ITALY: IAEA/IRAN PLAN OF ACTION NO SUBSTITUTE FOR

C O N F I D E N T I A L ROME 001919 SIPDIS SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/10/2022 TAGS: AORC IAEA IR IT KNNP MNUC SUBJECT: ITALY: IAEA/IRAN PLAN OF ACTION NO SUBSTITUTE FOR UNSC ACTION; IRANIAN DFM JALILI TOLD TO COOPERATE REF: A) STATE 124823 B) STATE 123352 Classified By: Classified by Ronald P. Spogli, Ambassador, for Reasons 1.4 (B) and (D) ¶1. (C) On September 6 the Ambassador spoke with FM D'Alema to convey reftel points highlighting continued USG concerns over the Iranian nuclear program. D'Alema, who was on his way to the Gymnich ministerial requested an immediate copy of the points to review on his way to Portugal, which we provided. ¶2. (C) Separately, Poloff met with MFA Deputy Director of the Office of Iranian and Persian Gulf Affairs, Lorenzo Kluzer, on September 7 to discuss the IAEA/Iran "Plan of Action" (Reftel) and the visit of Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister for European and American Affairs Saeed Jalili to Rome on September 5. Kluzer said that the U.S. Non-Paper on the Iran/IAEA Plan of Action (ref b) matched the Italian position on the subject, namely that Iranian cooperation with the IAEA was a positive step, but that it was not a substitute for full compliance with the UN Security Council Resolutions. He said that Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi and Deputy FM Ugo Intini had conveyed the Italian position to Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Jalili during his visit to Rome on September 5. Jalili, who also visited Berlin, Paris and London, met briefly with PM Prodi (the bulk of the meeting, according to Kluzer, was with Prodi's NSA Stefano Sannino),before meeting with Deputy FM Intini and Umberto Ranieri, Head of the Foreign Affairs Commission in the Chamber of Deputies. ¶3. (C) Jalili told Intini that the IAEA Report was proof that Iran was cooperating in good faith with the international community and hoped that Italy would not be swayed by the negative reactions of certain countries. He presented Intini with a tour d'horizon of the political situation in the Middle East and invited Italy to collaborate with Iran to avoid a worsening of the situations in Lebanon, Iraq, and Afghanistan. Intini responded that the IAEA report was a positive step but that Iran still had to comply with the Security Council Resolutions. ¶4. (C) When asked to what degree Italy was willing to reinforce this message with interlocutors in the runup to the IAEA Board of Governors' Meeting, Kluzer replied that Italy's position in favor of strict compliance with the UNSCRs had always been clear, both in the Security Council and in other international fora. In addition, Italy has been assiduous in enforcing UNSCR provisions by seizing potential dual-use material destined for export from Italy to Iran and in blocking potential sources of financing for Iranian nuclear activities, as illustrated in the Bank Sepah case. However, the Italian fear is that by placing excessive emphasis on the requirement that Iran cease all enrichment and reprocessing activities, at the expense of encouraging Iran's nascent cooperation with the IAEA, we run the risk of pushing Iran further into isolation and depriving ourselves of the ability to monitor its activities. Hence the need to encourage Iran's cooperation with the IAEA, while continuing to emphasize importance of the UNSCRs. Comment: While Italy has been reasonably cooperative in blocking dual-use exports and in ratcheting down financial activity, Kluzer paints a much too positive picture of overall cooperation. End Comment. SPOGLI