IRAN'S FLAWED ELECTIONS - ITALY

C O N F I D E N T I A L ROME 003276 SIPDIS SIPDIS PLEASE PASS TO IRPO DUBAI E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/13/2016 TAGS: PREL PGOV KDEM IR IT SUBJECT: IRAN'S FLAWED ELECTIONS - ITALY REF: STATE 192971 Classified By: POL M/C David D. Pearce, reasons 1.4 (b) and (d) ¶1. (C) Pol M/C and poloff delivered ref points December 4 and 11 to MFA Deputy Middle East Director Luca Del Balzo and Gulf Countries Office Director Bruno Campria. ¶2. (C) Pol M/C told Del Balzo that, as part of our effort to coordinate with Italy on Iranian issues, it would be important to be on the same wave length in public statements on the elections, which were deeply flawed. Pol M/C said we would also be interested in any reporting Italy could share from its embassy in Tehran on election irregularities. ¶3. (C) Del Balzo did not directly address the point on message coordination, saying only "we all know what the limits are" on the Iranian elections. He said he had not yet seen anything from Italy's Tehran embassy on election irregularities, but would check further and gladly share any such reporting. ¶4. (C) MFA Office Director for Gulf Countries Campria told poloff in a December 11 conversation that he doubted the Iranian government would need to resort to election irregularities given the candidates had already been "vetted" by the Guardian Council, but also offered to share any reporting they might receive on the elections. SPOGLI