THE IRANIAN DIPLOMATIC PRESENCE IN ARGENTINA

S E C R E T BUENOS AIRES 000746 SIPDIS SIPDIS FOR INR/I E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/30/2016 TAGS: PINR PREL AR SUBJECT: THE IRANIAN DIPLOMATIC PRESENCE IN ARGENTINA (C-NE6-00140) REF: STATE 26750 Classified By: AMBASSADOR LINO GUTIERREZ, FOR REASON 1.4 (B) ¶1. (S) Reftel asked the Embassy to forward the most current records of official Iranian diplomatic representation in Argentina. Poloffs visited the MFA March 30 and spoke with Minister Bibiana Jones and Maria Ruth de Goicochea of the Office of Northern Africa and The Middle East. MFA officials confirmed that the Iranian Diplomatic presence in Argentina consists of Charge d'affaires Mr. ohammad Ali Tabatabaei Hasan and Third Secretary Mr. Bahram Saifzadeh Sani Garmrood. Likewise, the Argentine Mission in Tehran consists of a Charge and one other diplomat. ¶2. (S) MFA officials told Poloffs that Argentina's bilateral relationship with Iran remains tenuous since the 1994 Argentina-Israel Mutual Association (AMIA) bombing. MFA contact with the Iranian Charge has been limited to consular issues. In the last two years, the Iranian Embassy had on two occasions requested concurrence from the MFA for the visit of high-level Iranian officials to Argentina to discuss IAEA issues. On both occasions, the MFA declined the proposed visit, maintaining that IAEA issues should be discussed in Vienna. GUTIERREZ