MEXICO ON U.S. POSTURE ON IRAN'S NUCLEAR PROGRAM

C O N F I D E N T I A L MEXICO 003358 SIPDIS STATE FOR NEA/FO (CATALANO) AND ISN/RA (NEPHEW) E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/25/2019 TAGS: PREL IR MX SUBJECT: MEXICO ON U.S. POSTURE ON IRAN'S NUCLEAR PROGRAM AND NEXT STEPS REF: STATE 120288 Classified By: Deputy PolCouns James P. Merz. Reasons: 1.4 (b) and (d) . (C) Poloff conveyed reftel points November 25 to Julian Juarez Cadenas, Deputy Director General for UN-Related Security and Legal Issues at the Foreign Relations Secretariat (SRE). Noting that as of September 2009 Mexico no longer is a member of the IAEA's Board of Governors (BOG), Juarez commented that the Government of Mexico (GOM) would participate in the November 26 BOG meeting as an observer and advocate full cooperation and transparency by Iran with the IAEA. He explained that the clandestine uranium enrichment facility near Qom in violation of the UNSC and IAEA undermined confidence in Iran's commitment to meet its international obligations. Juarez stressed that there may be room for negotiations on the IAEA proposal to refuel the Tehran Research Reactor because Iran still has not rejected negotiations outright. Juarez noted that Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki in a published interview in India voiced concerns about surrendering all of its low-enriched uranium in one batch and had proposed that fuel be exchanged and stored in Iran. Poloff shared the USG's misgivings on these approaches with Sandra Garcia, Director of Disarmament for the UN at SRE, given our low level of confidence in Iran on these matters. Visit Mexico City's Classified Web Site at http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/wha/mexicocity and the North American Partnership Blog at http://www.intelink.gov/communities/state/nap / PASCUAL