CROATIAN REACTION TO IAEA DIRECTOR GENERAL'S

C O N F I D E N T I A L ZAGREB 001033 SIPDIS SIPDIS DEPT FOR ISN/RA - NEPHEW, IO/T - VON BEHREN, EUR/SCE - BALIAN E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/22/2017 TAGS: KNNP MNUC PARM AORC HR SUBJECT: CROATIAN REACTION TO IAEA DIRECTOR GENERAL'S REPORT ON IRAN REF: SECSTATE 157039 Classified By: PolOff Tom Selinger for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d). ¶1. (C) Post delivered reftel demarche to Assistant Minister of Foreign Affairs Pjer Simunovic November 15 and discussed issue with him again November 20. Simunovic agreed that IAEA Director General ElBaradei's report was not one to celebrate, revealing little new information about Iran's current activities and highlighting the need for the Iranian government to be more forthcoming with information instead of simply reacting to IAEA requests. Simunovic noted that he had just met with the Israeli Ambassador in Zagreb on this issue and that Ambassador Mario Horvatic, Croatia's Governor on the IAEA board, had also been briefed by the US delegation in Vienna. Without explicitly detailing Croatian views, Simunovic gave the impression that Croatia agreed with the USG assessment of the report's conclusions. ¶2. (C) Comment: Just ahead of November 25 parliamentary elections, Simunovic was unable to make any promises about GoC positions on future UNSC resolutions, but it was clear that Croatia's upcoming tenure on the Security Council was on his mind. He requested an update on a third sanctions measure whenever it is available. End Comment. BRADTKE