(S) UNMANNED USG AIRCRAFT WASHES ASHORE, OFFICIAL

E C R E T SANAA 000473 SIPDIS SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/31/2017 TAGS: PREL MASS YM SUBJECT: (S) UNMANNED USG AIRCRAFT WASHES ASHORE, OFFICIAL MEDIA REPORTS DOWNED IRANIAN "SPY PLANE" REF: STATE 32641 Classified By: CDA NABEEL KHOURY, FOR REASONS 1.4 (B) AND (D). ¶1. (S) On March 27, Yemeni military officers discovered an unmanned USG reconnaissance aircraft (Scan Eagle) that had washed ashore on the Arabian Sea coast in the province of Hadramaut. The President's Office immediately protested the incident to CDA and requested an explanation. Initially unaware of any USG operations in the area, Post learned after further inquiry that the reconnaissance aircraft belonged to the U.S.S. Ashland, which had been patrolling as part of CTF-150, 60 nautical miles off the Yemeni coast. The aircraft had crashed in international waters on March 17 and had not been recovered. ¶2. (S) On March 28, CDA spoke with President Saleh (who was attending the Arab League summit in Riyadh) via telephone and confirmed that the aircraft belonged to the U.S. Navy. He assured Saleh that the plane crashed performing routine reconnaissance near the ship and had not been operating in Yemeni territory. CDA also met separately with Interior Minister Rashad Alimi and Ammar Saleh, Deputy Director of the National Security Bureau, and presented both with general information on the aircraft. ¶3. (S) President Saleh expressed doubt as to the plane's actual mission, but promised CDA that the ROYG would not "turn this into an international incident" and would instruct government officials not to comment. On March 29, official and pro-government media sources reported that the Yemeni military had shot down an Iranian "spy plane" off the coast of Hadramaut, after communicating with "multinational forces" in the region. Independent daily Al-Ayam (largest circulating independent newspaper),quoted an unnamed Yemeni military official as confirming that the plane belonged to the American government, but would not comment on whether the plane was shot down or discovered after crashing. ¶4. (S) Comment: President Saleh clearly believes the unmanned aircraft had been performing reconnaissance in Yemeni territory when it crashed. He could have taken the opportunity to score political points by appearing tough in public against the United States, but chose instead to blame Iran. No doubt focused on the unrest in Saada and our support for the transfer of excess armored personnel carriers from neighboring countries (reftel),Saleh decided he would benefit more from painting Iran as the bad guy in this case. End Comment. KHOURY