of the Iranians.

Israeli officials hoped the haul would help buttress the Jewish state as it fights war crimes allegations against it at the United Nations and seeks crippling global sanctions against Iran.

"This is a war crime that the General Assembly that is meeting today should investigate and discuss. It is a war crime that the UN Security Council should have a special meeting over," Mr Netanyahu said.

"It explicitly violates UN Security Council decisions," he alleged. "It is a war crime that we know the Iranian regime intended for the Hezbollah to carry out after they already fired thousands of rockets at our communities. This is what the international community should focus on especially today."

State-run Iran TV said in a commentary that the "Israeli propaganda" was aimed at diverting attention from allegations of Israeli war crimes during last winter's war in the Gaza Strip. A Syrian official expressed the same view.

Iran's English-language Press TV said foreign minister Manouchehr Mottaki dismissed the allegations on the cargo's destination and route.

Palestinians worried that Israel would use this as an excuse to avoid peacemaking.

"Since the Israeli leadership and society are not ready for peace, they are using any pretext to shun peace obligations, and one is the issue of the Iranian shipment," said Ghassan Khatib, a spokesman for the West Bank-based Palestinian government.

Hezbollah denied in a statement that the weapons were for them: "Hezbollah categorically denies it has any connection with the weapons which the Zionist enemy claims it seized aboard the ship."

The incident underscored the tensions between Israel and Iran. Israel considers Iran a strategic threat because of its nuclear programme and long-range missile development, and says Tehran is lying when it denies it is building nuclear weapons.

Proof of large-scale Iranian weapons shipments to its proxy forces on Israel's borders could reinforce Israeli demands for tough action – possibly even a pre-emptive strike – against Iran's nuclear facilities.

Israeli defence officials said the weapons haul would have given the Lebanese guerrilla group the ability to fight a full month longer in the event of a clash with Israel on the scale of the 2006 war.