US embassy cable - 05VIENNA164

S E C R E T SECTION 01 OF 02 VIENNA 000164 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR EUR/AGS, EUR/PRA, NP/ECNP, INR/SPM 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/20/2015 
TAGS: PARM, PREL, ETTC, AU 
SUBJECT: AMBASSADOR URGES NEW INTERIOR MINISTER TO HALT 
SALE OF SNIPER RIFLES TO IRAN 
 
REF: A. (A) STATE 9770 
 
     B. (B) VIENNA 37 AND PREVIOUS 
 
Classified By: AMBASSADOR W.L. LYONS BROWN.  REASONS:  1.4 (B) AND (D). 
 
1.  (S) Summary:  In his first meeting with new Interior 
Minister Liese Prokop on January 18, the Ambassador praised 
the excellent cooperation the U.S. has enjoyed with the 
Ministry on law enforcement, anti-terrorism, and Embassy 
security issues.  He explained in detail U.S. concerns 
regarding Austria,s sale of sniper rifles to Iran and warned 
of the consequences to the Austrian government and to the 
Austrian producer if further shipments are completed.  Though 
it was clear she didn,t know the issue well, Minister Prokop 
agreed that the rifle sale required a high-level, 
inter-ministerial review in the Austrian government and 
promised that she would initiate discussion with the highest 
levels of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the 
Chancellery.  The Ambassador was accompanied by the DCM and 
the Political-Multilateral section chief.  Chef-de-cabinet 
Philipp Ita sat in with the Minister.  End summary. 
 
2.  (S) In his introductory call on Minister Prokop, who 
assumed office in mid-December following the surprise 
resignation of Ernst Strasser, the Ambassador first stressed 
the good news.  He noted several recent successful 
U.S.-Austrian cooperative ventures, including a joint cocaine 
sting operation, the pending extraditions of several 
terrorist suspects, and an operation to halt the transfer of 
night vision goggles to Iran.  He thanked Prokop for the 
Ministry,s attention to the security of the U.S. facilities 
and personnel in Austria.  The Ambassador noted U.S. 
appreciation for the Austrians, willingness to extend the 
tours of the four police trainers working with the Iraqi 
police academy in Jordan, and for Austria,s donations of 
police equipment to Iraq.  He observed that we hoped that 
Prokop would encourage her government to provide personnel to 
assist in the stabilization effort in Afghanistan.  He 
mentioned continued U.S. interest in the &Salzburg Forum,8 
in which European regional interior ministers, led by former 
Interior Minister Strasser, had cooperated on law enforcement 
issues.  The Ambassador also congratulated Prokop for 
Austria,s assistance to victims of the East Asia tsunami, 
particularly in Sri Lanka.  He told the Minister that her 
predecessor,s periodic working visits to the U.S. had been 
enormously valuable to both partners and said we hoped she 
would come to the U.S. to meet with her colleagues and 
counterparts at an appropriate time (i.e., after new Foreign 
Minister Plassnic has met with the incoming Secretary). 
Minister Prokop said that she was on the best of terms with 
her predecessor, appreciated Strasser,s his excellent work 
in the international sphere, and intended to continue forward 
in the same direction.  She hoped to work closely with the 
U.S., in particular in the field of anti-corruption, a 
central theme in Austria,s 2006 EU presidency. 
 
3.  (S) Turning to a subject he said he regretted had to be 
raised, the Ambassador outlined the U.S.,s serious 
objections to Austria,s past and proposed sales of 
Steyr-Mannlicher sniper rifles to Iran.  After briefing her 
on post,s previous efforts to persuade MFA and Interior 
Ministry officials not to permit the sales, he described the 
capabilities of the powerful rifles, noting they were lethal 
military equipment unsuitable for border policing.  Drawing 
on ref (a), he explained the possibility of U.S. sanctions 
against the Austrian government or the manufacturer.  The 
ambassador pulled no punches in outlining the negative 
consequences to U.S.-Austrian relations should these weapons 
find their way into Iraq.  Handing the minister a nonpaper 
(ref a), he urged her to provide information concerning the 
number and the serial numbers of the weapons already shipped 
to Iran, to notify us regarding the status of the licenses 
for the pending shipments, and to stop any future shipments 
of these rifles to Iran. 
 
4.  (S) Although she did not appear well briefed on the 
subject (her office was aware that the Ambassador would raise 
the topic), Minister Prokop said she could see the sniper 
sales issue was &a big, big problem.8  She noted that the 
export license request for the first shipment had been vetted 
through the MFA legal and export bureaucracy, but said she 
understood U.S. security concerns and would take up the issue 
with the Foreign Ministry, perhaps with the Foreign Minister 
herself as well as the Chancellor,s office.  She herself did 
not know the status of the pending license requests but would 
find out.  To start discussions with the MFA, the minister 
promised to forward a copy of the nonpaper to MFA General 
Secretary Kyrle for comment.  The Ambassador said that he 
 
SIPDIS 
would call Kyrle (whom he had demarched January 7 on this 
subject, per ref b) and let him know the paper was coming. 
(Note:  in Kyrle,s absence, the Ambassador talked later that 
day to Deputy Secretary General Hans Winkler.) 
 
5.  (S) Comment:  Shortly after the Ambassador,s call on the 
Minister, post heard from MFA (Ambassador Winkler) and 
Interior Ministry officials (Ita and BVT head Gert Polli) on 
the sniper rifles issue. Although it now appears probable 
that the November shipment may have been smaller than we had 
first heard -- some 630 rifles vice 800 ) we are pressing 
for authoritative confirmation of this figure as well as an 
official high-level clarification of the status of the second 
and third shipments.  End comment. 
Brown