Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
09BRUSSELS1021
2009-07-27 04:56:00
SECRET//NOFORN
USEU Brussels
Cable title:  

EU AND TREASURY ON IRAN, DPRK, CFT, BURMA, SUDAN,

Tags:  ETTC KTFN PTER EFIN KCRM KJUS KHLS UNSC PINR 
pdf how-to read a cable
VZCZCXRO7835
PP RUEHAG RUEHBC RUEHCHI RUEHCN RUEHDE RUEHDIR RUEHDT RUEHHM RUEHKUK
RUEHROV RUEHSL RUEHTRO
DE RUEHBS #1021/01 2080456
ZNY SSSSS ZZH
P 270456Z JUL 09 ZDK
FM USEU BRUSSELS
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY
INFO RUEHZS/ASSOCIATION OF SOUTHEAST ASIAN NATIONS COLLECTIVE
RUCNMEM/EU MEMBER STATES COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUCNIRA/IRAN COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUEHGG/UN SECURITY COUNCIL COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUEAIAO/HQ ICE IAO WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY
RUEATRS/DEPT OF TREASURY WASHDC PRIORITY
RHMFISS/HOMELAND SECURITY CENTER WASHDC PRIORITY
RUEAWJA/DEPT OF JUSTICE WASHDC PRIORITY
RHEFHLC/DEPT OF HOMELAND SECURITY WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY
RUEAORC/US CUSTOMS AND BORDER PROTECTION WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY
RHMFISS/FBI WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY
RUCPDOC/USDOC WASHDC PRIORITY
RHEHNSC/NSC WASHDC PRIORITY
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY
RUEKJCS/DOD WASHDC PRIORITY
S E C R E T SECTION 01 OF 06 BRUSSELS 001021 

NOFORN
SIPDIS

TREASURY FOR TFFC, OFAC, OIA

E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/23/2019
TAGS: ETTC KTFN PTER EFIN KCRM KJUS KHLS UNSC PINR
PHUM, KPAO, FR, UK, EUN, SP, SU, BM, KN, EWWT, KNNP, SNAR,
XA, XM, ZL, IR
SUBJECT: EU AND TREASURY ON IRAN, DPRK, CFT, BURMA, SUDAN,
BALKANS, DRUGS, AND ILLICIT FINANCING

REF: A. BRUSSELS USEU 536

B. BRUSSELS USEU 537

C. BRUSSELS USEU 616

D. 2008 STATE 125635

BRUSSELS 00001021 001.8 OF 006


Classified By: USEU Econ Minister-Counselor Peter H. Chase for reasons
1.4 (b),(d),(e).

S E C R E T SECTION 01 OF 06 BRUSSELS 001021

NOFORN
SIPDIS

TREASURY FOR TFFC, OFAC, OIA

E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/23/2019
TAGS: ETTC KTFN PTER EFIN KCRM KJUS KHLS UNSC PINR
PHUM, KPAO, FR, UK, EUN, SP, SU, BM, KN, EWWT, KNNP, SNAR,
XA, XM, ZL, IR
SUBJECT: EU AND TREASURY ON IRAN, DPRK, CFT, BURMA, SUDAN,
BALKANS, DRUGS, AND ILLICIT FINANCING

REF: A. BRUSSELS USEU 536

B. BRUSSELS USEU 537

C. BRUSSELS USEU 616

D. 2008 STATE 125635

BRUSSELS 00001021 001.8 OF 006


Classified By: USEU Econ Minister-Counselor Peter H. Chase for reasons
1.4 (b),(d),(e).


1. (S//NF) SUMMARY: In eleven separate meetings with
various EU and Member State officials on June 16-17, Treasury
Assistant Secretary (A/S) for Terrorist Financing and
Financial Crimes David Cohen pressed for robust EU
implementation of UN Security Council Resolutions on North
Korea and Iran (including stronger autonomous measures),
continued cooperation in preventing legal challenges from
undermining the UN counter-terrorism sanctions regimes, and
added attention to sanctions against Burma and Sudan. He
also flagged the importance of countering proliferation and
narcotics financing, organized crime, and other forms of
illicit finance. The July 27 GAERC is prepared to adopt a
blanket Common Position on DPRK, to be followed by specific
UN and autonomous designations. END SUMMARY.

-------------- --------------
Iran: State of Play, Spain's EU Presidency, and Gibraltar
-------------- --------------


2. (S//NF) A/S Cohen highlighted that U.S. policy on Iran

seeks to balance the dual tracks of engagement and pressure.
A/S Cohen stressed that the goal of U.S. policy regarding
Iran remains unchanged -- namely, to convince Iran to halt
its nuclear weapons program and support for terrorism around
the world -- the means by which the U.S. is pursuing this
objective now include both on offer of engagement combined
with holding Iran accountable to its international
obligations. Dynamic sanctions programs are essential to
maintaining pressure so that dialogue can succeed. Since
sanctions are more effective if undertaken through collective
action, the U.S. will continue to pursue joint action with
the EU to apply additional pressure against the Iranian
regime. A/S Cohen reiterated U.S. interest in EU designation
of Bank Mellat, Bank Sepah, the Export Development Bank of
Iran, the Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines, and Iran
Air, on which Treasury DAS Glaser briefed EU counterparts in
February (REFs A and B). A/S Cohen also pressed EU
interlocutors to respond to the Financial Action Task Force's
(FATF) February 2009 statement on Iran, the FATF's fifth
statement with respect to Iran, which included a call for
countermeasures against illicit Iranian transactions.


3. (C//NF) Commissioner for External Relations
Ferrero-Waldner's Chief of Staff, Patrick Child, said the EU
is "waiting to see how to balance engagement and further
pressure, which will be necessary." Child stressed that
European publics must see Iran as an important issue to their
own security, however, and not just something the U.S. is
"telling us" to worry about. In his view, the EU is open to
further dialogue with the U.S. about additional measures, but
it should be phrased as "a shared response to shared security
concerns" to increase EU comfort with the discussion.
According to EU analysis, sanctions are clearly decreasing
large-scale European financial flows and trade with Iran,
though some EU small- and medium-sized enterprises, along
with firms from China, India, and elsewhere, are filling in
the gaps. Child insisted it is "better for the EU and U.S.
not to get ahead of the UN." A/S Cohen countered that "we
should not let the perfect be the enemy of the good" and that
joint U.S.-EU action would yield important security benefits
to Europe.


4. (C//NF) Commission Sanctions officer Stephane Chardon

BRUSSELS 00001021 002.7 OF 006


(protect) said the Council working groups continue to discuss
the DAS Glaser presentation on the five entities, but without
consensus due to political grounds. The EU sees the need to
avoid circumvention of existing measures. They just
completed a list of dual use items. Council Secretariat
Director for America, UN, Human Rights and Counter-Terrorism
Marek Grela's "strictly unofficial" contacts from Russia and
China in Brussels claim Iran is seen by those countries not
as a global but a "regional problem," complicating the
international response.


5. (C//NF) In a bilateral meeting with Spanish Political and
Security Committee (PSC) Ambassador Carlos Fernandez-Arias
Minuesa, A/S Cohen signaled that the USG would rely on the
incoming Spanish EU Presidency in January 2010 to help if
increased EU pressure were needed on the Ira:SQw~\nQQQQQ1. (C) A/S Cohen drew attention to the recent nonpaper
drafted by U.S. Treasury's Office of Financial Assets Control
(OFAC) and shared with key interlocutors on Burma sanctions
(REF D). If the EU adopted similar measures, A/S Cohen
emphasized that this would substantially improve pressure on
the military junta, especially with regard to the three
U.S.-designated foreign exchange banks: Myanmar Economic

BRUSSELS 00001021 005.6 OF 006


Bank, Myanmar Foreign Trade Bank, and Myanmar Investment and
Commercial Bank.


22. (C) Grela noted that Burma was one of the few
international topics being discussed by the European Council
on June 19, at the strong insistence of one EUMS (UK).

-------------- ---
Drugs, Balkans, Af-Pak, Africa and Latin America
-------------- ---


23. (C//NF) Besides Iran, Spain's PSC Ambassador informed
A/S Cohen that its EU Presidency priorities will likely
include broader Middle East security, Afghanistan and
Pakistan, the Balkans (organized crime, Bosnia and Kosovo,
drug trafficking, and car theft),and West Africa (border
controls, rising crime, illegal trafficking, and drugs from
South America througformallerlompin sanctients of
QATF measures. Second, FATF "countermeasures" come close to
"sanctions," which are the domQin of political Foreign
Ministries and not just technical Financial Ministries for
EU.

25 (C//NF) Wright (please protect) suggested tha, Germany, Spain, and
Italy, due to their growing interest in questions of
non-cooperative jurisdictions on taxes and money laundering.Wright suggested that the U.S. could support their interests
but press for these countries to secure EU-wide statements
following up on FATF actions.

-------------- --------------
Intelligence and SITCEN Priorities, Trends:
Sanctions Role of the EU's Nascent Intelligence Arm
-------------- --------------


26. (C//NF) William Shapcott, Director of the EU's Joint
Situation Center ("SitCen"),provided the following overview
of their work. Shapcott said his office plays no operational
role in the EU's autonomous terrorist designation process
(the "CP 931" track). SitCen does, however, help the EU in
developing policy. They describe to policy-makers their
understanding of terrorist financing: how it works, how
significant a problem it is, where vulnerabilities exist, and
what could be closed down. For the EU, SitCen's value added

BRUSSELS 00001021 006.2 OF 006


is "getting the non-UNSC member states caught up" so they
"can't say they don't understand.


27. (C//NF) Shapcott encouraged Treasury to consider
analytical exchanges with SitCEN analysts to compare
"analytical pictures." SitCen's added value for the U.S.e|6bQ/KLxesL5s consolidated European view of terrorism and
money laundering threats, which can be better than strictly
national assessments. Shapcott suggested that U.S. and
SitCen CT analysts compare general pictures of European
terrorist cells.


28. (S//NF) The PSC Ambassadors are the SitCen's primary
clients. Each incoming EU Presidency tasks SitCen with a
six-month plan. The current regional and horizontal
priorities are:
-- Balkans: organized crime, mechanics within the Balkan
state actors (many of which are applying for EU membership),
exporting crime to Western Europe, trafficking in persons;
-- Middle East: geostrategic, Hamas, Hizballah, general
proliferation, Syrian and Iranian proliferation, Egypt;
-- Africa: Somalia and the Horn;
-- DPRK proliferation; and
-- Terrorism: EU internal terrorism, Afghanistan, Pakistan,
East Africa, Saudi Arabia "and company," the cross-over of
organized crime and ter::5Q/^hQ