THAILAND: IRAN BRIEFING

S E C R E T BANGKOK 006941 SIPDIS SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/30/2016 TAGS: IAEA TRGY ENRG MNUC KNNP PARM PREL IR AORC TH SUBJECT: THAILAND: IRAN BRIEFING REF: STATE 184153 Classified By: Ambassador Ralph L. Boyce, reason 1.4 (b) and (d). ¶1. (U) This is an action request. Please see paragraph 4. ¶2. (S) Ambassador spoke on November 9 to MFA Permanent Secretary Krit Garnchana-Gooncharn regarding reftel briefing. SIPDIS Given the nature of the issue, Krit recommended that the briefing be given to the MOD Permanent Secretary, Winai Phattayakul (who is also the Secretary-General of the Council on National Security.) Ambassador and acting Chief of Station briefed Winai and CNS chair General Sonthi Boonyaratglin on November 14. ¶3. (S) Polcouns and acting COS also briefed MFA Department of International Organizations Deputy Director General Busaya Mathelin, who has responsibility for IAEA issues, on November ¶16. She expressed appreciation for the briefing but noted that Thailand would not be sending a representative from Bangkok to attend the IAEA Board of Governors' meetings. She said that MFA would forward the information to their Ambassador in Vienna, who would be attending presenting Thailand. Deputy DG Busaya noted that Thailand supported the right of every country to develop peaceful nuclear technology; at the same time, they hoped to handle the issue of Iran's nuclear program within the framework of the IAEA. She said that Thailand would carefully consider any information from the US that was relevant to this problem. Polcouns drew on reftel talking points to highlight the key US concerns, and left a nonpaper with the points from paragraph five. ¶4. (S) Action request: Post suggests that the Thai Ambassador in Vienna, responsible for the IAEA, be briefed on the reftel material directly, in order to be sure that he is fully informed. In our experience, Thai Ambassadors in the field have significant autonomy and are not always well briefed by their supporting offices in Bangkok. End action request. BOYCE