MISSING/DETAINED AMCITS IN IRAN: POLAND UNDERTAKES

C O N F I D E N T I A L WARSAW 001383 SIPDIS SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/15/2017 TAGS: PREL PGOV KDEM IR PHUM EUN PL SUBJECT: MISSING/DETAINED AMCITS IN IRAN: POLAND UNDERTAKES TO DO WHAT IT CAN ON MISSING AMERICANS AND CONVEYS DEMARCHE MESSAGE FROM IRAN REF: STATE 80300 Classified By: Mary T. Curtin, PolCouns, for Reasons 1.4 (b) and (d) ¶1. (U) This is an action message. Please see para 4. ¶2. (C) After Poloff delivered reftel demarche to Juliusz Gojlo, MFA Head of the Iraqi Task Group, PolCouns was asked to meet June 15 with Gojlo and Iran Deskoff Andrzej Lysiak to discuss a related demarche made by the Iranian Embassy. Lysiak said that the Iranian Charge delivered a demarche May 28, repeated by the new (as yet uncredentialed) Iranian Ambassador June 1, regarding the Iranian "diplomats" (the Iranians' word, Lysiak stressed, although the Poles know full well they were not diplomats) captured in January 2007 by U.S. forces in Iraq. Lysiak said the Iranians had asked the Poles: (1) to undertake a goodwill mission on behalf of the captured Iranian "diplomats" similar to the Polish intervention on behalf of the British soldiers captured by Iran in March, (2) urge the U.S. to release the Iranian "diplomats" still being held; and (3) request that the U.S. permit consular access to the "diplomats" until they are released. Lysiak stated that he had been authorized by his superiors to share the fact that they had been demarched, and asked that we pass this information to Washington. He said Poland had initially suggested that the Iranians raise the issue during the U.S.-Iran bilateral talks in Baghdad to raise the issue, but the Iran had responded that the issue did not come up there. Lysiak added that he understood that other EU countries had been similarly demarched. ¶3. (C) PolCouns undertook to pass along the information and stressed that the individuals detained in Iraq were not diplomats. She then reiterated our demarche (reftel) asking the Poles to use their good offices to seek the release of the missing/detained American citizens in Iran. Lysiak and Gojlo said that - because of the dual citizen status of all but one of the individuals - the Iranians were likely to insist it was a purely internal matter, but said they would do what they could. They noted that they will be meeting again June 20 with the Iranian Charge to discuss the Iranian request and promised to bring the issue up at that time. ¶4. (C) Action Request: Post requests cleared guidance to pass to the Poles for use in responding to the Iranian demarche. We note the Polish MFA officials were in no way giving credence to the Iranian claim that these detainees were diplomats; they emphasized that they were simply passing on the fact that they had been demarched. ASHE