BELGIUM: RESPONSE TO IRAN DEMARCHES

S E C R E T BRUSSELS 001547 SIPDIS PLEASE PASS ISN/RA RICHARD NEPHEW, IO/T HEATHER VON BEHREN, NEA/IR VICTORIA TAYLOR, ISN/CPI LISA MEYERS AND JENNIFER CHALMERS, T, AND TREASURY VIMAL ATUKUROLA E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/02/2018 TAGS: ECON ETRD PARM KNNP EUN EWWT PREL MNUC IR BE SUBJECT: BELGIUM: RESPONSE TO IRAN DEMARCHES REF: A. (A) STATE 105173 ¶B. (B) STATE 104496 ¶C. (C) STATE 104207 Classified By: Political Economic Counselor Richard Eason for Reasons 1 .4 (B) and (D) ¶1. (U) Pol-Econoff and intern met with Belgian MFA UNSC Team, Iran desk officer, and Director of the Nonproliferation Office Werner Bauwens. Bauwens began with a quick briefing on Belgian sanction policy related to Iran. ¶2. (U) The GOB welcomed UNSCR 1835 (reftel A) as a consensus approach to the Iran counter proliferation problem, which deepens cooperation on sanctions, rather than widening the sanctions regime. The GOB has been a strong proponent of the dual track approach to dealing with Iran, and feels the deepening strategy is the only one that can achieve consensus. Belgium is fully committed to carrying out sanctions, even using its embassy in Tehran to analyze travel restrictions. According to Bauwens, the EU thinks international sanction efforts are working and impacting the Iranian WMD efforts. ¶3. (S) The GOB views the listing of the Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines (reftel B) as a reasonable precaution, since shipping of contraband moves easily from one steamship company to another. ¶4. (U) Bauwens thanked us for providing U.S. guidelines on export control outreach (reftel C),and said the information will be shared with appropriate regional authorities and intelligence experts involved in such efforts in Belgium. .