DEMARCHE DELIVERED: JORDANIAN VIEWS OF THE NPT

C O N F I D E N T I A L AMMAN 000469 SIPDIS DEPARTMENT FOR NEA/ELA, ISN/MNSA, GENEVA (CD),UNVIE (IAEA),USUN (POL),USNATO (POL),USEU (POL) E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/18/2019 TAGS: AORC CDG ENRG KNNP MNUC PARM PGOV PREL UNGA IAEA, NPT, JO SUBJECT: DEMARCHE DELIVERED: JORDANIAN VIEWS OF THE NPT REF: A. STATE 6970 ¶B. AMMAN 136 ¶C. 08 AMMAN 3135 ¶D. 08 AMMAN 1084 Classified By: Ambassador R. Stephen Beecroft for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d). ¶1. (C) PolOff delivered reftel points on February 5 to MFA nonproliferation pointman Khaled Takhayneh, seeking official comment on Jordan's goals regarding the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT) and the upcoming review process. On February 18, PolOff met with Takhayneh, who offered a general overview of Jordan's priorities for the NPT. ¶2. (C) According to Takhayneh, "a fundamental feature of Jordanian policy is disarmament, but we do not expect much from the review process." The GOJ believes it will be difficult to achieve consensus on issues such as Iranian or North Korean violations because other countries outside the treaty - Israel, India, and Pakistan, most notably - carry on their programs with no oversight. "I doubt there will be any breakthroughs. The gaps are too wide," he explained. Regarding Israel, Takhayneh mused that Jordan was not worried about an Israeli nuclear attack but about the potential for an accident or even a terrorist attack on an Israeli nuclear installation that could adversely affect Jordan. Takhayneh saw the most important role for the U.S. and the other major nuclear states as setting a good example for other nations with or considering nuclear programs while continuing with nuclear weapons reductions. ¶3. (C) Speaking of Jordan's own nascent nuclear energy program, Takhayneh argued that Jordan was doing all it could to keep even its preliminary steps as internationally transparent as possible. The GOJ was widely consulting with experts from a variety of countries and was committed to international inspections regimes. He somewhat optimistically envisioned a day when Jordan's nuclear program could be linked to the electrical grids of neighboring countries, including Israel. ¶4. (C) Were Jordan to consider an indigenous uranium enrichment program - which Takhayneh said might be done in the future for purely economic reasons, given Jordan's considerable reserves - it would also be transparent and open to inspection. Note: Officials in the Jordan Atomic Energy Commission (JAEC),which is responsible for developing Jordan's civil nuclear energy program, have consistently maintained that Jordan will abide by its NPT obligations and does not intend to enrich or reprocess nuclear fuel but rather will rely on international markets, in line with the principles of the Global Nuclear Energy Partnership (GNEP). JAEC Chairman Khaled Touqan has also asserted, however, that Jordan planned to maintain its full rights under the NPT and international law so that if the GNEP dissolved in the future, Jordan would still have access to a secure nuclear fuel source. (See Refs B-D for more information.) End Note. Visit Amman's Classified Web Site at http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/nea/amman/ Beecroft