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Senegal has severed diplomatic ties with Iran over a weapons shipment believed to be headed to rebels that was intercepted in Nigeria last October.

According to a report at FoxNews.com, the death of three Senegalese soldiers in a disputed region, Casamance, triggered the move.

"Reliable sources consider that these arms came from Iran. Senegal cannot continue to maintain relations with a country that is working to destabilize it," Foreign Minister Madicke Niang said.

Iran had claimed that the arms shipments were for Gambia, but the Nigerian government had reported the shipment as violating sanctions placed on Iran by the United Nations, according to Voice of America.