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Shipments of illegal nuclear and weapons-building material have been intercepted in Dubai and other ports in the United Arab Emirates, local authorities have admitted.

Officials have accepted for the first time that the country is being used as a transit point for smuggling money and -illegal goods.

The admission comes as part of a drive to crack down on underground trade ties with Iran.

In the past week, the authorities have staged raids on dozens of companies regarded as fronts for the Iranian Revolutionary Guard in Dubai, and frozen 41 Iran-linked bank accounts.

At a meeting of the Global Initiative to Combat Nuclear Terrorism in Abu Dhabi, a senior figure revealed the extent of the trade in weapons and "dual-use" goods.

Hamad al-Kaabi, ambassador to the International Atomic Energy Agency, said new laws relating to the trade in nuclear and dual-use goods had "led to the shutting down of dozens of international and local companies involved in money laundering and proliferation of dual-use and dangerous materials".