(S) UAE: NEW OVERFLIGHT DENIAL REQUEST RELAYED

S E C R E T ABU DHABI 000089 NOFORN DEPARTMENT FOR NEA/ARP ALSO FOR ISN/CATR AGANZER, MMITCHELL, AND MROLLERI E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/22/2034 TAGS: PARM PREL ETTC MASS IR SU AE SUBJECT: (S) UAE: NEW OVERFLIGHT DENIAL REQUEST RELAYED REF: A) STATE 5567 AND PREVIOUS, B) ABU DHABI 0031 Classified by Ambassador Richard Olson, reasons 1.4 (b),(c),and (d). ¶1. (S) On the morning of January 22, Pol Chief passed reftel points (releasable to UAE) to Khalifa al-Mazroui of the MFA Office of International Organizations. Al-Mazroui said he would convey the request to appropriate officials, yet asked for any additional information available on prior flights of concern or the operations of Badr Airlines. Pol Chief stressed the need to generate information as one reason for this demarche, emphasizing the urgency of preventing such shipments. ¶2. (S/NF) GRPO and DAO are relaying the same points through their channels due to the involvement of UAE State Security and the Directorate of Military Intelligence in prior overflight questions. ¶3. (S) Ambassador took advantage of a previously scheduled courtesy call on the Ruler of Sharjah to raise the issue with the Crown Prince, Shaykh Sultan bin Muhammad al-Qassimi. Ambassador simply made the point that USG had concerns about Badr, a company with Sharjah connections, which was involved in arms shipments from Iran, and that we were raising this issue at the Federal level. Shaykh Sultan agreed that it was a Federal issue, but promised that Sharjah would cooperate with authorities and implement any Federal decision. OLSON