UAE MFA READOUT ON VISIT OF IRAN ENVOY MOSTAFAWI:

C O N F I D E N T I A L ABU DHABI 000910

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/08/2016
TAGS: PREL IR AE PNUC GCC
SUBJECT: UAE MFA READOUT ON VISIT OF IRAN ENVOY MOSTAFAWI:
THE USUAL "B.S."

REF: A. ABU DHABI 866

B. DUBAI 347

Classified By: DCM Martin Quinn, reasons 1.4 (b) and (d).


1. (C) MFA Under Secretary Abdullah Rashid Al Noaimi gave
readout to DCM on March 6 visit of Iran Deputy FonMin
Mostafawi to UAE. Al Noaimi characterized the visit as part
of a P.R. campaign by Iran to reassure its Gulf neighbors
that its nuclear program posed no safety or environmental
hazard to the region. He said Mostafawi put great stress on
the fact that Iran was using the latest (he said "German")
technology and that there would be no nuclear accidents. At
one point, Al Noaimi laughed and exclaimed that the pitch
made by the Iranian envoy was just the usual "B.S."


2. (C) Asked how strongly the UAE had registered its point
of view with regard to Iran's nuclear activities, Al Noaimi
said they had expressed concern about the introduction of
nuclear facilities in the Gulf region (as opposed to the
Middle East). He commented that in his view the Iranians
were determined to proceed and that nuclear ambitions had
been a national aspiration from the time of the Shah. Al
Noaimi noted that the Iranians (citing comments by Larijani)
seemed "proud of having deceived the Europeans" in their
effort to buy time to further their nuclear project. He said
that none of their bilateral discussions touched on the
UAE-Iran islands dispute or on the fate of the UAE fisherman
held by Iran.


3. (C) In closing, Al Noaimi said that the UAE is always
ready and willing to share with the U.S. its views and
concerns about Iran and remarked that UAE anxiety is even
greater than that of the U.S. since Iran is such a near
neighbor.
SISON