Were, the, weapons, from, North, Korea, destined, for, Iran?

Have already blogged on the more than 35 tonnes of weapons seized at Bangkok airport (here and here). Now, Ambika in Reuters:

"Some experts believe the weapons may be going to Iran, which has bought arms from North Korea in the past," said the official, quoting Thai government military experts who also took part in an investigation of the weapons.

Speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to talk to the media, he said the Thai investigating team considered Iran a likely destination because of the type of weaponry, including unassembled Taepodong-2 missile parts.

Security analysts have said North Korea's long-range Taepodong-2 is a product of joint efforts with Tehran, coinciding with Iran's development of the Shehab-5 and 6 missiles.

This is not totally unplausible given as Bloomberg in August reported:

The United Arab Emirates has seized a ship carrying North Korean-manufactured munitions, detonators, explosives and rocket-propelled grenades bound for Iran in violation of United Nations sanctions, diplomats said.

The UAE two weeks ago notified the UN Security Council of the seizure, according to the diplomats, who spoke on condition they aren’t named because the communication hasn’t been made public. They said the ship, owned by an Australian subsidiary of a French company and sailing under a Bahamian flag, was carrying 10 containers of arms disguised as oil equipment.

The plane that arrived in Bangkok also has a very multinational connection as the WSJ reports:

Officials in Kazakhstan and the Republic of Georgia have said the aircraft, which is managed by Georgia-registered carrier Air West Ltd., was leased to carry the cargo by SP Trading Ltd., a New Zealand-registered company with offices in Auckland.

Air West director Nodar Kakabadze said he had no information about SP Trading. "We signed a contract with SP Trading Nov. 4 this year to carry out some flights. That's it," Mr. Kakabadze said by phone from the freight company's base in the Black Sea port city of Batumi, Georgia. "I know nothing more about the company, and we'd never worked with them before."

BP: New Zealand was probably chosen as it is not really a hotbed of terrorism.

The Bangkok Post also reports:

''Teamwork among different agencies in the United States and partners abroad just last week led to the interdiction of a Middle East-bound cargo of North Korean weapons,'' Dennis Blair, the director of national intelligence, wrote in a commentary in the Washington Post.

Mr Blair's reference marked the first public comment by the administration on the destination of the arms and the first official confirmation on the US role in the case.

BP: It seems the administration will be no more specific than that.