BRAZIL ON IRAN AT IAEA: NOT SUPPORTIVE OF P5+1 TABLING

C O N F I D E N T I A L BRASILIA 001371 SIPDIS DEPT FOR NEA/FO ELISA CATALANO DEPT ALSO FOR ISN/RA RICHARD NEPHEW E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/25/2019 TAGS: PREL IAEA IR BR SUBJECT: BRAZIL ON IRAN AT IAEA: NOT SUPPORTIVE OF P5+1 TABLING RESOLUTION AT THIS TIME Classified By: Charge d'Affaires, a.i. Cherie Jackson for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d). REF: STATE 120288 ¶1. (C) Science Counselor discussed reftel points and key messages on November 25 with Santiago Mourao, the Brazilian Ministry of External Relations' (MRE) Director of the Division for Disarmament and Sensitive Technologies. A very well-informed Mourao said that Brazil still does not have a position on Iran going into the upcoming International Atomic Energy Agency's (IAEA) Board of Governors meeting starting on November 26. Mourao stated that he had prepared a position paper and discussed the matter on November 24 with MRE Secretary-General Antonio Patriota, who then briefed MRE Minister Celso Amorim. Brazil is supportive of seeing a resolution to the questions over Iran's nuclear program, but Mourao said he and Patriota thought that pressing a P5+1 resolution on Iran at this time would not be helpful. He added that maybe in six months or a year such a resolution would be constructive. Today, however, the Government of Brazil is not very happy if a P5+1 resolution were tabled, he stressed. ¶2. (C) Mourao said that Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva in his November 23 meeting with visiting Iranian President Ahmadinejad (SEPTEL) had been very explicit that the proposal on the Tehran Research Reactor (TRR) was a good deal. Mourao saw some signs of hope for a deal being worked out. He explained that Ahmadinejad had indicated that there were internal sensitivities to the TRR proposal that needed to be resolved, mainly relating to a lack of confidence. Mourao noted the Iranian proposal to have the enriched uranium for the TRR kept on an Iranian island, possibly with international oversight, and then exchanging it for processed fuel for the TRR. He commented that such a deal would allow both sides to sit at the table and move forward. ¶3. (C) In addition to hearing from the USG, Mourao noted that he had also talked with the British, the French and the Germans about Iran and the upcoming IAEA Board of Governors meeting. JACKSON