CROATIA TO INVESTIGATE ATTEMPT TO BROKER TEST

S E C R E T ZAGREB 000762 SIPDIS SIPDIS DEPT FOR EUR/SCE, ISN/MTR E.O. 12958: DECL: 08/13/2017 TAGS: PARM PREL ETTC MTCR KSCA GM IR HR NONPROLIFERATION SUBJECT: CROATIA TO INVESTIGATE ATTEMPT TO BROKER TEST CHAMBER SALE TO IRAN REF: A. STATE 111065 ¶B. BERLIN 01521 ¶C. 06 ZAGREB 1485 AND PREVIOUS Classified By: Political Officer Tom Selinger for reasons 1.4 (b) & (d) . ¶1. (U) THIS IS AN ACTION REQUEST. See para 4. ¶2. (S) PolOff delivered ref A points to head of MFA Section for Arms Control and Disarmament Mirko Capjak on August 10 and to Chief State Prosecutor Mladen Bajic on August 13. Capjak, who serves as MFA's rep on the GoC's inter-ministerial export control committee, assured PolOff that Belmet 97 would not receive the necessary import or export licenses to broker sale of a thermal shock chamber to Iran. He agreed to work with other members of the committee to scrutinize any license applications from Belmet 97 and examine previous applications to check for any patterns of proliferation activity. ¶3. (S) In anticipation that Belmet 97 may try to entirely circumvent the Croatian export licensing process, Post approached Bajic who agreed to immediately initiate an investigation in cooperation with the Croatian intelligence service. This combination of actors has proven effective in at least one previous case, resulting in the conviction of a Croatian attempting to sell missile fire control software to Iran (ref C). The Belmet case may serve to renew Post-supported push within GoC for improved export control legislation to introduce harsher penalties for proliferators. ¶4. (S) ACTION REQUEST: Both Capjak and Bajic requested release of the name of the German producer of the thermal shock chamber to assist them in monitoring Belmet 97 activities. Post requests guidance on providing this name to Croatian authorities. BRADTKE