“The Francop ship entered Lebanese territorial waters at noon today and, upon its arrival off Beirut port, the navy in cooperation with UN naval forces searched the vessel,” an army statement said.

“Military intelligence began interrogating the crew on the motives for the seizure of the vessel while the concerned authorities... will take all the necessary measures to ensure it does not carry banned goods,” it said.

Israel said the ship which it intercepted overnight Wednesday was carrying “hundreds of tonnes” of weapons.

The arsenal included rockets, grenades and ammunition which Tehran was sending to Lebanon’s Shiite Hezbollah militia, a sworn enemy of the Jewish state, according to Israel.

A UN Security Council resolution which brought an end to the devastating 2006 war between Hezbollah and Israel demanded the disarmament of all militias in Lebanon and imposed a ban on all arms exports to them.

Iran and Hezbollah have both denied any link to the ship — an Antigua-flagged vessels seized by Israeli naval commandos around 100 nautical miles from the Israeli coast.

Israeli media reported the military tracked the containers from Iran to the Egyptian port of Damietta, where they were transferred onto the German-owned “Francop” vessel en route to Syria.

Israel views Iran as its main strategic threat because of Tehran’s support for Hezbollah and Palestinian militants, its leader’s frequent predictions of the demise of the Jewish state and its nuclear enrichment programme.