IRANIANS DELIGHTED TO BE INVITED, BUT DON'T ATTEND

UNCLAS E F T O HELSINKI 000235 E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: ODIP PREL IR FI SUBJECT: IRANIANS DELIGHTED TO BE INVITED, BUT DON'T ATTEND INDEPENDENCE DAY REF: A. (A) STATE 55537 ¶B. (B) STATE 60331 ¶1. (U) Embassy Helsinki invited Iranian Ambassador and Deputy Chief of Mission to the Independence Day reception, which was held on Wednesday, June 17. (July is the traditional holiday month in the Nordic region.) The invitees regretted the invitations, and did not attend. ¶2. (SBU) During a June 5 diplomatic event in Helsinki, the American-citizen wife of a third-country diplomat told Charge that the Iranian Ambassador had expressed delight at receiving the invitation. Asked by her whether he would be attending, the Iranian replied that he expected his Foreign Ministry to instruct all Iranian embassies on how to respond. Iranian DCM, who attended the June 5 event, made a point of telling Charge how happy he was to be invited to the U.S. event as well as how significant he had found President Obama's Cairo speech. BUTLER