UN/IRAQ SANCTIONS: SEEKING DEPARTMENT GUIDANCE ON

C O N F I D E N T I A L USUN NEW YORK 000416 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/19/2009 TAGS: PREL UNSC ETTC IZ SUBJECT: UN/IRAQ SANCTIONS: SEEKING DEPARTMENT GUIDANCE ON IRAQI 1518 DELISTING REQUEST REF: A. MORRIS-CROWE EMAIL 11/6/2007 ¶B. KONZET-CROWE EMAIL 5/9/08 Classified By: Deputy Political Counselor Molly Phee, for reasons 1.4 ( b) and (d). ¶1. (C) This is an action request, please see paragraph 5. ¶2. (C) USUN PolOff was approached on May 6 by Iraqi Counselor Jwan Tawfiq for an update on the status of Iraq's request, first relayed in June 2007, to remove three individuals--Nabil Victor Karam, Tarek Nasser al-Obaidi, and Hikmat Jarges Bahnam--from the list of persons subject to sanctions pursuant to resolution 1518 (2003),which requires states to freeze the assets of individuals determined by the 1518 Committee to be former senior officials of the Saddam Hussein regime. The Iraqi request has been on hold by USUN and the UK since it was submitted to the 1518 Committee in June 2007. ¶3. (C) In November 2007 the Iraqi Mission provided USUN and the UK Mission with additional information on al-Obaidi and Bahnam (ref a). In January 2008 the UK Mission received instructions from London to remove its hold on the request to delist al-Obaidi and Bahnam, but agreed not to proceed until USUN had received final instructions. On May 8, Iraq submitted a letter to the 1518 Committee (ref b) indicating its readiness to provide any additional information necessary to support the delisting of al-Obaidi and Bahnam. (Note: The Iraqi letter did not refer to Karam. Tawfiq could not explain why the Iraqi Mission had been instructed to refer to only two of the three names. End Note.) The UK Mission has informed USUN that it will lift its hold in the near future unless USUN is able to provide further information as to why al-Obaidi and Bahnam should remain on the sanctions list. (Note: The U.S. hold on the request will remain even if the UK withdraws its hold. End Note.) ¶4. (C) The UK intends to retain its hold on Iraq's request to delist Karam for procedural reasons: Karam is identified on the sanctions list as a Lebanese national living in Jordan, and delisting procedures in the 1518 Committee require that a delisting request be submitted by either the state of citizenship or residence. ¶5. (C) Action request: USUN seeks Department guidance on the Iraqi request to remove al-Obaidi and Karam from the 1518 sanctions list. Khalilzad