JORDAN ON IAEA BOG: FOCUSING ON ARAB GROUP PROCESS

C O N F I D E N T I A L AMMAN 002225 SIPDIS DEPARTMENT FOR NEA/ELA, ISN/RA - STUKALIN, AND IO/T - VON BEHREN E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/24/2018 TAGS: IAEA KNNP PREL KZ SY JO SUBJECT: JORDAN ON IAEA BOG: FOCUSING ON ARAB GROUP PROCESS REF: SECSTATE 77758 (NOTAL) Classified By: Charge d'Affaires Daniel Rubinstein, Reasons 1.4(b) and (d) ¶1. (C) Charge delivered reftel demarche to Foreign Minister Salah Al-Bashir on July 20. Bashir, who had just returned from a lengthy overseas trip, did not offer a substantive response but noted that Jordan's independence of action could be limited by Arab Group protocol. He wondered out loud whether Jordan might be able to run for the seat, and promised to review the issue. ¶2. (C) On July 23, Jamal Al-Shamayleh, Director of the FM's private office, told PolCouns that he had reached out to Jordan's Ambassdor in Vienna for a snapshot of the situation, including whether an Arab consensus seemed to be forming, whether there were other possible Arab candidates, and whether other Arab delegations had made commitments to the Syrians. He agreed that Syria's having a seat on the IAEA BOG would bode ill for the IAEA and declared Jordan's desire to be helpful, but asserted the need to assess the situation within the Arab Group first. Only then would the GOJ be able to consider supporting a non-Arab League member for the MESA seat on the Board of Governors. PolCouns reiterated that the USG had encouraged Kazakhstan to compete for the seat and stressed reftel's points in Kazakhstan's favor. Shamayleh promised to follow up once he heard back from Vienna. Visit Amman's Classified Web Site at http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/nea/amman Rubinstein