ITALY SEEKS USG INFO BEFORE APPROVING EXPORT TO

C O N F I D E N T I A L ROME 000083 SIPDIS ISN/CPI: RUGGIERO ISN/MTR: PALMIERO E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/22/2019 TAGS: KNNP ENRG ETTC MNUC PARM SUBJECT: ITALY SEEKS USG INFO BEFORE APPROVING EXPORT TO IRAN Classified By: Economic Counselor William R. Meara for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d) ¶1. (U) This is an action request. See paragraph 6. ¶2. Summary: GOI interlocutors are seeking any derogatory information that the USG possesses concerning the export of specific pressure regulating valves to Pars Oil and Gas, an Iranian company. If Italy does not receive information by 6 February it is likely to approve the deal. End Summary. ¶3. (C) On 15 January MFA Counselor for Nuclear Affairs and Export Controls Roberto Liotto requested information from Econoff concerning the pending export of Italian pressure regulating valves. According to Liotto, because Italy lacks comprehensive sanctions on Iran it is likely to approve the transaction absent negative information from the USG. Liotto said that despite previous GOI rejections of Pars Oil license requests the GOI lacked a legal basis to deny every Pars Oil request. ¶4. (C) Liotto said the exporter would be Fischer Process SRL, located at 1 Via Paolo Fabbri, Castel Maggiore (BO) ¶40013. The stated end user would be the Pars Oil and Gas Company, located at 133 Parvin Etesami Corner, Fatemi Avenue, in Tehran. The products are listed as 3 lots (123, 84 and 44) of spare parts for pressure regulating valves. The declared use is, "production of condensate, LPG and Lean Sour Gas." ¶5. (C) Liotto explained that Italy was reaching out to the USG because although exporting these items is not specifically prohibited by any multilateral regulation, they could fall under a "catch all" provision, with which the USG had unique expertise. Liotto continued that these valves could be "dual-dual-use," as they could be military or civilian in nature and could be used in the petrochemical industry or in a nuclear program. His specific questions were: 1) Whether the parts listed are consistent with the stated petrochemical use in number and type, and; 2) Whether the USG is aware of other nations having issued denials of export licenses for similar parts to Iran in the past. Liotto was confident that no EU nation had denied these specific parts, else he said he would already have known. But he was less confident about non-EU nations' decisions or EU member decisions concerning items that varied slightly from this application. ¶6. (C) Action request: Post request appropriate guidance by 6 February in response to Counselor Liotto's request for information on the export of pressure regulating valves to the Pars Oil and Gas Company. SPOGLI