UAE UNLOADS CONTAINERS FROM IRAN KERMAN

S E C R E T ABU DHABI 000887 SIPDIS SIPDIS STATE FOR T, ISN, AND NEA/ARP E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/25/2032 TAGS: PARM PREL ETTC MNUC IR CH AE SUBJECT: UAE UNLOADS CONTAINERS FROM IRAN KERMAN REF: A. STATE 72884 ¶B. ABU DHABI 800 Classified By: Ambassador Michele J. Sison for reasons 1.4 b and c, d. ¶1. (S) The M/V Iran Kerman arrived in Dubai early morning of May 29. Dubai Customs officials told senior DHS Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Representative in Dubai that they had unloaded the containers and were sending them to be scanned. Dubai customs assured ICE representative that the containers would not be released until a policy decision had been made "beyond customs." The same day, on the margins of a meeting between UAE Vice President/Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al-Maktoum (MbR) and visiting Senator Joe Lieberman, Ambassador thanked Mohamed Al-Qamzi, UAE Counterproliferation Task Force Chair and Director of Dubai's General Department of State Security, for the UAEG's actions. Later in the meeting, Al-Qamzi briefed MbR and Senator Lieberman about actions taken on this shipment and the earlier actions on the M/V Iran Tehran. ¶2. (S) Econchief and Dubai Ice Representative had reached out to their respective contacts on May 27 to provide them with information on the shipment and to encourage the UAEG to take all necessary and appropriate measures to prevent cargo of possible proliferation concern from reaching end users associated with Iran's missile program (ref a). MFA Director for International Organizations Yacoub Al-Hosani (a member of the UAE Counterproliferation Task Force) promised that the UAE would investigate the shipment. He expressed appreciation for the timely notification that would allow the UAE interagency process to work. ¶3. (S) Al-Hosani also told econchief that he had met with the Chinese Ambassador a few days previously to encourage his government to take back the one container from the previous shipment that was in clear violation of UNSCRs 1737 and 1747. He expressed some frustration with the GoC slow movement on the issue. Al-Hosani confirmed that the UAEG had released the second and third containers, which it had determined were not proliferation related (ref b). SISON