GOAM AGREES: IRANIAN PRESIDENT'S RHETORIC

C O N F I D E N T I A L YEREVAN 001930 SIPDIS DEPT FOR EUR/CACEN E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/01/2015 TAGS: PREL PTER PHUM IR AM SUBJECT: GOAM AGREES: IRANIAN PRESIDENT'S RHETORIC TROUBLING REF: STATE 199225 Classified By: Ambassador John M. Evans for reasons 1.4 (b,d). (C) The Ambassador delivered reftel demarche to Armenian Foreign Minister Vardan Oskanian, who agreed that Iranian President Ahmadi-Nejad's recent inflammatory rhetoric is cause for concern. Oskanian told the Ambassador that President Kocharian's Chief of Staff Artashes Tumanian -- an Iran-Armenia Joint Economic Commission (JEC) co-chair -- plans to lead an Armenian JEC delegation, likely to include Deputy Foreign Minister Gegham Gharibjanyan, to Iran in early November. "They will try to caution the Iranians," Oskanian told the Ambassador. EVANS