AMBASSADOR URGES NEW INTERIOR MINISTER TO HALT

S E C R E T SECTION 01 OF 02 VIENNA 000164

SIPDIS

STATE FOR EUR/AGS, EUR/PRA, NP/ECNP, INR/SPM

E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/20/2015
TAGS: PARM PREL ETTC AU
SUBJECT: AMBASSADOR URGES NEW INTERIOR MINISTER TO HALT
SALE OF SNIPER RIFLES TO IRAN

REF: A. (A) STATE 9770


B. (B) VIENNA 37 AND PREVIOUS

Classified By: AMBASSADOR W.L. LYONS BROWN. REASONS: 1.4 (B) AND (D).


1. (S) Summary: In his first meeting with new Interior
Minister Liese Prokop on January 18, the Ambassador praised
the excellent cooperation the U.S. has enjoyed with the
Ministry on law enforcement, anti-terrorism, and Embassy
security issues. He explained in detail U.S. concerns
regarding Austria,s sale of sniper rifles to Iran and warned
of the consequences to the Austrian government and to the
Austrian producer if further shipments are completed. Though
it was clear she didn,t know the issue well, Minister Prokop
agreed that the rifle sale required a high-level,
inter-ministerial review in the Austrian government and
promised that she would initiate discussion with the highest
levels of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the
Chancellery. The Ambassador was accompanied by the DCM and
the Political-Multilateral section chief. Chef-de-cabinet
Philipp Ita sat in with the Minister. End summary.


2. (S) In his introductory call on Minister Prokop, who
assumed office in mid-December following the surprise
resignation of Ernst Strasser, the Ambassador first stressed
the good news. He noted several recent successful
U.S.-Austrian cooperative ventures, including a joint cocaine
sting operation, the pending extraditions of several
terrorist suspects, and an operation to halt the transfer of
night vision goggles to Iran. He thanked Prokop for the
Ministry,s attention to the security of the U.S. facilities
and personnel in Austria. The Ambassador noted U.S.
appreciation for the Austrians, willingness to extend the
tours of the four police trainers working with the Iraqi
police academy in Jordan, and for Austria,s donations of
police equipment to Iraq. He observed that we hoped that
Prokop would encourage her government to provide personnel to
assist in the stabilization effort in Afghanistan. He
mentioned continued U.S. interest in the &Salzburg Forum,8
in which European regional interior ministers, led by former
Interior Minister Strasser, had cooperated on law enforcement
issues. The Ambassador also congratulated Prokop for
Austria,s assistance to victims of the East Asia tsunami,
particularly in Sri Lanka. He told the Minister that her
predecessor,s periodic working visits to the U.S. had been
enormously valuable to both partners and said we hoped she
would come to the U.S. to meet with her colleagues and
counterparts at an appropriate time (i.e., after new Foreign
Minister Plassnic has met with the incoming Secretary).
Minister Prokop said that she was on the best of terms with
her predecessor, appreciated Strasser,s his excellent work
in the international sphere, and intended to continue forward
in the same direction. She hoped to work closely with the
U.S., in particular in the field of anti-corruption, a
central theme in Austria,s 2006 EU presidency.


3. (S) Turning to a subject he said he regretted had to be
raised, the Ambassador outlined the U.S.,s serious
objections to Austria,s past and proposed sales of
Steyr-Mannlicher sniper rifles to Iran. After briefing her
on post,s previous efforts to persuade MFA and Interior
Ministry officials not to permit the sales, he described the
capabilities of the powerful rifles, noting they were lethal
military equipment unsuitable for border policing. Drawing
on ref (a),he explained the possibility of U.S. sanctions
against the Austrian government or the manufacturer. The
ambassador pulled no punches in outlining the negative
consequences to U.S.-Austrian relations should these weapons
find their way into Iraq. Handing the minister a nonpaper
(ref a),he urged her to provide information concerning the
number and the serial numbers of the weapons already shipped
to Iran, to notify us regarding the status of the licenses
for the pending shipments, and to stop any future shipments
of these rifles to Iran.


4. (S) Although she did not appear well briefed on the
subject (her office was aware that the Ambassador would raise
the topic),Minister Prokop said she could see the sniper
sales issue was &a big, big problem.8 She noted that the
export license request for the first shipment had been vetted
through the MFA legal and export bureaucracy, but said she
understood U.S. security concerns and would take up the issue
with the Foreign Ministry, perhaps with the Foreign Minister
herself as well as the Chancellor,s office. She herself did
not know the status of the pending license requests but would
find out. To start discussions with the MFA, the minister
promised to forward a copy of the nonpaper to MFA General
Secretary Kyrle for comment. The Ambassador said that he

SIPDIS
would call Kyrle (whom he had demarched January 7 on this
subject, per ref b) and let him know the paper was coming.
(Note: in Kyrle,s absence, the Ambassador talked later that
day to Deputy Secretary General Hans Winkler.)


5. (S) Comment: Shortly after the Ambassador,s call on the
Minister, post heard from MFA (Ambassador Winkler) and
Interior Ministry officials (Ita and BVT head Gert Polli) on
the sniper rifles issue. Although it now appears probable
that the November shipment may have been smaller than we had
first heard -- some 630 rifles vice 800 ) we are pressing
for authoritative confirmation of this figure as well as an
official high-level clarification of the status of the second
and third shipments. End comment.
Brown