NEW IRANIAN AMBASSADOR IN TOKYO DISCUSSES NUCLEAR

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 06 TOKYO 000710

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SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/12/2018
TAGS: PREL PARM PHUM PINR EPET SNAR KNNP UNSC IZ
EG, AF, IR, JA
SUBJECT: NEW IRANIAN AMBASSADOR IN TOKYO DISCUSSES NUCLEAR
ISSUE, OTHER TOPICS

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Classified By: Ambassador J. Thomas Schieffer for reasons 1.4(b) and (d
)


1. (U) SUMMARY: Speaking on the record March 13 at the
Foreign Correspondents Club of Japan, newly accredited
Iranian Ambassador to Japan Seyed Abbas Araghchi presented
Iran's views of the standoff regarding its nuclear program.
He asserted that Iran began its program at the behest of the
United States in the 1950's, and that it continued through
the 1970's with the active support of the U.S. and other
western powers. Following the revolution, he said, the U.S.
and others ceased their support, teaching Iran the West can
not be trusted to fulfill agreements. Iran has voluntarily
cooperated with European countries in an attempt to alleviate
concerns, but the Europeans only used negotiations as a ploy
to halt Iran's program, teaching Tehran another bitter
lesson. Iran is not intimidated by Security Council
resolutions. Araghchi said there are two ways to deal with
this problem, confrontation or cooperation, and Iran is
prepared for either.


2. (U) SUMMARY (Continued): Responding to questions,
Araghchi said nuclear weapons are relics of the Cold War era
that no longer provide any country with security; Iran doubts
the Kurds in Iraq will assert their independence and blames
the U.S. for creating the tensions that lead to the fear of
the breakup of Iraq; Iran's relations with Japan are good,
and Iran will continue to supply it oil; Iran seeks to
improve relations with Egypt, the other "pillar" of the
region; sanctions imposed by the United States have backfired
by making Iran more self-reliant; Islamic law recognizes
capital punishment, and most death sentences in Iran are
carried out against dangerous drug smugglers.


3. (C) SUMMARY (Continued): Araghchi is a young, personable,
polished, and accomplished diplomat who presents well, argues
his case calmly and rationally, and who is clearly at ease
making public presentations and dealing with the press. He
has been busy cultivating the media since his arrival several
weeks ago and we predict he will be very active in diplomatic
and media circles as an effective advocate for Iranian
policies. END SUMMARY.

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IRAN'S NUCLEAR PROGRAM STARTED AT BEHEST OF U.S.
-------------- --


4. (U) Ambassador Araghchi began his presentation, which was
attended by an Embassy Tokyo political officer, by noting
that he'd presented his credentials to the Emperor only two
days earlier, and said he was looking forward over the next
few years to establishing good contacts and relations with
the press. He said he'd like to focus his remarks on Iran's
"peaceful nuclear program" in order to clarify commonly held
"misunderstandings," and promised to speak for only ten or
fifteen minutes.


5. (U) According to Araghchi, the first misunderstanding is
that some people believe Iran has a "new", "secret" nuclear
program that was commenced following the 1979 revolution.
This is quite wrong, he said. In fact, Iran's nuclear
program was started in 1957 on the recommendation and at the
behest of the United States. Citing a March 5, 1957
agreement between the United States and the Shah, Araghchi
asserted that it was the U.S. which told Iran, even at a time
when Iran had much more oil than it does now and only half
the population, that it needed to develop nuclear energy in
order to fully develop as a nation in the decades to come.
He quoted from the agreement its assertion that peaceful uses
of nuclear energy hold hope for all mankind. Araghchi
conceded that Iran has large reserves of oil and gas that
could be used to meet many of Iran's energy needs, but said
these resources must be held in trust for future generations
and, that as was foreseen by the United States, Iran must
have nuclear energy to fully develop its economy.

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LESSON LEARNED: LACK OF TRUST
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6. (U) Over the years, Araghchi continued, the 1957 agreement
was amended and expanded upon. In 1958, Iran joined the
IAEA, and in 1974 it joined the NPT and signed the
Comprehensive Safeguard Agreements, and agreed to the
Additional Protocol, although this decision has yet to be
ratified. In 1974, the United States built Iran's first
nuclear research reactor in Tehran, while France, Germany,
and Canada all offered help on other projects. The French
agreed to help Iran develop the capability to enrich uranium,
and the Germans agreed to build a nuclear power plant at
Busheir. Then came the revolution, and all the agreements
and contracts to help Iran were halted by the West for
political reasons. This, according to Araghchi, was a bitter
lesson to Iran that the West could not be trusted to keep its
word. "Today the Western powers speak of a lack of trust in
Iran, but we, too, have proven reasons to lack trust in the
West." The Germans stopped work on the Busheir plant after
Iran had spent "billions" on it, leaving the Iranians no
choice but to ask the Russians to take over. And even today,
30 years after the revolution, this plant has not been
activated. The important lesson Iran learned from all this,
said Araghchi, is that Iran must stand on its own two feet
with regard to its nuclear program, and can not rely on the
goodwill of others, which could vanish at any time.

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NOTHING TO HIDE
--------------


7. (U) Araghchi asserted that despite its setbacks, Iran has
remained committed to its obligations under the NPT after all
these years. "We have nothing to hide, and all our
facilities have been or will be open to inspection at the
proper times," he said, stating that under the terms of the
treaty, a facility is required to be inspected only six
months prior to fueling. He said that in 2003, following the
invasion of Iraq, the United States began to circulate
propaganda that Iran was making a bomb. "The U.S. defeated
the Iraqis in eighteen days, so now it was time to make us
next." This caused other countries to begin asking many
questions. The EU-3 came to the Iranians and asked them to
suspend enrichment, and the Iranians agreed to do so, said
Araghchi, because they were confident of their own peaceful
intentions. Then the Europeans told them to suspend related
activities, and the Iranians agreed. Then the Europeans
asked them to suspend research activities, and the Iranians
agreed. Then the Europeans asked them to voluntarily
implement the Additional Protocol, even though the Iranian
government had not finally ratified its participation yet,
and the Iranians agreed. Araghchi said all this resulted in
many, many inspections of Iran's facilities, including 27
inspections of closed military facilities. Nothing, he said,
was ever found to substantiate allegations that Iran was
pursuing a nuclear weapons program.


8. (U) In spite of all this voluntary cooperation, continued
Araghchi, the Europeans asked Iran to cooperate with the IAEA
to grant inspections even beyond those called for by the
Additional Protocol, and again the Iranians agreed. IAEA
Secretary General ElBaradei would come with information from

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open sources - all of which were American - and the Iranians
would always grant access so he could investigate these
allegations, none of which was ever substantiated. "All
these allegations were baseless."

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"ENOUGH"
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9. (U) In 2005, after two and a half years of full
cooperation with the Europeans, the Iranians finally said
"enough", explained Araghchi. He said the EU negotiations
had been totally useless. "It was obvious to all that the
Europeans had already succeeded in their goal of stopping our
nuclear program, so they were just prolonging negotiations to
play with us." The Iranians said the suspension was only
supposed to be a short-term one and announced their intention
to resume work on their peaceful nuclear program. The
Europeans then offered a package of incentives. "In August
2005, they asked us to give up our right to enrichment and

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told us to dismantle our program in return for useless
promises: support for our efforts to join the WTO, access to
aircraft parts, and better access to the internet." Araghchi
termed this offer "insulting and ridiculous." He said the
Europeans had been told from the beginning that any package
would be a nonstarter if it did not assure the Iranians would
retain their right to pursue enrichment activities.


10. (U) So this, said Araghchi, was another hard, negative
lesson learned by the Iranians: Iran could not, through
negotiations with the Europeans, achieve its rights under the
NPT to pursue a peaceful nuclear program. The Europeans
threatened to take Iran to the Security Council, but Iran was
not intimidated, said "okay" and reactivated its peaceful
nuclear program.

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MORE HISTORY: 1953 COUP
--------------


11. (U) Araghchi then cited history again, harkening back to

1953. He recalled that the Iranians at that time moved to
nationalize their oil industry, which was controlled by the
British. The British in turn went to the Security Council,
citing Iran's move as a threat to international peace and
security. This was followed by the American-led coup against
Prime Minister Mossadeq, who was one of the leaders of the
nationalization movement. The result, Araghchi said, was a
return to dictatorship in Iran that lasted for twenty-five
years. "This is the price we paid for wanting to have
control over our own oil", he said, implying that Iran is
willing to face similiar hardships to assure its "right" to
its own, domestic nuclear energy program.

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THE IAEA WORK PLAN
--------------


12. (U) Araghchi then turned to the IAEA work plan,
explaining that in August 2007, then-Iranian chief nuclear
negotiator Ali Larijini and EU Chief Negotiator Javier Solana
had agreed the IAEA would give Iran any remaining questions,
and Iran would answer them. As a result, the IAEA submitted
six questions and three other "allegations" for Iran to
answer. Araghchi began to read from the work plan, noting
language in the last paragraph that says once a successful
response is received, the Iranian case will be considered a
"routine" one. He then cited ElBaradei's September 12 report
as stating it would be a significant step forward if Iran
answers the six questions, which would then allow the IAEA to
reconstruct the history of Iran's nuclear program.
Accordingly, argued Araghchi, Iran since September 2007 has
been working with the IAEA to answer all the questions.


13. (U) ElBaradei's February 22 report confirms that all six
questions posed in the work plan have been successfully
answered, asserted Araghchi. So all that remains are the
"allegations." He continued that according to the agreement,
the IAEA was to provide Iran with any evidence or papers
concerning these allegations, and Iran was to study them and
respond with their own assessment. "That is all that is
required." But, he complained, some of these papers were
only received one week before ElBaradei's report was to be
issued, making it impossible for Iran to fully examine them
and provide a response in time. Araghchi concluded on this
point by asking rhetorically who the burden should rest upon
to prove these allegations, implicitly answering that it
should rest on those who make them, not Iran.

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SECURITY COUNCIL RESOLUTIONS COUNTER-PRODUCTIVE
-------------- --


14. (U) Araghchi sought to conclude by down-playing the
Security Council resolutions that have been enacted against
Iran. "Do we deserve another resolution after all our
cooperation? No. That is why we have rejected them." He
said all the latest resolution does is add a few names to the
list of those already under restrictions, and asserted even
U.S. and European diplomats have admitted the resolutions are

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"soft." "This is all they can come up with. Following the
two month deadline from the first resolution, it took them an
additional ten months to come up with this weak new one.
This shows that other Security Council members agree that
resolutions are not the solution."


15. (U) He also asserted the resolutions seek to punish Iran
for actions it might take in the future, rather than actions
already taken. He cited the NIE as confirmation that Iran
does not have a nuclear weapons program "and that we never
had one." Because the resolutions punish Iran for actions
not taken, they are unfair, unjust, and cannot succeed.

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FINAL WORD: "WE ARE READY"
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16. (U) Concluding his prepared remarks, which ran much
longer than his promised ten minutes, Araghchi said there are
two ways to deal with the nuclear issue: cooperation or
confrontation. "We are prepared for both. We only want our
rights under the NPT, and we are not prepared to give up
these rights."

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QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
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17. (U) Following Araghchi's prepared remarks, the floor was
opened to questions from the journalists.

Middle East Nuclear Free Zone
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"Iran supports the concept of a nuclear free zone in the
Middle East and has sponsored resolutions in the OIC about
this. Nuclear weapons belong in the Cold War era. They are
worthless today. They cannot guarantee security to any
country. Israel's nuclear arsenal did not prevent its defeat
at the hands of Hizbollah. Nuclear weapons did not prevent
the collapse of the Soviet Union, nor did they prevent 9/11.
Even if we get one bomb, what can we do with it? What is it
good for?"

Kosovo Recognition; Kurdish Independence?
--------------

"Whether to recognize Kosovo is under consideration. As for
a possible Kurdish declaration of an independent state, I
don't think this will happen. The Kurds are very happy with
the situation in Iraq right now. The President is a Kurd, a
Vice Prime Minister is a Kurd, the Foreign Minister is a
Kurd. There are no signs of a move toward independence. But
the integrity of Iraq is very important to Iran and other
countries in the region. The current problem there is the
result of wrong U.S. policies. If left alone, the Iraqis
will not separate. The Shia, Sunnis and Kurds have a long
history of living together there. The terrorists and
occupation forces that are in Iraq today are using each other
to justify their continued presence. The U.S. says it is
there to fight terrorists, the terrorists say they are there
to fight the foreign occupiers. The U.S. should break this
cycle by coming up with an exit strategy."

Iran's View of Japan
--------------

"We share much in common with Japan because both of us have
been victims of weapons of mass destruction. The Japanese
were victims of nuclear weapons, and we were the victims of
chemical weapons used by Saddam given to him by Western
countries. We suffered a lot and still do, people are still
dying every day from their exposure during the war. So I
think neither Japan or Iran will ever use weapons of mass
destruction against another. Japan has a very good
reputation in Iran because of its advanced technology and
honesty. We have very good relations.

Support and Training for Hamas and Hizbollah?
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"The Americans have a bad situation in Iraq and cannot solve
their problems, so they accuse others on the Palestinian
issue. They need to focus on the root causes of this
problem, but instead of focusing on them, they just accuse
others."

Iranian Relations with Egypt
--------------

"We have no official political relations but have a good
relationship nonetheless. We would like to reestablish
official relations, and negotiations to do so have begun. In
my previous assignment I visited Cairo to discuss this, and
my counterpart has visited Iran. We work closely in the
United Nations, the OIC, and the Non-aligned Movement. We
have more ministerial-level meetings with Egypt than we do
with many other countries we do have relations with. Egypt
and Iran are the two most important pillars in the region, so
we must be in close consultations."

Status of Related Nuclear Technology
--------------

"We have completed the fuel cycle. We have uranium mines and
can make yellow-cake. We can change this yellow-cake into
UF6 gas to feed into our centrifuges, and we are capable of
producing less-than-five percent enriched uranium. We have a
nuclear power plant in Busheir, the one built by the
Russians, and although it is not yet on-line, we think we can
start it by the end of the year. We also are working on a
360 MW nuclear power plant we're building ourselves, although
this will take time. This has been the positive result of
the isolation we've been under. The U.S. wanted to isolate
us, but instead they have forced us to become self-reliant."

Reduction of Oil and Gas Exports?
--------------

"In politics, anything is possible, but we have no current
plans to stop or restrict oil exports. This is not our
policy at this time. The sanctions don't touch our oil
industry, and we will continue to be a reliable supplier of
oil to Japan."

Preferred U.S. Presidential Candidate?
--------------

"The election in the U.S. is for Americans to decide. We do
not support any candidate."

Death Penalty in Iran, Minors and Women?
--------------

"Capital punishment is recognized by Islam in Sharia law, and
since our laws are based on this, we cannot just abolish a
part of our Islamic belief. I disagree that women and minors
are executed. Our system is against this, and there is a
long, tough procedure to be followed before sentencing.
Minors are not executed, but the age of majority in our laws
may be different from yours. Stoning has been stopped, there
is a moratorium on this. In fact, a judge who recently
sentenced someone to be stoned was dismissed from his
position. We do execute people by hanging. Most of these
are drug smugglers. We have a serious problem with this in
Iran. Everyone knows that ninety percent of all opium
produced comes from Afghanistan and much of it transits
through Iran on its way to Europe. We have a very long
border with Afghanistan that is hard to control, and the drug
smugglers are very sophisticated and well armed, even with
anti-aircraft weapons. They have killed 3,000 of our police
and border guards. As you know, these smugglers are
currently holding a Japanese citizen hostage in a third
country. Most of our death sentences are handed down against
criminals like these."

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COMMENT
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18. (C) Araghchi is a young, personable, polished and
accomplished diplomat. He spoke English very well, with only
a slight accent, and was at ease and low-key throughout his
presentation. The demeanor he used throughout his talk was
one of resignation and frustration, rather than of
confrontation or self-righteousness, and anyone with a
limited understanding of the facts would walk away after
hearing him with the idea that Iran has bent over backwards
and tried everything possible to please the West without
result. Even when he expressed Iran's willingness to defy
the international community his message was delivered evenly
and in a rational tone. He exudes an air of understated yet
passionate belief in the position he is arguing.


19. (C) The Japanese diplomatic establishment has always
been very impressed by Araghchi. MOFA Second Middle East
Division Principal Deputy Director Motosada Matano told
Embassy Tokyo that former Foreign Minister Taro Aso
speculated after meeting him in his former capacity as Deputy
Foreign Minister for International and Legal Affairs that if
the U.S. and Iran were to resume diplomatic relations,
Araghchi would be a likely candidate to become Ambassador to
Washington.


20. (U) Since arriving in Tokyo several weeks ago, Araghchi
has been very active cultivating relationships with the media
and within the diplomatic community. In a press conference
on February 28 he suggested that Japan would be a good
country to act as an intermediary between the United States
and Iran. In an interview with Kyodo on March 12, he
repeated this again, saying the U.S. is "the master of
miscalculations" and that he hoped "Japan, which has a good
understanding of the Middle East region, can help by
recommending Americans to follow wisdom." On March 4 he met
with Foreign Minister Koumura, and in his remarks he
mentioned that he had met the previous day with the Iraqi
Ambassador. Unlike his predecessor, who seemed quite
hard-line and was not seen much in the public light, it
appears that Araghchi plans to make himself a presence on the
diplomatic and media circuits as an articulate and persuasive
advocate for Iranian policy.
SCHIEFFER