IRANIAN SPOKESPERSON SOUNDS OFF IN NEW DELHI ON

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 NEW DELHI 000538

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

DEPT FOR EEB DAS DHENGEL, JEIGHMIE, PHAYMOND; DEPT OF
ENERGY FOR A/S KHARBERT, TCUTLER, GBISCONTI

E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/20/2018
TAGS: PREL PGOV PINR ENRG EPET IR PK IS CH IN
SUBJECT: IRANIAN SPOKESPERSON SOUNDS OFF IN NEW DELHI ON
IPI AND INDO-ISRAELI RELATIONS

REF: A. NEW DELHI 388

B. NEW DELHI 401

C. NEW DELHI 323

D. 2007 NEW DELHI 2148

E. 2007 NEW DELHI 4574

F. 2007 NEW DELHI 3639

G. 2007 NEW DELHI 3084

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Classified By: PolCouns Ted Osius for Reasons 1.4 (B,D)


1. (C) SUMMARY: Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesperson
Syed Mohammad Ali Hosseini visited New Delhi February 11-13,
reportedly to encourage Indian interaction with Iranian
media. Hosseini, however, did not miss the opportunity to
publicly urge the Indians to expedite the proposed
Iran-Pakistan-India (IPI) natural gas pipeline deal, to
chastise India for maintaining friendly relations with
Israel, and to meet with government officials unrelated to
public affairs. While India has sent Foreign Minister
Mukherjee, Foreign Secretary Menon and Ministry of
Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister Deora to Iran over the
past year, it has so far managed to put off Iran's
invitation to Prime Minister Singh, signaling that India
wants to keep its relationship with Iran low key. The MPNG
continues to put off futher talks on energy deals with Iran
and remains highly skeptical of the Iranian regime,s
reliability as a commercial partner for expensive,
long-term agreements. END SUMMARY.

IPC Pipeline? - Adding China to the Mix
--------------


2. (C) Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Syed Mohammad
Ali Hosseini told reporters in New Delhi February 13 that
time was running out on the IPI natural gas pipeline deal,
and that there was "serious determination among the three
nations to realize the project as soon as possible." In an
apparent bid to exert further pressure on India, Hosseini
hinted that China could replace India as a partner in the
deal, stating to the press February 12 that "China is
applying pressure and wants to join the project." Hosseini
softened his approach the next day, clarifying to "The
Hindu" that Iran would not involve a fourth country "for
the time being," but wanted New Delhi and Islamabad to
resolve their differences quickly.

Don't Get Too Friendly with Israel
--------------


3. (C) Following up on comments made one week earlier by
Iran's Ambassador to India (reftel A) complaining that the
Indians had launched an Israeli satellite in order to spy
on Iran, Hosseini told the Leftist "Asian Age" that
Indo-Israeli ties were harmful to the cause of Palestine,
and that the promotion of relations with "the Zionist
regime does not support Palestinian rights." Hosseini
acknowledged that it was up to India to decide whether to
maintain a relationship with any other party, but warned
against engaging "a people guilty of committing crimes in
the past."

A Failed Attempt to Meet Deora?
--------------


4. (C) Though Hosseini's visit was publicly labeled an
"exchange of media" delegation, Sandeep Dikshit, Defense
Correspondent for "The Hindu," told Emboff that Hosseini
attempted to meet Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas
(MPNG) Minister Murli Deora, National Security Advisor M.K.
Narayanan and External Affairs Minister of State E.
Ahamed. Instead, Hosseini had to make due with meeting his
counterpart, Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) Spokesman

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Navtej Sarna, MEA Joint Secretary for Iran, T.C.A.
Raghavan, Information and Broadcasting (IB) Minister Priya
Ranjan Dasmunsi, and the IB Director General of Media and
Communications Deepak Sandhu, according to Dikshit.

The Media Angle
--------------


5. (C) Although the issue of media exchanges between Iran
and India was reportedly Hosseini's purpose for visiting
New Delhi, there was very little press on the subject. One
article, deeply hidden in the pages of "The Hindu" February
14, stated that Hosseini conveyed to Dasmunsi February 13
that five Iranian news agencies were ready for cooperation
with India, and proposed deepening media interaction
between India and Iran. According to the press, Hosseini
told Dasmunsi that an existing arrangement with the Press
Trust of India could be extended, and Dasmunsi promised to
take up the issue with the IB Ministry.

Comment: Hosseini's Real Agenda?
--------------


6. (C) Comment: Thinly disguised as a "media exchange"
visit, some observers feel Hosseini was sent to water down
the Iranian Ambassador's comments last week accusing India
of using the Israeli satellite to spy on Iran. Others
suggest that Hosseini's true agenda was to pressure the
Indians on the IPI. Consistent with past Iranian visits,
the MEA has kept this visit very quiet, making no public
statements on it and turning down requests for comments
from Poloffs.

India Keeps Visit Exchanges with Iran Low Key
--------------


7. (C) Comment continued: Since February 2007, External
Affairs Minister Mukherjee, Foreign Secretary Menon and
MPNG Minister Deora have all visited Iran, and Iran has had
three official visits in India. Though India's visitors
have been somewhat high-level, foreign ministry contacts
regularly point out that PM Singh has avoided visiting
Tehran so far despite invitations by President Ahmadinejad,
a deliberate signal that the Government of India (GOI) is
focused on keeping its visits to Iran low key. Press
contacts have told Emboff that FM Mukherjee was scheduled
to visit Tehran this week, but called it off in January.
Mukherjee may be putting off an official visit until the
next India-Iran Joint Commission meeting, which observers
expect will be in July, though dates are not yet
finalized. Rumors are circulating in New Delhi that PM
Singh will visit Tehran sometime before national elections
in a bid to appease the Left and Muslim voters, which
criticizes the current government for keeping Iran an arm's
length away in order to please the U.S. Jawaharlal Nehru
University (JNU) Professor P.R. Kumaraswamy argued to
Poloff February 13 what Post has heard before from Indian
analysts - that the more pressure the U.S. puts on India
vis--vis Iran, the more difficult it is for the GOI to
manage criticism from its domestic Left constituencies.
Post notes that "don't pressure us" is a common theme we
hear from our contacts - both inside and outside of the GOI
- on every contentious issue. End comment.


8. (C) COMMENT continued: Ministry of Petroleum and Natural
Gas (MPNG) Minister Murli Deora,s April 26, 2007 visit to
Tehran (Ref D) was an unscheduled stopover during his trip to
the Middle East and had yielded no progress on the IPI
pipeline
or the India-Iran liquefied natural gas agreement. Since
then,
India,s chief negotiator on the IPI pipeline, MPNG Secretary

NEW DELHI 00000538 003.2 OF 003


Srinivasan briefed Embassy on the "fruitless" trilateral
round
of talks held in New Delhi June 27-29, 2007 (refs F,G).
Moreover,
Deora and Srinivasan snubbed Iran,s invitation for
trilateral
talks in Tehran for September 24-25 (ref E),and most
recently
declined invitations for talks in January and February 2008
(refs B,C). The MPNG would likely balance Tehran,s recent
warning of overtures to China for an Iran-Pakistan-China
natural gas alternative pipeline to the proposed IPI pipeline
against the following considerations:
-- the huge distance (about 4,000 miles) and forbidding
terrain
for a pipeline via Pakistan via the Karakorum Highway,
Kashmir
Mountains, and Xinjiang to distant Chinese consumption
centers;
-- problems of negotiating transit fees across Pakistan and
ensuring pipeline security through Baluchistan; and
-- Iranian vacillation on price setting and guarantees of
sufficient long-term natural gas volumes to justify the cost
of
the IPI pipeline, much less one reaching China,s consumption
centers. End comment.

List of 2007-2008 Important Official Visit Exchanges
between Iran and India
--------------


9. (U) Following is a run-down of important official visit
exchanges between Iran and India since February 2007:

-- February 6-7, 2007: In his first visit to Iran since
becoming External Affairs Minister, Mukherjee visited Iran
upon the invitation of Iranian Foreign Minister (FM)
Mottaki.

-- April 25-26, 2007: MPNG Minister Deora met his
counterpart, Iranian Oil Minister Kazem Vaziri Hamaneh in
Iran on an unscheduled stopover.

-- September 6-7, 2007: Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister
Mehdi Safari called upon FM Mukherjee in New Delhi to
discuss bilateral issues and brief the GOI on recent
discussions Iran had with the International Atomic Energy
Agency (IAEA).

-- November 7-9, 2007: Iranian Home Minister Mostafa Pour
Mohammadi visited New Delhi to participate in the Second
Asian Ministerial Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction.

-- December 16-17, 2007: Foreign Secretary Menon visited
his counterpart FM Mottaki in Tehran for bilateral
meetings.

-- January 15-19, 2008: Iranian Minister for Economic
Affairs and Finance, Danish Jafri, met MPNG Minister Deora
and Iranian Deputy Minister for Cultural Heritage and
Tourism Hossein Jafari met his Indian counterpart Ambiak
Soni in New Delhi.
MULFORD