DEMARCHE DELIVERED: ITALY AWARE OF IRANIAN

C O N F I D E N T I A L ROME 000472 SIPDIS ISN/ MTR: HERRMANN E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/27/2019 TAGS: MTCRE PARM PREL MNUC ETTC KSCA JA IR IT SUBJECT: DEMARCHE DELIVERED: ITALY AWARE OF IRANIAN PROCUREMENT EFFORTS REF: STATE 34798 Classified By: Economic Counselor William R. Meara for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d). ¶1. (C) On 15 and 16 April Econoff delivered reftel demarche to the Ministry of International Trade and to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, respectively, concerning Iranian efforts to procure sensitive items for use in unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) via an Italian intermediary. Econoff presented the demarche to Giovanni Ramella Zampa, an export license official at the former, and to Pierfrancesco De Cerchio, an officer responsible for export controls at the latter. Both promised to apply close scrutiny to any export license application involving Alpi Aviation, Farazeh Equipment Distributor Company (FEDCO),or Samnow Company. However, both stopped short of placing the aforementioned companies on an official watch list, saying that under Italian law it is illegal to place a company or product on a watch list unless it has been convicted previously of a crime. ¶2. (C) Ramella Zampa asked whether the servo-actuators in question were designated as arms, for customs purposes, or as dual use items. He explained that records for all imports of arms are kept at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, while the Ministry of International Trade is responsible for approving and monitoring the import of dual use items. Ramella Zampa also speculated that the servo-actuators could have entered Italy via the black market, though he discounted this possibility. De Cerchio asked whether servo-actuators were designated as prohibited items under any of the relevant international agreements and/or whether their export could be stopped under a "catch all" provision. Post informed him that the "catch all" provision could be used to bar the export of servo-actuators to companies or countries of concern. ¶3. (C) Both officials pledged to, at a minimum, supervise closely any export proposed by Alpi Aviation, especially if were to involve servo-actuators destined for Iran. Nevertheless, neither official committed to contact to Alpi Aviation's management to lessen the likelihood of sensitive items being exported to Iran. Both hinted that while they would prefer to act more aggressive they were constrained by Italian law. DIBBLE