ALGERIA NON-COMMITTAL ON U.S. STATEMENT ON IRAN

C O N F I D E N T I A L ALGIERS 001026

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/04/2016
TAGS: PREL PGOV AG IR
SUBJECT: ALGERIA NON-COMMITTAL ON U.S. STATEMENT ON IRAN

REF: STATE 87682

Classified By: Ambassador Richard W. Erdman: Reasons 1.5 (b) & (d)


1. (C) Given the absence abroad of Minister Bedjaoui,
Ambassador delivered reftel demarche on Iran to MFA Americas
Director General Selmane May 31, underscoring the major
policy importance of the Secretary's announcement and our
strong hope that Algeria would publicly support our
initiative and encourage Iran to do the right thing.
Ambassador said Algeria and others had long urged that we
engage Iran in a dialogue. In an important shift, we were
now offering such engagement and dialogue on outstanding
issues once Iran suspended its nuclear enrichment and
reprocessing activities. At Selmane's request, Ambassador
promised to fax a copy of the Secretary's speech (which he
subsequently did). Pressed for comment, Selmane said she
would immediately pass the Secretary's announcement and the
ambassador's demarche to the senior leadership. Pressed for
a more substantive response, in view of Algeria's
longstanding encouragement of this kind of dialogue, the
ever-cautious Selmane said Algeria always "enthusiastically"
supported dialogue as a means of solving problems.


2. (C) Ambassador also raised our Iran initiative with
President Bouteflika June 1, on the margins of his 15-minute
walk through the U.S. Pavilion at the Algiers International
Trade Fair. Ambassador noted the Secretary's public
statement outlining our policy initiative; emphasized our
desire for a diplomatic solution and our willingness to join
the EU-3 negotiations and engage in dialogue on other issues;
and urged public and private support for our initiative.
Bouteflika, who did not seem well-informed about our
initiative, said that he had not seen the Secretary's policy
statement and would need to study her statement before
commenting on it. As Bouteflika was departing, Ambassador
emphasized that he was raising this issue at the express
request of the Secretary.
ERDMAN