ITALY WILL ATTEMPT TO CONTACT IRAN ON OUT OF

C O N F I D E N T I A L ROME 003224

SIPDIS


E.O. 12958: DECL: 08/20/2014
TAGS: PREL PGOV AF IR IT UN
SUBJECT: ITALY WILL ATTEMPT TO CONTACT IRAN ON OUT OF
COUNTRY REGISTRATION AND VOTING

REF: STATE 179808

Classified By: POL MINCOUNS THOMAS COUNTRYMAN, REASONS 1.4
(B) AND (D).


1. (U) Post conveyed ref points in the MFA to the Office of
Iranian Affairs, the Office of Under Secretary for Asia
Margherita Boniver, and to Special Representative for
Afghanistan Ambassador Enrico De Maio. We also delivered the
points to the Prime Minister's office.


2. (C) De Maio said he had never understood why Pakistan
saw its interests being furthered by interfering with efforts
to register Afghan voters there, and he was equally perplexed
by Iranian recalcitrance. De Maio said he would immediately
seek to telephone Iranian Ambassador Teyrhian (phonetic
spelling),currently Iran's Ambassador in Islamabad, formerly
the Iranian Ambassador in Kabul, and before that Iran's
representative to the Group of Four for Afghan discussions.
Teyrhian had told De Maio that he wanted to go no further
afield from Afghanistan than Islamabad, in order to "keep an
eye" on the country. He is Iran's expert on Afghanistan, De
Maio said, and might be able to help.


3. (C) Departing from his discussion of Teyrhian, De Maio
expressed some nostalgia for the Group of Four and said he
thought it would be helpful if some variant of those
discussions could be revived. If for no other reason, he
commented, it was a good forum for the U.S. to talk with Iran.

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