IRANIAN WATER IMPORT AGREEMENT CANCELED

C O N F I D E N T I A L KUWAIT 000247

SIPDIS

STATE FOR NEA/ARPI

E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/15/2015
TAGS: PREL EMIN ETRD KU IR KUWAIT IRAN RELATIONS
SUBJECT: IRANIAN WATER IMPORT AGREEMENT CANCELED

REF: A. 04 KUWAIT 3726

B. 04 KUWAIT 1315

C. 03 KUWAIT 5719


1. (U) Kuwait English daily Arab Times reported January 16
that a Kuwaiti-Iranian MOU signed in 2003 (ref. c) to import
Iranian water into Kuwait was canceled by Iranian authorities
due to inaction by the Iranian Majlis and Guardian Council
and Kuwait's National Assembly.


2. (U) Iranian Deputy Minister of Energy for water affairs
Reza Ardakanian announced the cancellation on the sidelines
of a conference promoting investment in water projects in
Iran. Responding to the news, Kuwaiti Energy Minister Ahmed
Fahad said Iran "had a natural right to cancel the project"
and admitted that "Kuwait didn't start the formalities on it."


3. (C) Comment: The cancellation is a reflection of the
unease in the Iranian-Kuwaiti bilateral relationship, despite
public comments by both governments to the contrary.
Although Kuwait is is desperate need of both natural gas and
water (ref. b),it would prefer to source these commodities
from Arab states, and in the case of the latter, build
additional desalinization plants, than conclude an agreement
with a potential adversary. Nonethless, the inactivity by
both governments should come as no surprise. Post's Kuwaiti
interlocutors have previously made it explicitly clear that
these Kuwaiti-Iranian projects would "never happen" (ref. a).
LEBARON