(S) SHIELD S59-05 FRENCH REPONSE TO AUSTRALIA

S E C R E T PARIS 001751 SIPDIS PASS TO ISN/CB E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/17/2036 TAGS: PARM PREL ETTC IR FR CBW SUBJECT: (S) SHIELD S59-05 FRENCH REPONSE TO AUSTRALIA GROUP ALERT REGARDING IRANIAN PROCUREMENT ENTITY SAMAMICRO REF: SECSTATE 10911 Classified By: Counselor for Environment, Science, and Technology, Robe rt W. Dry, Reason 1.4, B,D,& H ¶1. (S) On March 16 Embassy received the GOF's reponse to ref demarche delivered to MFA in January. The non-paper - in French and classified at the DEFENSE CONFIDENTIAL level - confirms that the MFA followed-up the Iranian procurement of possible dual-use items from the French firm CILAS by the Iranian firm SAMAMICRO. CILAS notified the French that they sold two granulometers, one in December 2004 and the other in the latter part of 2005 to a paint manufacturing company, PARS AL VAN PLANT & DESIGN INDUSTRIES in Tehran. The granulometers in question are not dual-use and therefore not subject to the Australia Group, according to the French non-paper. France will maintain its vigilance regarding SAMAMICRO and of all commercial requests that come from Iran. ¶2. (SBU) A hardcopy of this non-paper can be sent by secure fax. Please send request and fax number to KatzerKM@state.sgov.gov and dryrw@state.sgov.gov. Please visit Paris' Classified Website at: http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/eur/paris/index.c fm Hofmann