UNSCR 1737: AUSTRIA SUPPORTS TIMELY, EU-WIDE

C O N F I D E N T I A L VIENNA 000437 SIPDIS SENSITIVE SIPDIS DEPARTMENT FOR ISN, T, NEA, AND EUR/AGS E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/20/2017 TAGS: PARM PREL KNNP EFIN ETTC AU SUBJECT: UNSCR 1737: AUSTRIA SUPPORTS TIMELY, EU-WIDE IMPLEMENTATION REF: STATE 16917 Classified By: Economic-Political Counselor Gregory E. Phillips for rea sons 1.5 (b) and (d) ¶1. (C) EconUnit Chief delivered reftel nonpaper on February 15 to Birgit Ertl and Elisabeth Ottawa from the Austrian Ministry of Finance's Financial Markets Division. EconPolCouns had delivered the points on February 14 to Ralph Scheide, the Austrian MFA's Middle East Director. Ertl said that Austria supports a timely, EU-wide implementation of the resolution. She added that this would most likely occur in March, when the EU agrees on a Common Council Position for a regulation. According to Ertl, the GoA favors a flexible regulation, i.e., one that can expeditiously incorporate additional entities that have a clear ownership or controlling relationship with the entities in UNSCR 1737. ¶2. (SBU) EconUnit Chief urged the GoA to remain vigilant regarding the possibility that Iran may attempt to utilize Iranian entities, which UNSCR 1737 did not list, to circumvent the sanctions. EconUnit Chief called attention to financial non-proliferation activities by Iranian banks, such as Bank Sepah. Ertl noted that, absent UN or EU financial sanctions, Austria could not legally prevent Austrian banks from maintaining correspondent relations in Iran. However, Ertl admitted that, following several visits from Treasury U/S Levey in 2006, former Minister of Finance Karl-Heinz Grasser had met with the CEOs of Austria's major banks to re-inforce the political drawbacks of doing business with Iranian banks. McCaw