ITALIAN MFA SUGGESTS QUINT DISCUSSIONS ON P5+1

C O N F I D E N T I A L ROME 000883 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/19/2018 TAGS: PGOV PREL PARM IR IT SUBJECT: ITALIAN MFA SUGGESTS QUINT DISCUSSIONS ON P5+1 MEETING IN GENEVA REF: STATE 76649 Classified By: A/Pol M/C Gabriel Escobar for reasons 1.4 b and d ¶1. (C) Poloff discussed points in reftel regarding U/S Burns attendance at the P5 1 meetings in Geneva with Italian MFA Non Proliferation Director Emanuele Farruggia July 17. Farruggia said Political Director Terzi appreciated Ambassador Spogli's phone call on July 16 regarding U/S Burns' participation and said that Italy welcomed the move. Farruggia noted that given time constraints Italy understood that it might not be possible to hold Quint (EU3 Italy U.S.) discussions before the July 19 meeting. However, he said they hoped it would be possible to organize a conference call early next week to include Italy in the discussions, as per our informal agreements to include them in Iran P5 1 deliberations. ¶2. (C) On the discussions underway in the EU regarding the Common Position on UNSCR 1803, he said he doubted agreement would be reached by the July 22 GAERC. However, he was cautiously optimistic that agreement could be reached before the end of July and said the French were hoping to find a way to do so, possibly taking advantage of the upcoming Justice and Internal Affairs meeting scheduled for the end of the month. He said the EU4 were working together well and that the French had passed the Italians a copy of Iran's letter of response to the P5 1's package earlier this month. He hoped Quint consultations on Iran would continue. SPOGLI