SPAIN: MFA OFFICAL'S REMARKS ABOUT EU AND IAEA RE

C O N F I D E N T I A L MADRID 001232 SIPDIS PASS TO RICHARD NEPHEW, JODY DANIEL AND BRECK HEIDELBERG OF ISN/RA, HEATHER VON BEHREN OF IO/T, AND STACIE ZERDECKI OF EUR/WE E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/25/2018 TAGS: KNNP MNUC PARM IAEA TRGY SP IR SY EU SUBJECT: SPAIN: MFA OFFICAL'S REMARKS ABOUT EU AND IAEA RE IRAN AND SYRIA REF: A. SECSTATE 123074 ¶B. SECSTATE 124611 Classified By: ADCM Dan Keller for Reasons 1.4 (b) and (d) ¶1. (C) SUMMARY: Polcouns delivered reftel demarches November 25 to Gonzalo de Salazar, the MFA,s Sub-DG for Non-Proliferation and Disarmament. On Iran, Salazar said the EU was in the process of finalizing a declaration that will be "very tough" about Tehran's failure to cooperate with the IAEA on nuclear issues. He said the declaration would be ready before the November 27-28 meeting of the IAEA BOG. Salazar said the case against Iran was "very clear." ¶2. (C) About Syria, Salazar said the EU is also close to a declaration on the need for Damascus to cooperate in the investigation regarding Al-Kibar, but because the case against Syria was "less clear," that declaration would not be as strong as the one on Iran. He said clearly a complete investigation was needed. ¶3. (C) Regarding the November 25 meeting on Syria's Technical Cooperation (TC) request, Salazar said the request came at an "inopportune" moment given the questions remaining over Al-Kibar. However, Salazar maintained that under IAEA rules, it was not possible to block the Syrians' request for technical assistance and that doing so would set a questionable precedent. Polcouns made the point, per reftel, that in light of Al-Kibar, it would be prudent to more thoroughly investigate the matter before considering Syria's technical cooperation request. Salazar opined that would be difficult, and suggested that the best course of action would be if Syria were to withdraw its request. He mentioned that he needed to discuss the issue with the Spanish delegation in Vienna. AGUIRRE