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Viewing cable 06BEIRUT743, MGLE01: LEBANESE VIEWS OF SYRIA AND IRAN

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Reference ID Created Released Classification Origin
06BEIRUT743 2006-03-10 13:13 2011-08-24 01:00 UNCLASSIFIED Embassy Beirut
VZCZCXRO4919
PP RUEHAG RUEHBC RUEHDE RUEHDF RUEHIK RUEHKUK RUEHLZ RUEHMOS
DE RUEHLB #0743 0691313
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 101313Z MAR 06
FM AMEMBASSY BEIRUT
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 2458
INFO RUEHEE/ARAB LEAGUE COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUCNMEM/EU MEMBER STATES COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RHMFIUU/CDR USCENTCOM MACDILL AFB FL PRIORITY
RUCPDOC/DEPT OF COMMERCE WASHDC PRIORITY
RUEATRS/DEPT OF TREASURY WASHDC PRIORITY
RHEHNSC/NSC WASHDC PRIORITY
UNCLAS BEIRUT 000743 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE PASS USTR 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: EFIN ECON ETRD EINV KIPR LE SY
SUBJECT: MGLE01:  LEBANESE VIEWS OF SYRIA AND IRAN 
INCREASING BANKING TIES 
 
 
1.  On March 6, the Iranian Bank Saderat public relations 
department announced that Bank Saderat and the Commercial 
Bank of Syria (CBS) are to establish a jointly-run bank. 
Currently, there are no further details as to how Bank 
Saderat's five branches in Lebanon and the two branches of 
the Commercial Bank of Syria's subsidiary in Lebanon, the 
Syrian Lebanese Commercial Bank, will be affected by the 
increased banking ties between Bank Saderat and the CBS.  On 
March 9, Econoff discussed the impact of increased banking 
ties between Syria and Iran with two prominent Lebanese 
businessmen who travel to Syria regularly. 
 
SYRIA LOOKING FOR BANKING SECURITY 
---------------------------------- 
 
2.  Dr. Riad Saadeh, an agriculture and development economist 
with business interests in Syria, said that increased banking 
ties between Syria and Iran "make sense for security 
reasons."  Although Saadeh was not aware of details of the 
new banking arrangement, he was not surprised at increased 
ties between Bank Saderat and the CBS.  He noted that Syria 
has made several recent economic moves to insulate itself 
from further economic pressures from the U.S., including 
moving from the dollar to the euro as an exchange currency. 
Saadeh told us that he supplies the Syrian government with 
European goods and that last year the Syrians had asked him 
to provide products for two years.  According to Saadeh, 
Syrian government officials asked for the additional goods 
because they were afraid of a blockage of access to European 
goods. 
 
3.  Saad Azhari, the Deputy Chairman of BLOM Bank and the 
Vice President of the Banks' Association, told Econoff that 
the CBS is increasingly seeing "doors closed" in Europe and 
would logically look toward Iran and China as normal options 
for cooperation.  Azhari echoed Saadeh's sentiments that 
increased banking ties between Syria and Iran "makes sense" 
due to the increased political cooperation between the Syrian 
and Iranian governments. 
 
LEBANESE BANKING SECTOR 
UNAFFECTED BY BANKING DEAL 
-------------------------- 
 
4.  Azari cautioned Econoff about the significance of the 
banking deal on the Lebanese branches of Bank Saderat.  He 
called Bank Saderat a "peanut-sized bank" that was an 
insignificant player in Lebanon with a minimal balance sheet 
of USD 100 million in total assets.  Azari replied that Bank 
Saderat probably caters to Iranians in Lebanon when Econoff 
asked him what role Bank Saderat served in the Lebanese 
banking sector. 
 
FELTMAN