SLOVAKIA SHARES U.S. CONCERNS ON IRAN

S E C R E T BRATISLAVA 000938 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/23/2020 TAGS: KNNP PARM PREL AORC IR LO SUBJECT: SLOVAKIA SHARES U.S. CONCERNS ON IRAN REF: A. SECSTATE 209598 ¶B. STATE 212969 Classified By: Ambassador Rodolphe M. Vallee for Reasons 1.4 (b) and (d ). ¶1. (S) Per ref A, Ambassador and Embassy staff briefed MFA State Secretary Magda Vasaryova, MFA PolDir Miroslav Lajcak, MFA Director General for International Organizations Anton Pinter, and a Slovak Intelligence Service representative on U.S. concerns that Iran is pursuing a nuclear weapons capability. Vasaryova had just finished an hour-long meeting with the Deputy Foreign Minister of Iran, who was actively lobbying IAEA board members in advance of the November 24-25 board meeting. ¶2. (S) Vasaryova had just returned from two days of consultations at the UN in New York, and reported that she had discussed Iran with Ambassador Bolton. She told the Ambassador that, as a responsible IAEA board member, Slovakia was prepared to impose consequences on Iran. She had asked the Iranian DFM whether Iran was ready to begin serious talks, and said he talked around the question, saying Iran was a 27-year old democracy that wanted world peace and was prepared to talk to everyone. Vasaryova also confided that Russian representatives told her in July it was obvious that Iran did not need an enrichment program. ¶3. (S) Vasaryova asked two specific questions: -- What did Presidents Bush and Putin discuss in China related to Iran? -- What does the U.S. predict could happen if the Iranian nuclear issue lands at the UN Security Council? (Note: Slovakia will begin its term as a UNSC member in January 2006.) ¶4. (S) After the classified briefing, the Ambassador reiterated the points in ref B, requesting that Slovakia make a strong national statement on Iran at the IAEA meeting. Pinter's staff later told Pol-Ec Chief that they had faxed the points from para 6 of ref B to their IAEA representative with the instruction that the points be used as building blocks for Slovakia's statement at the IAEA meeting. VALLEE NNNN