GREECE/IRAN: AMBASSADOR WARNS MFA SECGEN TO CANCEL

S E C R E T ATHENS 001303

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/12/2018
TAGS: GR IR PGOV PREL
SUBJECT: GREECE/IRAN: AMBASSADOR WARNS MFA SECGEN TO CANCEL
TEHERAN VISIT

Classified By: AMBASSADOR DANIEL SPECKHARD. REASONS 1.4 (B) AND (D).


1. (S) At a September 9 dinner hosted by the Turkish
Ambassador, MFA Secretary General Agathocles told Ambassador
Speckhard he was planning a trip to Teheran in the near
future. Ambassador warned him to cancel the visit, given UN
and EU sanctions against Iran and the current state of Iran's
relations with the West. Agathocles said the visit had been
in the works for some time, as it was their turn to host
annual consultations. Ambassador reiterated this was an
ill-ad`ked Agathocles to re-coalso raised the visit `r,
who said hescuss the matter with the
Greeks.


2. (S) DepPolCouns followed up for details with MFA A6 Middle
East Directorate Deputy Chief Giorgos Ayfantis. Ayfantis
confirmed the meeting was to take place soon but he was
unable to say precisely when. He said the Iranians had been
asking "urgently" for the meeting since last January. They
appeared to have a number of goals. One was to show that
Iran could have "normal" relations with an EU and NATO
member. More significantly, the Iranians were also putting
great pressure on the Greeks because of Greece's military
exercises with the Israelis, some of which were widely
reported in the press earlier in the summer (NY Times) but
others were ongoing and not widely known. Ayfantis also
noted on this score Iranian anger at Greece for training the
Israelis in how to defeat the Russian SA-15 (TOR) missile
system, which both Greece and Iran had purchased from Russia.
Ayfantis confirmed Greek purchase of the Russian missile
system but said Greece had not trained the Israelis in how to
defeat it.


3. (S) Greece-Iran commercial ties were a third reason for
the visit. Greek shipowners did considerable business with
Iran and there were numerous outstanding bilateral economic
issues to discuss. The Iranians also apparently wanted to
discuss the possibility of Greek oil companies opening
refineries in Iran. Ayfantis said this was probably mostly
for show, however, since the French and Germans apparently
already had these deals sewed up and "could withstand the
pressure from the U.S." The Greek oil companies, he said,
would not touch the deals because of GOG pressure stemming
from fear of a U.S. backlash. In this connection, asked why
MFA Deputy Minister for economic affairs Doukas -- who has
made similar commercially-oriented trips to Syria in the past
-- was not going, Ayfantis said Doukas, a politician with
ambitions, was afraid of being labeled a "bad boy" by the
U.S. Agathocles, as a professional diplomat, did not have
such conerns.


4. (S) Ayfantis held out the possibility that the visit could
be canceled at the last minute -- particularly, he said, if
FM Bakoyannis came under strong U.S. pressure. This was a
risky game in Athens for Bakoyannis, however. Ayfantis said
PM Karamanlis -- a long-time political rival of Bakoyannis --
would place the blame on her if she succumbed to U.S.
pressure and the Iranians reacted strongly.


5. (S) COMMENT: We will continue to press the GOG not to go
forward with a visit by MFA Secretary General Agathocles to
Iran. If we are to be successful, we would encourage a
strong push by Washington -- including on the margins of the
UNGA -- to complement our efforts to discourage the visit.
SPECKHARD