It was the United States that uncovered the weapons ship that Israel seized this week, according to a report Friday in the London-based Arabic newspaper Ash-Shark Il-Awsat. The paper says the U.S. saw a suspicious Iranian ship in the port of Dubai in the middle of last month, but rejected an Israeli suggestion that the boat be bombed in the Red Sea.

The weapons were unloaded when the boat reached Egypt in an attempt to mislead intelligence officials. They were put on the German-owned Francop, which flies the flags of Antigua and Barbuda. The Francop was seized by Israel in the Mediterranean.