The German government is looking into a report that weapons bound for the Syrian regime were loaded on to a German-owned ship.

Der Spiegel weekly reported today that the Atlantic Cruiser was halted in the Mediterranean after its owners were warned it was suspected to be carrying Iranian military equipment to Tartus, Syria.

The newspaper quoted shipping agent Torsten Lueddeke, of Hamburg-based CEG Bulk Chartering, as saying: "We stopped the ship after we received information on the weapons cargo."

He said the ship was chartered to Ukraine-based White Whale Shipping, and they said the ship was carrying pumps and similar equipment.

Neither CEG nor the ship's owner were immediately available for comment.

The German Economy Ministry said it looks into all suspected embargo breaches but does not yet have details of the case.

Sign up to our free newsletters

Get the best updates straight to your inbox:
Please select at least one mailing list.

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By subscribing, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing.