MALAYSIA STUDYING IRAN PARTICIPATION AT ARMS SHOW

C O N F I D E N T I A L KUALA LUMPUR 000269

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

STATE FOR ISN, T, IO AND EAP

E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/16/2018
TAGS: PARM PREL ETTC IR MY
SUBJECT: MALAYSIA STUDYING IRAN PARTICIPATION AT ARMS SHOW

REF: STATE 39049

Classified By: Political Section Chief Mark D. Clark reasons 1.4 (b and
d).



1. (C) Polchief on April 15 delivered reftel demarche, aimed
at urging Malaysia to respect UNSC sanctions on Iran by
preventing Iranian exhibitors from participating in the
Defense Services Asia (DSA) exhibition, to Foreign Ministry
Under Secretary Bala Chandran. Bala heads the
disarmament/nonproliferation division and is acting in charge
of the multilateral political affairs/UN division. On April
16, Bala informed us that the MFA was "looking into Iran's
involvement in the exhibition" and studying the UNSCRs in
light of the U.S. position that the participation of the four
Iranian entities could be viewed as violating UNSC sanctions
on several grounds. The MFA also was seeking more
information from the DSA organizers. (Note: Exhibitors will
begin making physical preparations on April 17, and the
official DSA launch is April 20. End Note.)


2. (C) Bala asked if the U.S. could provide more information
on the possible association of the Iranian exhibitors with
entities specifically sanctioned in the UNSCR annexes, and
said such linkages would weigh heavily on Malaysia's
response. Bala confided that Malaysia would not like to take
"drastic action" (i.e., retracting permission for the Iranian
entities) absent a clear basis. Polchief said we would share
relevant information, if possible, but that the issue was
largely beside the point. Even without such linkages, the
participation of Iranian military supply entities in a
commercial defense sales exhibition could be viewed as
support for Iranian attempts to circumvent UN-mandated
prohibitions against Iranian transfer of any arms and related
material.


3. (C) We shared publicly available information on Iranian
participation at the DSA with the British, Australian and
French missions on April 15. The British High Commission
informed us that on instruction they presented a demarche to
the MFA on April 16 similar to the U.S. approach. British
and French diplomats noted discussions underway regarding the
appropriate level of their official representation at DSA
(both the UK and France have senior officials scheduled to
attend). The British High Commission also alerted the German
embassy to this issue.


4. (C) The Mission's Office of Defense Cooperation (ODC)
learned from DSA organizers that both the Malaysian Foreign
Ministry and Defense Ministry had provided written approval
for the Iranian participation in the military sales
exhibition. According to the organizers, the Malaysian
government insisted as a condition of approval that the
Iranian companies not pay their exhibition fees via transfers
from Iranian banks, and instead pay in U.S. dollars cash.
KEITH