UAE COMMENTS ON NORTH KOREA, IRAN

C O N F I D E N T I A L ABU DHABI 002812 SIPDIS SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/10/2016 TAGS: PREL KNNP PARM KN IR AE SUBJECT: UAE COMMENTS ON NORTH KOREA, IRAN REF: STATE 111144 Classified By: PolChief Al Magleby, reason 1.4 (b) and (d). (C) Responding to reftel demarche, MFA Director for International Organizations and Conferences Yacoub Al-Hosani asked rhetorically how Iran might benefit from North Korea distracting the attention of the international community with its missile launches, presumably buying time for Iran to delay its response on the incentives package. Given the UAE,s more proximate concern of Iran,s nuclear program, Al Hosani even pondered whether Pyongyang and Tehran might seek to coordinate their actions. At a minimum, he suggested, Iran would likely delay any response to the international community while it monitored the global response to North Korea,s actions. The international "solution on North Korea would be reflected on the Iranian file," he concluded, suggesting that any "double standard" in the way the two countries were treated might slow progress on the Iran file. SISON