GOE RESCINDS NAM IRAN ENDORSEMENT, PLEDGES SUPPORT

C O N F I D E N T I A L QUITO 001427 SIPDIS SENSITIVE SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/06/2014 TAGS: KNNP IAEA PREL MNUC IR EU SUBJECT: GOE RESCINDS NAM IRAN ENDORSEMENT, PLEDGES SUPPORT REF: A. STATE 92883 ¶B. QUITO 1401 ¶C. QUITO 1320 Classified By: PolChief Erik Hall for reasons 1.4 (b&d) ¶1. (C) PolChief delivered Ref A demarche to Ambassador Fernando Yepez, Acting U/S for Multilateral Affairs on June ¶8. Yepez response could not have been more different from his reception a day earlier (Ref B). Yepez agreed that Iran should be given time to reconsider its position, and was very receptive to our request for an Ecuadorian statement in support of the EU3 and U.S. initiatives on Iran. He said the German and French Ambassadors had visited him earlier the same day, urging the same. ¶2. (C) Yepez said Ecuador's representative would make GOE support for the EU3 and U.S. initiatives clear at the IAEA Governing Board Meeting June 12-16. Iran clearly faced a crossroads, and Ecuador would continue to urge Iran to choose the right path. Yepez also promised on the spot to instruct Ecuador's ambassador in Vienna to seek to prevent or at least moderate any NAM statement on Iran at the IAEA. Going a Step Further -------------- ¶3. (C) Yepez went a step further. After considering our points on the NAM declaraion delivered on June 7 (Ref B),the DCM's May 31 discussion about Iran with VFM Diego Ribadeneira (Ref C) and in light of his meeting with Deputy Secretary Zoellick and PDAS Shapiro in Santo Domingo, FM Francisco Carrion now agreed the declaration was unbalanced and had decided to place a GOE reservation on the general NAM Malaysia declaration, and to withdraw Ecuador's support from the NAM declaration on Iran. Yepez said he had already instructed Ecuador's New York mission to the UN to lodge both reservations with the Malaysian mission there. Comment -------------- ¶4. (C) We attribute the GOE reversal on the NAM declaration directly to USG advocacy. With our bilateral relations entering a difficult phase for unrelated reasons, it appears the GOE withdrew its support from the NAM declaration in large part to signal its goodwill. Returning to its principled stance on Iran was an important but relatively low-cost way to do this; we expect good cooperation in Vienna next week. JEWELL