MALAYSIA DEFENSE MINISTRY: IRAN WILL NOT

C O N F I D E N T I A L KUALA LUMPUR 000274 SIPDIS SIPDIS STATE FOR ISN, T, IO AND EAP E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/17/2018 TAGS: PARM PREL ETTC IR MY SUBJECT: MALAYSIA DEFENSE MINISTRY: IRAN WILL NOT PARTICIPATE IN ARMS SHOW REF: A. KUALA LUMPUR 269 - IRAN AT ARMS SHOW ¶B. STATE 39049 Classified By: Political Section Chief Mark D. Clark reasons 1.4 (b and d). ¶1. (C) Late on April 17 Malaysian Defense Ministry Under Secretary for Policy Ismail Ahmad informed U.S. DATT that the SIPDIS Defense Ministry had rescinded permission for Iranian entities to participate in the Defense Services Asia (DSA) military sales exhibition, April 20-24 in Kuala Lumpur (reftels). This development followed a third day of active diplomatic engagement by the U.S. and British missions to urge Malaysian recognition that Iranian participation would violate UN Security Council sanctions on Iran. Ismail said the Malaysian government would officially inform Iranian authorities on April 18. Separately, we heard that DSA organizers had received this decision in writing from the Defense Ministry. The DSA organizers attributed the GOM reversal to U.S. and British diplomatic pressure. ¶2. (C) Relevant Malaysian Foreign Ministry officials said they were not informed of the Defense Ministry's decision to drop Iranian participation, and could not confirm this development as of the evening of April 17. ¶3. (C) We shared this information with our British counterparts. The British had earlier proposed a joint demarche (U.S., UK, France and Germany) on the Malaysian Foreign Ministry to be conducted on April 18 at the chief of mission level. With the latest information from the Defense Ministry, the British concurred that the joint demarche now appeared unnecessary. ¶4. (C) Comment: Ismail is a credible interlocutor at the Defense Ministry. On April 18 we will reconfirm the Malaysian government's decision to exclude Iranian entities from DSA. KEITH