HOSSEINI-TASH COMING TO MOSCOW TO MEET EU-3;

C O N F I D E N T I A L MOSCOW 004079 SIPDIS SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/20/2014 TAGS: PREL MNUC RS IR CH SUBJECT: HOSSEINI-TASH COMING TO MOSCOW TO MEET EU-3; CHINESE-RUSSIAN TALKS ON IRAN Classified By: DCM Daniel A. Russell, for reasons 1.4 (B & D) ¶1. (C) Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Kislyak told Ambassador in an April 18 meeting that Iran Supreme National Security Council Deputy Secretary Ali Hosseini-Tash, accompanied by an Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister, would be returning to Moscow to meet with the EU-3 April 19 on the margins of current G-8 and other consultations on Iran. Foreign Minister Mottahi had telephoned Russian FM Sergey Lavrov on April 17 to request that Russia facilitate such a meeting, and Moscow had done so. At present, there was no bilateral Russia-Iran meeting scheduled. ¶2. (C) Acknowledging that the Iranian request was quite unusual, Kislyak said Moscow nonetheless did not expect any breakthroughs from the Iran/EU-3 meeting. Beyond his request for Moscow to facilitate an Iran/EU-3 meeting, Mottaki had argued Iran's case of why it was right and everyone else was wrong about its nuclear program, Kislyak said. There was no indication Iran planned to change its approach. Russian-Chinese Talks on Iran -------------- ¶3. (C) Ambassador asked about the April 17 meetings of Chinese Deputy FM Cui Tiankai with Kislyak and, separately, with FM Lavrov. Kislyak said that Tankai was new to the Iranian nuclear portfolio but seemed very knowledgeable and thoughtful. He had worked at the UN and spoke excellent English. He had expressed positions similar to Russia's own views about Iran's apparent intention to continue with its nuclear program. China was trying to see how it might be possible to re-start Iran's negotiations with the EU-3, and Russia had shared its knowledge of the history of those negotiations. BURNS