IRAN/IAEA: FRANCE WILL RAISE IRAN AT THE FEB 28

C O N F I D E N T I A L PARIS 001233 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/25/2015 TAGS: IR KNNP PARM PREL TRGY MNUC IAEA SUBJECT: IRAN/IAEA: FRANCE WILL RAISE IRAN AT THE FEB 28 IAEA BOG MEETING, BUT REQUESTS AMENDMENT TO U.S. STATEMENT REF: STATE 31323 Classified By: Political Minister-Counselor Josiah Rosenblatt for reaso ns 1.4 (b) and (d). We delivered reftel points to the MFA's office of Disarmament and Nuclear Nonproliferation on February 23. On February 25 poloff spoke with Nicolas Roche, the desk officer for NP, who said that France will make a national statement calling on Iran to meet its obligations at the February 28 BOG meeting. Roche said that the statement, which is currently being prepared, is intended to highlight the like-mindedness of the EU3 and put further pressure on Iran to meet its obligations with regard to the negotiations. He said at this point he did not know whether the statement is intended to be made on behalf of France or the EU3, saying that it would be decided in Vienna. While Roche admitted that he had not seen the final text, he said that he expects the statement to put forth strongly worded demands for Iran to comply with the terms laid out through the course of the negotiations. He said that the statement will call for Iran to implement Board of Governors resolutions and respect its commitments for suspension in addition to asking the agency to report every failure of Iran immediately. Roche said that France expects the U.S. national statement to be strongly worded and more detailed than the French statement; however, he said language calling for "full cessation and dismantling of Iran's fissile material production efforts" will undermine the EU3 negotiations with Iran because they are the exact terms that the EU3 is pushing for in negotiations. He asked that the U.S. delete this verbiage from their national statement. Wolff