ARMENIAN PRESIDENT GOING TO TEHRAN

C O N F I D E N T I A L YEREVAN 000831 SIPDIS SIPDIS DEPARTMENT FOR EUR(BRYZA) AND EUR/CARC (ROOD) DEPARTMENT ALSO FOR NEA/IR; NSC FOR MERKEL E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/20/2016 TAGS: PREL PGOV KNNP IR AM SUBJECT: ARMENIAN PRESIDENT GOING TO TEHRAN REF: A. YEREVAN 751 ¶B. YEREVAN 784 Classified By: Amb John Evans, for reasons 1.4. (b) and (d). ¶1. (C) Armenian President Robert Kocharian will accept a long-standing invitation to visit Tehran for a working visit that has been tentatively set for July 5-6, according to Armenian Deputy Foreign Minister Arman Kirakossian, who told the Ambassador this June 20 in the course of a meeting on another topic. ¶2. (C) The Ambassador said "this is no time for business as usual" with Iran, and recalled his conversation with Kocharian June 1 (ref A) in which the President admitted that Armenia had not really formulated its approach to the question of Iran's nuclear ambitions. Although the United States did not have a specific message at this time for Kocharian to carry, the Ambassador said he hoped that the briefing materials prepared for him by the Ministry would reflect the strong views of the entire international community, and not only of the United States, on the question of the choice that Iran needed to make on the nuclear issue. He noted that a number of Arab states, notably Egypt and Algeria, had been especially strong in supporting the efforts of the United States; Turkey had also been supportive. The Ambassador pointed out that Armenia should take steps to ensure that it was not perceived in Washington or elsewhere as soft on Iran. He granted that the Foreign Minister's statement (ref B) during a press conference was a positive step in that direction. ¶3. (C) DFM Kirakossian said that Armenia had no wish to see a nuclear-armed Iran on her southern border, and shared the concerns of the international community, but had to step carefully in dealing with its big neighbor. He said the briefing package for the Iran trip was going to Kocharian the following day. The nuclear issue was on the agenda and would be addressed in the briefing materials, Kirakossian added, making no specific promises. ¶4. (C) COMMENT: When we talked to him on June 1, President Kocharian expressed nervousness about the nuclear issue, which he clearly wished would just go away. He also made it clear that for him there was no avoiding the visit to Tehran, which was supposed to have happened already in April, although he would insist on a minimum of formalities and no component outside the Iranian capital. While we do not believe Kocharian is an appropriate vehicle for any specific or detailed message from the United States, as he has too many irons in the fire, we would be more than willing to meet with him prior to his trip in order to reinforce any particular points that, on behalf of the United States and the international community, need to be made. END COMMENT EVANS