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