(C) UK NOT SENDING DELEGATIONS TO SYRIA AND IRAN

C O N F I D E N T I A L LONDON 006133 SIPDIS SIPDIS STATE FOR NEA, EUR, AND PM E.O. 12958: DECL: 08/21/2011 TAGS: PREL MARR MOPS IR SY LE UK SUBJECT: (C) UK NOT SENDING DELEGATIONS TO SYRIA AND IRAN FOR FORESEEABLE FUTURE REF: STATE 136196 Classified By: PolMinCouns Maura Connelly, Reasons 1.4 B, D (C) HMG is not planning to send official delegations to either Syria or Iran for the foreseeable future. Embassy London delivered reftel demarche to FCO Iran Political Team Leader Ben Fender and to Lebanon/Syria Action Officer Tom Croft August 21. Both Fender and Croft confirmed that HMG's current policy of minimal engagement with Tehran and Damascus precludes official visits to either capital. Fender noted that UK relations with Iran are at an extremely difficult point at the moment, given Iran's role in arming Hizbollah and its continuing refusal to heed the international community's call for it to cease development of WMD. Croft said that Syria's unhelpful role in the Lebanon crisis, crowned by Bashar al-Assad's belligerent August 19 speech, makes it unlikely that the UK would send any official visitors to Damascus in the near future. Visit London's Classified Website: http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/eur/london/index. cfm Johnson