NUCLEAR SUPPLIERS GROUP: AUSTRIA INTERESTED IN

UNCLAS VIENNA 001374 SIPDIS SENSITIVE SIPDIS DEPT FOR EUR/AGS (SAINT ANDRE) AND ISN/RA (NEPHEW) E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: KNNP MNUC IR AU SUBJECT: NUCLEAR SUPPLIERS GROUP: AUSTRIA INTERESTED IN SHARING INFORMATION ON IRANIAN EXPORT DENIALS REF: A) STATE 69315 AND B) STATE 69283 ¶1. (U) On May 23, EconPolOff delivered points in reftels A and B to Alexander Marschik, the Acting Director of the MFA's Department of Arms Control, Disarmament, and Non-Proliferation. Marschik attended the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) Plenary in April 2007, and is familiar with the U.S. proposal on sharing export denial information on Iran with the IAEA, the UN Security Council's Iran Sanctions Committee, and other non-NSG states. Marschik said he has been waiting to hear from the U.S. about the proposed template for sharing this information and was interested in what specific information the U.S. is seeking. EconPolOff explained the U.S. would like states to share the name of the item denied, the procurement agent, and the end-user at a minimum, and would welcome any additional information. ¶2. (SBU) Marschik asked if the U.S. planned to host a meeting outside of the NSG for the interested parties to discuss the mechanics of sharing this information. EconPolOff presented him with ref B's proposed agenda and timeline for this meeting. The GoA plans to send representatives. Marschik suggested that a representative from IAEA also attend the meeting to clarify (1) who the IAEA recipient of denial information will be and (2) how the IAEA plans to use this information. Having an IAEA representative present to answer these questions would further help the MFA convince other federal ministries, reluctant business, and the general public that sharing such information is important and that the information will be used appropriately and confidentially. SIPDIS ¶3. (SBU) In theory, Marschik said that the Austria MFA believes this type of information sharing on Iran would be useful and help facilitate the implementation of UNSCR 1747. However, Marschik again emphasized that the problem is technical and lies in the details of the sharing. In his view, it is not yet clear what the level of confidentiality will be regarding the shared information. Furthermore, he said it was unclear who in the IAEA would ultimately receive the report from the U.S. containing this information or how the IAEA would use this information. ¶4. (SBU) Marschik said he will be attending the June 5 meeting of CONOP, the EU Council's working group on nuclear nonproliferation. He was certain that the U.S. information sharing proposal would be on the CONOP agenda. Marschik said that he thought the EU would probably develop a coordinated policy on the issue. In any case, Marschik thought that the EU Member States would arrive at the U.S.-sponsored seminar better prepared to discuss the issue. ¶5. (U) Post would welcome any information from Washington that we could share with Marschik regarding his above questions about the level of confidentiality and usage by the IAEA of this information. McCaw