CHIRAC SENDS ENVOY TO TEHRAN, BUT ENVOY HAS

S E C R E T PARIS 001581 SIPDIS SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 4/18/2017 TAGS: FR LY SY IR PGOV PREL SUBJECT: CHIRAC SENDS ENVOY TO TEHRAN, BUT ENVOY HAS NOTHING TO OFFER Classified By: Political Minister-Counselor Josiah Rosenblatt, reasons 1.4 (b) and (d). ¶1. (S) Several months after his plans to send a secret envoy to Tehran were frustrated by a press leak, President Chirac quietly dispatched Jean Felix-Pagagnon (NEA A/S-equivalent) and Damien Loras (FM Douste-Blazy's cabinet advisor for the Middle East) to Iran on April 17 for a two-day visit. Dominique Boche, Chirac's Middle East advisor, assured PolM/C on April 18 that Felix-Pagagnon would not enter into any significant discussion of Iran's nuclear program, and would instead focus on regional issues. His message: If Iran aspires to a more prominent regional role, then it needs to assuage its neighbors' fears and demonstrate that it can be a force for stability in places like Lebanon, Iraq and the West Bank/Gaza. Boche added that France had to make some sort of gesture to Tehran after the Iranians recently released two French citizens (Stephane Lherbier and Stephane Dudoignon), whose detention had put a crimp in Franco-Iranian relations. ¶2. (S) Herve Besancenot, MFA DAS-equivalent for the Levant, said Felix-Pagagnon expected little to come of the visit. "They're sending me on a mission, but I'm not sure what I'm supposed to do" Felix-Pagagnon reportedly laughed as he headed off to the airport. While he would try to persuade the Iranians that neither they nor Hizballah (as opposed to the Syrians) had anything to fear from a Special Tribunal on Lebanon, he recognized that the Iranians would not make any concessions on the Tribunal out of the goodness of their hearts. "The Iranians never give away something for nothing," Besancenot said, noting that Felix-Pagagnon had no leverage because he could not address the one subject the Iranians care about (i.e., the nuclear file). Consequently, he shared Felix-Pagagnon's low expectations. "It's always nice to talk to the Iranians just for the sake of talking, but our Embassy (in Tehran) can do that just as well as we can," Besancenot summarized. ¶3. (S) Comment: Chirac's decision to send an envoy to Tehran in the final days of his presidency should probably be seen/viewed in the context of his intense personal effort to see the Special Tribunal established. The Egyptian Embassy here surmised (and reported to Cairo) that Felix-Pagagnon was sent to deliver a warning that France would hold Iran responsible for any attack against UNIFIL. Our own sense is that the French would view such a warning as counterproductive, and that Felix-Pagagnon will likely return empty-handed for the reasons outlined above. Please visit Paris' Classified Website at: http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/eur/paris/index.c fm WHITE