(U) IRANIAN FM VISITS KUWAIT

C O N F I D E N T I A L KUWAIT 004078

SIPDIS

STATE FOR NEA/NGA, NEA/ARP

E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/03/2013
TAGS: PREL EPET KU IR IZ KNPT IAEA
SUBJECT: (U) IRANIAN FM VISITS KUWAIT

Classified By: CDA Frank Urbancic; reason 1.5 (b,d)


1. (C) SUMMARY AND INTRODUCTION: Iranian Foreign Minister
Kamal Kharrazi met with PM Shaykh Sabah al-Ahmed al-Sabah and
FM Shaykh Dr. Mohammed al-Sabah, during a one-day visit to
Kuwait on September 1. According to MFA, the visit was
previously planned and not prompted by Kuwaiti PM Shaykh
Sabah's impending trip to Washington, where he is due to meet
with POTUS on September 10. Contrary to press speculation,
Kharrazi did not ask Shaykh Sabah to pass any message to
Washington. Most of the discussion centered on the IAEA;
Kharrazi urged the GOK to support President Khatami against
hardliners, and sought assurances that if his country did
sign the Additional Protocol, "that would be the end" of IAEA
demands. The GOK pressed Iran to sign the Additional
Protocol unconditionally. In remarks to the media, Kharrazi
characterized the Iraqi Governing Council (IGC) as "an
instrument to forward power to a publicly elected Iraqi
government." The two sides failed to agree on a common
candidate for OPEC Secretary General. END SUMMARY AND
INTRODUCTION.


2. (C) Our source in MFA, the Minister's Office Director
Shaykh Dr. Ahmed Nasser Mohammed al-Sabah, explained that
Kuwait had expected Kharrazi to focus on finalizing a
bilateral agreement on the maritime border. He said
negotiations had begun long ago but had picked up momentum in
the past couple of years. The main issue now concerns
natural resources. As it turned out, Kharrazi wanted to talk
mostly about Iran's relations with the IAEA. (NOTE: Kuwait
chairs the IAEA Board of Governors.)


3. (C) Shaykh Ahmed said Kharrazi discussed the situation in
Iraq, attributing the car bombing in Najaf that killed
Ayatollah Mohammed Baqer al-Hakim to either Saddam loyalists
or a very complex Israeli plot. (Shaykh Ahmed himself -- a
Sunni -- speculated to Pol Chief September 3 that perhaps
Shi'a were to blame, given the high stakes involved in the
rivalry between Najaf and Qom.


4. (C) Shaykh Ahmed confided that the two sides had declined
each other's requests to withdraw their candidacies for
Secretary General of OPEC. He explained that Kuwait's

SIPDIS
candidate is Adnan Shihab al-Din, though this is not yet
public knowledge; an Iranian is the only other candidate.


5. (U) As reported widely in local dailies, Kharrazi told
reporters during his visit that the US and coalition forces
had "committed blunders" in Iraq by not heeding the
(unspecified) advice of Iraq's regional neighbors, and should
heed the advice of such an experienced statesman as Shaykh
Sabah. On a more positive note, he characterized the Iraqi
Governing Council (IGC) as "an instrument to forward power to
a publicly elected Iraqi government." Kharrazi said Iran was
serious about combating terror, and noted that Iran had
repatriated terrorists to their original countries and would
try the remainder "for charges related to carrying out
activities harmful to the national security of Iran."
URBANCIC