URGING IRAN TO RESOLVE MISSING/DETAINED AMCIT CASES

C O N F I D E N T I A L BRUSSELS 001244 SIPDIS DEPT FOR EUR/ERA, NEA/IR AND CA/OCS E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/11/2019 TAGS: PGOV PHUM PINR PREL PROP CASC IR SUBJECT: URGING IRAN TO RESOLVE MISSING/DETAINED AMCIT CASES REF: STATE 94757 Classified By: POLITICAL MINISTER COUNSELOR CHRISTOPHER DAVIS FOR REASO N 1.4 (B,D). ¶1. (C) USEU Poloff met separately on 9/15 with EU Council Secretariat and European Commission officials to seek EU assistance in urging Iran to resolve missing and detained Amcit cases. USEU Poloff requested that EU oficials raise the issue during meetings with Ianian officials and asked to be informed of the Iranian response. Both EU diplomats werereceptive, but stressed that the EU has limitedability to engage with and influence Teheran,as the EU does not maintain an embassy or other representation in Iran. ¶2. (C) The EU has been actively working to free EU citizens and employees of EU member state embassies in Iran. EU Council Secretariat's Lene Lindholdt Hove said that Iran had expected to treat these detentions as bilateral disputes and had been surprised by EU solidarity. The stated that the question was being treated as an EU issue and was regularly discussed by Ambassadors in the Political and Security Committee. The EU had conducted demarches in parallel in EU capitals to press Tehran to free French national Clotilde Reiss and the locally engaged staff of the French and UK embassies. She felt that this was why the Iranians had granted bail to Reiss and the local employees. Hove stressed, however, that the situation remained far from resolution: judicial proceedings were continuing and the EU did not know when verdicts might be delivered. ¶3. (C) Hove opined that as Brussels had become the key locus of action for EU work on the issue, it might be useful for us to further pursue the issue here with representatives of the Swedish EU Presidency and key EU member states France and the UK. MURRAY .