IRAN REGIONAL PRESENCE OFFICE - WINDOW ON IRAN - MARCH 31,

S E C R E T SECTION 01 OF 02 RPO DUBAI 000148

NOFORN
SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 3/31/2019
TAGS: PGOV PHUM CACS ECON IR
SUBJECT: IRAN REGIONAL PRESENCE OFFICE - WINDOW ON IRAN - MARCH 31,
2009

DUBAI 00000148 001.2 OF 002


CLASSIFIED BY: Ramin Asgard, Director, Iran Regional Presence
Office - Dubai, DOS.
REASON: 1.4 (b),(d)

1. [S/NF] Roxana Saberi: Iranian-Americans as Diplomatic
Leverage : As IRPO has reported and will report further septel,
various spoilers in Iran facing the prospect that improved
US-Iran ties will erode their standing within Iran have taken
deliberate and well-timed steps to preempt such improved ties.
Over the past several months as prospects for improved US-Iran
relations have surfaced, various elements of the Iranian
security establishment have taken to arresting Iranian-Americans
on vague or trumped up charges. Considered Iranian citizens by
the IRIG, and traveling to Iran on their Iranian passports as
Iranian law forbids Iranians with another nationality from
entering Iran on their non-Iranian passport, they are easy prey.
At least in the IRIG's estimation, the international outcry
over an arrested Iranian-American will be less strident, making
the diplomatic backlash less severe. Finally, given the Iranian
population's general ambivalence or even resentment towards
exiled Iranians returning to Iran on missions to save the
country after spending decades in comfortable exile, the IRIG
knows there is likely to be little outcry within Iran on these
cases.




2. [S/NF] For the IRIG, detained/arrested Iranian-Americans
serve four valuable purposes: first, their interrogation and
detention affords Iranian security services time to investigate
their associations inside Iran, which often leads to other
innocent but vulnerable targets, and may also result in
intelligence about their foreign links; second, their generally
inexplicable treatment puts the brakes on too quick a
reconciliation with the international community by both
horrifying outside observers and intimidating indigenous
pro-engagement and reformist forces; third, the incarceration
of innocent but influential Iranian-Americans chills others in
similar circumstances from visiting Iran or associating with
organizations involved in US-Iran issues; fourth, they serve as
useful bargaining chips - primarily via releasing them as a
gesture after concessions are wrung from the other side. In
some cases, however, they are cynically treated as pure grist
for an exchange of cash or valued goods.




3. [S/NF] In the case of Roxana Saberi, she has now probably
been detained long enough for the IRIG to check its leads, she
has already made the necessary impression internationally and
domestically, and her treatment has by now sufficiently chilled
Iranian-Americans and others to steer clear of activism in Iran.
So what's left? The IRIG may now seek to use the release of Ms.
Saberi, (and perhaps Esha Momeni who is still prohibited from
leaving Iran),as a gesture to the US in exchange for or in
response to US concessions. Department's close monitoring of
the Saberi case is valuable, not only because it will help an
innocent and accomplished American rejoin her family, but also
as the terms and timing of her release will provide a useful
measure of IRIG receptivity to US-Iran engagement.




4. [S/NF] Alaei Brothers Able to Receive Family Visits:
According to a friend of the Alaei family, the doctors' mother
is able to make "regular," albeit brief, visits to her sons, who
are serving their prison sentences in solitary confinement in
Tehran's Evin Prison. The mother reports that the brothers are
held in separate cells, but are within earshot of each other.
Although Arash and Kamiar are not permitted to see or speak with
each other, the mother said they reassure each other daily that
neither has been moved to a different location by singing loudly
in Kurdish.




5. [C/NF] AN's Defeated Subsidy Plan May Still Lure Some
Voters: A well-established IRPO contact relayed a conversation
he recently had in Tehran with several members of the cleaning
staff of a large consulting firm, all of whom expressed their
intent to support Ahmadinejad in hopes that a second term would
allow him to fulfill his plan of giving cash payments to
lower-income Iranians. As one of the men explained, because he
had already filled out the cash payment eligibility form
provided by the government, he believed he now needed to help
re-elect AN in order to see the payment plan operationalized.

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Comment: Although the plan to replace many food and fuel
subsidies with targeted cash payments was removed from the
government's budget earlier this month by the Majles, it appears
that AN may yet be able to derive some residual benefit at the
polls, particularly from less sophisticated voters who do not
follow the policy making process closely. According to domestic
news reports, some 95% of households in Iran completed forms to
determine their eligibility for the hand-outs.




6. [C/NF] Michigan State Interest in Recruiting Iranian
Students to Dubai: In a meeting with the Consul General to
discuss its Dubai branch, Michigan State University President
Lou Anna Simon expressed an interest in recruiting more Iranian
students to increase its enrollment there. She said that
Michigan State plans to increase enrollment gradually at its new
Dubai campus, building on the 50 students currently enrolled.
Michigan State officials said their ability to recruit in Iran
was limited by legal restrictions and logistics, and asked IRPO
officer for further ideas on reaching out to prospective
students inside Iran and within the Iranian diaspora.
University officials also showed interest in working with IRPO
on training for Iranian teachers of English, similar to the IRPO
grant given to George Mason's Ras Al Khaimah campus last year.
Comment: Interest in US higher education remains high among
Iranians, but few are able to meet financial requirements or
qualify for a visa. Branches of U.S. universities in Dubai and
in the region are a reasonable alternative, and we are exploring
ways we can cooperate with Michigan State and others U.S.
universities.




7. [C/NF] No New Interest Rate Policy Until After Election:
Commenting on recent Iranian press reports that the Central Bank
of Iran (CBI) may institute a new policy to tie interest rates
to inflation, one UAE-based Iranian economic consultant
downplayed the possibility of any change before June's
elections. While crediting the CBI for attempting the change,
rates have generally been set by Presidential decree under AN,
the turmoil of the election season forestalls significant
changes in policy or management at the top of the CBI.
Comment: Following the Majles' revisions of AN's budget in
early March, a dispute between the CBI and AN on interest rate
policy could quickly become another hot button issue in Iranian
politics. AN's handling of this issue - deferring it or
confronting it head on - will be an indicator of how chastened
he was by the budget fight, as well as his political sense.
ASGARD