UAE OFFICIAL PUBLICLY OPPOSES IRAN NUCLEAR PROGRAM

S E C R E T DUBAI 000347 SIPDIS SIPDIS LONDON FOR TSOU; PARIS FOR ZEYA E.O. 12958: DECL: 1/24/2016 TAGS: KNNP PARM PREL IR TC SUBJECT: UAE OFFICIAL PUBLICLY OPPOSES IRAN NUCLEAR PROGRAM REF: A) DUBAI 0010; B) 05 ABU DHABI 5129 CLASSIFIED BY: Jason L Davis, Acting Consul General, Dubai, UAE. REASON: 1.4 (b),(d) CLASSIFIED BY: Jason L Davis, Acting Consul General, Dubai, UAE. REASON: 1.4 (b),(d) ¶1. (S) Stepping far ahead of the Gulf governments' previous public comments on Iran's nuclear program, Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan (MbZ) told reporters while in France (meeting President Chirac) that the UAE was opposed to the acquisition of nuclear capability by Iran. As reported in the Arabic language newspaper Al-Khaleej January 21, and the English language Gulf News the following day, MBZ said, "The presence of nuclear capabilities in the Middle East region is harmful...We are against Iran acquiring that capability." Asked whether the Iranian nuclear program posed a danger to the Gulf region, he replied, "any nuclear program in the Gulf region would pose a danger." In private conversations (Ref A),MbZ has also expressed great concern over Iran and President Ahmadinejad, particularly in terms of Iran's influence in Iraq. ¶2. (C) At the December 2005 GCC summit in Abu Dhabi, the UAE was the only country on record to speak specifically about the nuclear situation in Iran (Ref B). UAE Foreign Minister Rashid Abdullah Al Noaimi told reporters on the conference sidelines that the GCC had "a legitimate fear" of Iran's nuclear program, focusing mainly on environmental concerns. MBZ's comments in France go beyond "fear" to state that the UAE is against Iran's program. Particularly coming as it does on the heels of Chirac's January 19 threat to use nuclear weapons against any state sponsor of terrorism that conducts a terrorist attack in France, MBZ's statement will certainly have been noticed in Tehran. While we found no direct coverage of MBZ's remarks in the Iranian press, it is perhaps noteworthy that Iranian TV announced January 19 that the UAE and the European Organization for Nuclear Research had signed an agreement for joint scientific collaboration in high energy and particle physics. ¶3. (U) This message was coordinated with Embassy Abu Dhabi. DAVIS