BRUNEI WAITING FOR NEXT STEPS ON IRANIAN

C O N F I D E N T I A L BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN 000088 SIPDIS SIPDIS DEPARTMENT FOR ISN, IO, NEA, EAP/MTS AND EAP/RSP E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/08/2017 TAGS: KNNP ARF PARM IR BX SUBJECT: BRUNEI WAITING FOR NEXT STEPS ON IRANIAN COMPLIANCE WITH UNSCR 1737 REF: A. STATE 23001 ¶B. BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN 72 ¶C. STATE 27352 Classified By: CDA Justin Friedman, reasons 1.4 (b) & (d) ¶1. (C) Charge delivered ref A points to Florence Chong, Assistant Director for International Organizations, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (MOFAT) on March 7. Following on Ambassador's exchange with Senior MOFAT Officials (ref B) on Iran and Middle East issues, Charge urged the GoB to consider using its moral authority as a fellow Muslim nation to urge Iran to comply fully with UNSCR 1737. ¶2. (C) Chong responded that the GoB was watching very closely for the next steps the Security Council would take with Iran. She welcomed word gleaned largely from press reporting that China and Russia appear to be backing some type of further action by the Council. ¶3. (C) Chong said that the GoB was committed to implementing all UNSCR resolutions. She praised the USG-sponsored ARF Workshop on Implementing UNSCR 1540 (ref C) which she attended. Chong will chair the next GoB interagency session to assess internal actions taking by law enforcement and other agencies to ensure Brunei was fulfilling its international obligations. She looked forward to USG follow up on a commitment made in San Francisco to circulate a draft ARF statement for endorsement at the August 2 ARF Ministerial. FRIEDMAN