US embassy cable - 05VIENNA165

S E C R E T VIENNA 000165 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR EUR/AGS, EUR/PRA, NP/ECNP, INR/SPM 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/20/2015 
TAGS: PARM, PREL, ETTC, AU 
SUBJECT: AUSTRIA:  SNIPER RIFLES TO IRAN: FURTHER SHIPMENTS 
STALLED? 
 
REF: A. STATE 9770 
 
     B. VIENNA 37 
     C. 04 VIENNA 4393 
 
Classified By: AMBASSADOR W.L. LYONS BROWN. 
REASONS:  1.4 (B) AND (D). 
 
1.  (S) After the Ambassador's January 18 meeting with 
Austrian Interior Minister Liese Prokop (reported septel), 
Helmut Krehlik (strictly protect), head of the Economics 
Ministry's Export and Import Control Division, called Econ 
Unit Chief to ask for an urgent appointment.  Krehlik said 
that Steyr-Mannlicher had shipped "most" of the 800 sniper 
rifles which the Austrian government had approved for sale to 
Iran in November 2004.  However, he clarified that 
Steyr-Mannlicher president Wolfgang Furlinger had not/not 
formally submitted two additional applications for the export 
of an additional 1600 rifles to Iran.  (Note:  Krehlik had 
called us on December 22 to alert us to these new 
applications.  End note.)  Krehlik speculated that Furlinger 
had decided not to submit the additional applications because 
"he knows he would have difficulty getting them approved." 
Krehlik told us that he had heard that Furlinger was asking 
the Interior Minister to designate the sniper rifles as 
"munition items" instead of "war items," in order to make it 
easier to win approval.  Krehlik said he thought the Interior 
Ministry would not/not accede to Furlinger's request. 
 
2.  (S) Krehlik expressed concern on other pending sales 
applications.  He said Steyr-Mannlicher had applied in August 
2004 to export five pistols to Iran.  In that case, the 
Foreign Ministry had sent Krehlik a memo raising serious 
concerns about such a sale.  Krehlik said Furlinger was using 
the application as a trial run for an application of 5,000 
pistols.  In another case, Steyr-Mannlicher's competitor 
Glock had applied to export three pistols to Iran.  Krehlik 
speculated that this was also a trial run for a larger sale. 
Krehlik said he was concerned because the Iranian end-user of 
the Glock pistols was the State Purchasing Organization, an 
entity Krehlik identified as a procurer for the Iranian 
Defense Ministry.  Krehlik said he had sought "several times" 
to dissuade Glock from pursuing the sale. 
 
3.  (S) Comment: The MFA and the Interior Ministry are on the 
hook to get back to the Ambassador with information regarding 
the November rifle shipment and the two later proposed 
applications.  We hope these sources will confirm Krehlik's 
information.  The Ambassador intends to call Secretary 
General Kyrle in the MFA and/or Minister Prokop in Interior, 
if he has not heard back from them within a reasonable time 
period.  He plans in any case to reiterate the general 
message regarding the USG's concerns on any arms sales to 
Iran. 
Brown