GREECE/IRAN: FM BAKOYANNIS INSTRUCTS THAT ADVISORY

S E C R E T ATHENS 001347 SIPDIS C O R R E C T E D C O P Y (GARBLE TEXT) E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/18/2018 TAGS: GR IS ECON EFIN EWWT ETRD PARM PREL KNNP EUN SUBJECT: GREECE/IRAN: FM BAKOYANNIS INSTRUCTS THAT ADVISORY BE ISSUED ON IRISL SERVICE/ERROR MESSAGE REF: A. SECSTATE 94723 ¶B. ATHENS 1328 Classified By: DCM DEBORAH MCCARTHY. REASONS 1.4 (B) AND (D). ¶1. (S) DepPolCouns discussed ref A points on Greek interactions with the Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines (IRISL) with MFA A6 Directorate for Middle East Affairs deputy head Giorgos Ayfantis. He later informed us that FM Bakoyannis had agreed to the requests and that an advisory would be issued. ¶2. (S) DCM raised the demarche ponts with Deputy Minister for Mercantile Marine and Aegean Issues Panos Kammenos. When told that FM Bakoyannis had agreed to issue an dvisory, Kammenos was supportive. He subsequently told us that his ministry had issued the advisory to the shippers. ¶3. (S) DCM also discussed the matter with the Israeli Ambassador, and we provided him with a copy of the points. The Ambassador thanked us for the information and said he would immediately take the matter up with the Greeks. DepEconCouns provided the points as well to Ioannis Sidiropoulos, Secretary General of the Ministry of Economy and Finance; Panagiotis homopoulos, Deputy Governor of the Bank of Greece (BG); and Panagiotis Kyriakopoulos, Director of Monetary Policy of Banks of the Bank of Greece. ¶4. (S) COMMENT: The GOG is supportive of our efforts with regard to IISL and has issued the advisory as we requested. At the same time, both Foreign Ministry and Mercantile Marine interlocutors warned that Greek shippers did not always adhere to warnings issued by the GOG. The MFA's yfantis explained that the Greek shipping business was very cynical about government actions. Some shippers would try to bargain about the scope of the warnings, while others would simply try to circumvent, particularly those who had already benefited from business with the Iranians and had a tradition of working outside the law. He cited the case of shippers who quietly but effectively worked with -- and made fortunes from -- the Rhodesians when that regime was under heavy international pressure. Deputy Minister of Mercantile Marine Kammenos similarly drew our attention to peculiarities of the Greek shipping market that complicated the application of sanctions. He noted that the older generation of shippers were for the most part cooperative with the government on priority cases, though usually more so when matters were handled orally and not put into writing. The younger generation was even harder to deal with. Kammenos nevertheless promised to do what he could to assist. Embassy will pursue the issue further with shipping contacts. SPECKHARD