ARMENIA SUPPORTIVE OF U.S. STATEMENT ON IRAN

C O N F I D E N T I A L YEREVAN 000784

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

DEPT FOR EUR/CARC, NEA/IR

E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/09/2016
TAGS: PREL PGOV AM
SUBJECT: ARMENIA SUPPORTIVE OF U.S. STATEMENT ON IRAN

REF: A) SECSTATE 87682 B) YEREVAN 751

Classified By: Amb. John M. Evans for reasons 1.4 (b, d).

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SUMMARY
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1. (C) GOAM Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanian publicly
declared Armenia's support for the U.S. statement on Iran
during a June 8 press conference (see text in paragraph 3
below). Oskanian's statement came after the Ambassador's
push to President Robert Kocharian, Oskanian and Deputy
Foreign Minister Arman Kirakossian to release a public
statement (ref A, B). Oskanian told journalists that the
GOAM has hopes for a peaceful, negotiated resolution, and
that it welcomes the U.S. proposal to establish immediate
contact with Iran. End summary.


2. (C) GOAM Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanian publicly
declared Armenia's support for the U.S. statement on Iran
during a June 8 press conference. The statement came
following the Ambassador's meetings with President Kocharian
and Deputy Foreign Minister Kirakossian last week (ref B),
while Oskanian was out of town. The Ambassador pushed
Kocharian and Kirakossian to pledge support for the U.S.
policy on Iran, and to make a public statement. They told
him they had to wait for Oskanian before making any promises
or a public statement.


3. (U) The following is the MFA translation of Foreign
Minister Oskanian's public statement to journalists on Iran:

Begin text:

We welcome and assess positively the latest developments,
because we do believe that this issue should be resolved
through negotiations. And indeed, this issue is of great
importance to Armenia, as we are a neighboring country.
Thus, we welcome any positive developments. We welcome
Solana's visit and the new package of proposals, and we
welcome the fact that Iran did not turn it down. This is
something which most everyone appraises positively, as do we.
The proposal of the United States to establish immediate
contacts with Iran is welcome. So, we assess positively all
the developments of these last weeks. We welcome them and
again express our hope that they really will yield positive
results by resolving these issues through negotiations and
peaceful means, without sanctions and without use of force.

End text.

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COMMENT
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4. (C) Armenia's support for the policy should have been a
no-brainer; the delay in the statement was due only to the
foreign minister's absence from Armenia. Any move towards
the improvement of relations between the U.S. and Iran will
help the GOAM out of its current sticky spot -- dependent on
U.S. assistance and support on the one hand, and reluctant on
the other hand to criticize or limit ties to what it sees as
its lifeline to the south.
EVANS