ACTION REQUEST: PUBLIC TALKING POINTS ON IRAN IN

UNCLAS STATE 002881 SIPDIS SENSITIVE C O R R E C T E D C O P Y (ADDED SENSITIVE CAPTION) REPEAT GREEN LIVE MSG SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: IR MOPS IZ PARM PREL PIN SUBJECT: ACTION REQUEST: PUBLIC TALKING POINTS ON IRAN IN IRAQ ¶1. (U) This is an joint OSD-State action request; see para 3. ¶2. (SBU) Summary: The Department of State and Department of Defense have prepared talking points that Posts should draw on when asked by their interlocutors about Iran's role in Iraq. END SUMMARY. ¶3. (SBU) Action Request: At post's discretion, you may draw on the following points when discussing Iranian contributions to the decrease in violence in Iraq. --The United States is pleased about the reduced levels of violence in Iraq in recent months, including a decrease in sophisticated EFP roadside bomb attacks. The number of overall attacks inside Iraq has decreased, to include those carried out using Iranian-supplied weapons. --We caution, however, that this decrease could be temporary and that incidents involving EFPs still remain above historical averages. --As Ambassador Crocker has noted, how lasting a phenomenon this will be and how Iran will define its own role in Iraq are open questions. --We attribute the overall reduction in violence, in part, to a number of factors, including: the Iraqi people,s growing rejection of extremist forces; improvements in the effectiveness of coalition and Iraqi tactics to counter the terrorist threat; and benefits from the increased number of American and Iraqi forces in the country. --We also believe the reduction in violence may be attributable to military pressure to counter Iran s Qods Force and Iranian surrogate support for select groups of Iraqi Shia militants. --Despite Iran,s public claims, Iranian-supplied weapons continue to be used in attacks on Iraqi and Multinational forces. The flow of Iranian weapons and munitions into Iraq has not ceased. Iranian-backed militias and criminal gangs also pose a major challenge to Iraq's legitimate government authorities, particularly in areas of southern Iraq, including Iraq's second largest city, Basrah. --We also have evidence that Iran is continuing to train militants at camps inside Iran for attacks on coalition and Iraqi targets. --It is imperative that Iran end all forms of support-weapons, funding, and training-for illegal armed groups in Iraq and cease its destabilizing activities in Iraq. This is a major concern of the U.S. and a violation of UN Security Council resolutions and we will continue to press Iran on this, including in U.S.-Iran-Iraq talks in Baghdad. --In addition, Iran,s support for the Taliban and other militant groups in Afghanistan has continued over the course of the past year. --We will continue to take all necessary measures to secure our troops and to support the Iraqi government as it works to defeat the terrorists and extremists that are still determined to destabilize Iraq. End Action Request. RICE