OMANI VIEWS ON LATEST IAEA BRIEFING ON IRAN

S E C R E T MUSCAT 000181 SIPDIS SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/02/2018 TAGS: PARM KNNP MNUC IAEA IR MU SUBJECT: OMANI VIEWS ON LATEST IAEA BRIEFING ON IRAN REF: STATE 19694 Classified By: Ambassador Gary A. Grappo for Reasons 1.4 (b, d) ¶1. (S) On March 2, the Ambassador conveyed U.S. views on the IAEA Secretariat's February 25 briefing on Iran, as described reftel, to Minister Responsible for Foreign Affairs Yusef bin Alawi. The Ambassador also left reftel non-paper with the Minister. Bin Alawi listened closely, but did not address the specifics of the IAEA briefing. Instead, he responded that Oman continued to tell the Iranians that they had to "come clean" with the IAEA on their nuclear activities and provide complete disclosure to IAEA requests for information. Oman would also continue, he said, to urge Iran to grant unfettered access to IAEA inspectors. ¶2. (C) While advocating for improved Iranian cooperation with the IAEA, bin Alawi again asserted that Tehran would not back down on its ongoing nuclear enrichment program. Given the need to avoid a potentially destabilizing conflict with Iran, bin Alawi hoped that the U.S. and international community could devise a way to resolve legitimate concerns over Iran's nuclear activities that would also take into account Tehran's determination on the enrichment issue. ¶3. (C) Turning to UN Security Council sanctions against Iran, bin Alawi shared that he had heard that some non-permanent members of the Council -- including South Africa, Indonesia, Libya and Vietnam -- were holding out against a new sanctions resolution. He added, however, that he thought the Council most likely would eventually approve new sanctions. GRAPPO