GENERAL MOSELEY'S FEBRUARY 14 MEETINGS WITH OMANI

S E C R E T SECTION 01 OF 02 MUSCAT 000171 SIPDIS NOFORN SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/27/2018 TAGS: PREL MASS MOPS IR MU SUBJECT: GENERAL MOSELEY'S FEBRUARY 14 MEETINGS WITH OMANI DEFENSE OFFICIALS Classified By: Ambassador Gary A. Grappo for Reasons 1.4 (b, d) -------------- SUMMARY -------------- ¶1. (C) General T. Michael Moseley, United States Air Force Chief of Staff, met separately on February 14 with Mohammed Al-Rasbi, Under-Secretary for Defense Affairs, and with Air Vice Marshall Yahya bin Rashid al-Juma'a, Commander Royal Air Force of Oman (RAFO),to discuss the merits of Shared Early Warning (SEW). General Moseley also discussed Afghanistan, Iraq, Iran and issues related to Oman's F-16 program. End Summary. -------------- BASE AND EQUIPMENT ISSUES -------------- ¶2. (C) During General Moseley's visit, both al-Rasbi and AVM Yahya stressed the value of Oman's relationship with the U.S. Al-Rasbi, who co-chairs the U.S.-Oman Joint Military Commission (JMC) with DoD Assistant Secretary for International Security Affairs Mary Beth Long, expressed in particular his pride in the long-standing U.S. Base Access Agreement with Oman and acknowledged that the time was approaching to begin work on renewing the Agreement. Al-Rasbi and General Moseley discussed the progress in construction of Oman's new al-Musanah Air Base, and agreed on the importance of advance planning of the move to al-Musanah of U.S. war reserve materials (WRM) currently stored at the RAFO base at Seeb International Airport in Muscat. ¶3. (S/NF) Al-Rasbi and AVM Yahya both praised U.S. Air Force (USAF) support for the Omani F-16 program. They further thanked General Moseley for USAF help in solving an Omani bomb fuse shortage and in working an F-16 radar anomaly. General Moseley emphasized that the USAF is continuing to work with contractors to address the ITT company's failure to provide Oman's F-16s with Advanced Integrated Defensive Electronic Warfare Suites (AIDEWS) capability. -------------- OEF/OIF UPDATE -------------- ¶4. (C) In response to al-Rasbi's inquiry on operations in Afghanistan, General Moseley stressed that military development and training in Afghanistan is progressing, but added that the U.S. continues to urge its NATO allies to meet their troop commitments. General Moseley noted that stemming narcotics production is a particularly difficult challenge due to the economics of the drug trade. On Iraq, General �A;Moseley highlighted the volatile political sensitivities in the north of the country attributable in part to the historic Turkish and Kurdish influence in the area. He pointed out, however, that Iraq's overall military and security situation continued to improve. -------------- IRAN POLICY AND NUCLEAR WEAPONS -------------- ¶5. (C) General Moseley emphasized that Iranian interference in Iraq and the Palestinian territories was a major problem. He also questioned the intent of Iran's nuclear and ballistic missile programs. Al-Rasbi countered that the Iranians need to be engaged through dialogue and brought into the "international framework." Rather than "cornering" Iran, he advised the U.S. to use its "soft power" in trying to change Iranian behavior. Noting that Oman is a signatory to the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, al-Rasbi made clear that Oman did not want to see more countries acquiring nuclear weapons. He also mentioned Oman's trade and tourism ties with Iran, including Omani travel to Iran for medical care, and claimed that media reports of hardships faced by the Iranian people -- such as fuel shortages -- caused Omanis to generally oppose isolating Iran. -------------- SHARED EARLY WARNING -------------- ¶6. (S/NF) Attempting to gauge Omani support for SEW, General Moseley stressed that there are ways to address sovereignty issues related to SEW. He further stated that system proposals would look at potential problems related to both MUSCAT 00000171 002 OF 002 aircraft and missiles. General Moseley remarked that there are already protocols in the GCC to address some of the issues regarding sharing of information, such as when a hijacked aircraft transits different airspaces. But he acknowledged that the short missile flight time to some countries -- which accordingly limited response time -- is a tougher technical problem to address. The General also mentioned that it is possible to work on concerns related to aircraft first, and then resolve the more difficult missile problem. ¶7. (S/NF) Al-Rasbi responded that he would need cues from higher up before proceeding further. He stated that two things make some Omani officials resistant to the SEW concept -- sovereignty issues, and the perception that the system is aimed at Iran. AVM Yahya, during his meeting with General Moseley, claimed that SEW had been discussed "in the GCC," but that no conclusion had been reached on the subject. He quickly added, however, that the SEW concept was "still being kept alive" in the GCC. Like al-Rasbi, a common theme in AVM Yahya's comments on SEW was that the system was designed without an openly recognized threat. ¶8. (U) General Moseley did not have the opportunity to review this message. GRAPPO