DEMARCHE ON IRAN, IAEA, AND UNSC

UNCLAS KINGSTON 000395 SIPDIS SIPDIS DEPARTMENT FOR WHA/CAR (BENT),AC/RSS (GODBY) E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PARM KNNP PREL IR EU AORC JM SUBJECT: DEMARCHE ON IRAN, IAEA, AND UNSC REF: STATE 19516 ¶1. (U) This message is Sensitive But Unclassified. Please handle accordingly. ¶2. (SBU) On February 24, P/ECouns met with and conveyed reftel points to Ambassador Vilma McNish, Director, Office of Multilateral Affairs, at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade (MFAFT),leaving the points as a non-paper. ¶3. (SBU) McNish said she hoped that "diplomacy is the ideal tool" to resolve the impasse with Tehran, noting that she was encouraged by the possibility of an agreement with Russia to process Iranian nuclear materials. IAEA Director General El Baradei's report would be useful, she said, in clarifying what next steps might be appropriate. McNish briefly mentioned what she described as Iran's "security needs" given Tehran's long-standing political disagreement with the USG and its concerns about the situation next door in Iraq. She hastened to add that she was not excusing Iran's NPT violations, only suggesting that any lasting resolution to the current crisis needed to take Tehran's legitimate concerns into account. JOHNSON