KUWAITIS SEE INTIMIDATION, RETRIBUTION BEHIND

C O N F I D E N T I A L KUWAIT 000964 SIPDIS SIPDIS FOR NEA/ARP E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/23/2027 TAGS: PREL PGOV IR KU KUWAIT IRAN RELATIONS SUBJECT: KUWAITIS SEE INTIMIDATION, RETRIBUTION BEHIND ATTACK ON KUWAITI DIPLOMAT Classified By: Ambassador Richard LeBaron for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d). ¶1. (U) Unknown assailants attacked Mohammad Al-Zo'bi, a low ranking diplomat at the Kuwaiti Embassy in Tehran, as he was leaving work on June 19. The Kuwait cabinet convened an emergency session the same day to discuss the event and the MFA called Iranian Ambassador Ali Jennati in immediately to deliver a strongly-worded condemnation of the incident. According to press reports, MFA Undersecretary Jarallah told Jennati that the GOK holds Iran responsible for failing to protect Al-Zo'bi. The Iranian Ambassador assured Jarallah that the perpetrators did not represent the Iranian government. He apologized and promised that his government would launch an investigation. ¶2. (U) Kuwaitis angrily accused the Iranian government of complicity since the beating allegedly occured directly in front of the embassy, which is guarded by Iranian security forces. The Al-Watan Arabic daily reported that Iranian security guards initially attempted to intervene to stop the beating but were stopped by Iranian Revolutionary Guard (Baseej) forces, who allowed the attackers to beat Al-Zo'bi. Other newspapers were less conspiratorial in their reporting of the details, but vigorous in condemning the event. One columnist wrote in the June 23 edition of the Al-Qabas: "it is clear the attack comes from a governmental party" and that it is "official terrorism." The columnist went on to speculate that radicals in Iran were trying to drive a wedge between Iran and the Arabs. The Al-Anbaa daily ran a story on the front page of its June 20 edition quoting an expert who said that 20 members of an extremist group had carried out the attack in an attempt to intimidate Kuwait and other Gulf Arab countries who are cooperating with Iran's enemies (especially the U.S). ¶3. (C) MFA Iran desk officer Mansour Al-Olaimi told PolOff on June 20 that he thought the incident in Tehran was a reaction to a complaint by an Iranian diplomat in Kuwait who claimed he had been harassed. In an earlier meeting on June 10 MFA Undersecretary Jarallah told the Ambassador that these allegations had been raised with Jarallah by the Iranian Ambassador to Kuwait. ********************************************* * For more reporting from Embassy Kuwait, visit: http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/nea/kuwait/?cable s Visit Kuwait's Classified Website: http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/nea/kuwait/ ********************************************* * LeBaron