LEBANON: GOL DOUBTS NAM WILL APPROVE IRAN'S DRAFT

C O N F I D E N T I A L BEIRUT 001051 SIPDIS DEPT FOR NEA/FO, NEA/ELA, PRM/FO DEPT FOR ISN/RA MONGIELLO/NEPHEW E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/16/2018 TAGS: IR KNNP MNUC PARM TRGY IAEA PERL UR LE SUBJECT: LEBANON: GOL DOUBTS NAM WILL APPROVE IRAN'S DRAFT STATEMENT REF: STATE 74879 Classified By: Charge d'Affaires a.i. William Grant for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d). ¶1. (C) PolOff delivered reftel demarche to Oussama Khachab, Head of the Americas Desk, and Fadi Hajali, who holds the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) portfolio, both at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on July 17. Khachab reported that Foreign Minister Fawzi Salloukh would likely attend the 2008 NAM foreign ministers' meeting in Tehran, July 27-30. Hajali, responding to Iran's proposed text for the foreign ministers' statement, said the GOL did not submit reaction to the text, but that he believed the ext would not be approved. ¶2. (C) Hajali showe PolOff a document sent by the GOL's mission in New York, which several NAM members had been circulating. The document stated that the consenting states would not take a stance in the NAM meeting that opposes UN Security Council resolutions. Further, the foreign ministers would take into account all IAEA reports, instead of a select few. They also confirmed that they would not assign "a particular description" to Iran's nuclear program (NFI). Hajali concluded that this document indicated several NAM members' objections to the draft Iranian text, and therefore it would not be necessary for the GOL to react separately. Chile, Ecuador, Jamaica, Nigeria, Singapore, Peru, Guatemala, India, and Egypt had all expressed their support for this document. ¶3. (C) Syria, Venezuela, and Cuba reportedly did not support the document. ¶4. (C) The CDA also delivered reftel demarche to Prime Minister Fouad Siniora during meeting on July 15. Siniora took note of the information, but gave no substantive response. GRANT