SRI LANKA SUPPORTIVE OF EU ON IRAN/IAEA ISSUE

UNCLAS COLOMBO 001654 SIPDIS SENSITIVE E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PREL KNNP PARM IR MNUC TRGY CE IAEA SUBJECT: SRI LANKA SUPPORTIVE OF EU ON IRAN/IAEA ISSUE REF: A. STATE 168950 ¶B. TOKYO 5039 ¶C. COLOMBO 1408 ¶1. (SBU) On September 16 poloff delivered Reftel A demarche to V. Krishnamoorthy, Director of UN and Multilateral Affairs at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Poloff followed up on September 20, when Krishnamoorthy responded that the Government of Sri Lanka (GSL) is "waiting to see" whether the matter can be resolved within the IAEA rather than sending a referral to the Security Council. Krishnamoorthy added that the GSL has not/not yet decided what stance it will take on the referral issue. In a separate September 20 conversation, Assistant Director of UN and Multilateral Affairs Sumedha Ekanayake told poloff that Sri Lanka has been strongly supportive of the EU on this issue. He cited the late Foreign Minister Kadirgamar's telephone call expressing the EU's position to Iran's former Foreign Minister (Reftel C). ¶2. (SBU) Comment: While our sources here did not directly confirm the Government of Japan's assessment (Reftel B),the GSL seems willing to support the US and EU positions on this issue; nevertheless, Sri Lanka's dependence on Iran's sale of oil at a concessional price is also a significant factor. LUNSTEAD