NAMIBIA: NO DEAL FOR IRAN

S E C R E T WINDHOEK 000183 STATE FOR AF, AF/S, IO/T, ISN/RA, AND NEA PLEASE PASS TO NSC SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/20/2018 TAGS: MNUC PARM TRGY ENRG EMIN ETTC KNNP IR WA SUBJECT: NAMIBIA: NO DEAL FOR IRAN REFS: A) WINDHOEK 159 B) WINDHOEK 65 C) 08 WINDHOEK 239 Classified By Ambassador Dennise Mathieu per 1.5 (b) and (d) ¶1. (C) On May 15, Ambassador Mathieu asked the Minister of Mines and Energy, Mr. Erkki Nghimtina, whether he had recently met with an Iranian delegation to discuss uranium sales. Nghimtina said he had met with the Ambassador of Iran (no date specified),who reportedly stated Iran hoped to come to a resolution with the U.S. Nghimtina then said Namibia could not do anything without the authorization of "the boss," i.e., the U.S. ¶2. (C) Ambassador Mathieu also spoke to Mr. Michael Leech, Managing Director of Rossing Uranium, on May 15. Mr. Leech stated that one Iranian had attended the last Board of Directors meeting, but otherwise, he had not been approached by any Iranian delegation seeking to procure uranium. ¶3. (C) According to the General Manager of External Affairs at Rossing, a Special Annual General Meeting was held in February. The Regular Annual General Shareholders Meeting was held on March 18. The last Board of Directors meeting was on May 12. The next Board of Directors meeting will be o/a August 12. SN Ashrafizadeh, of the Iranian Foreign Investment Company, represents the Government of Iran as a shareholder at the Board of Directors meetings and Annual General Meetings. ¶4. (S) On May 19, Ambassador Mathieu asked the Egyptian Ambassador (protect) if he knew who the Iranian delegation met during their visit to Namibia in April (Reftel A). The Ambassador had no information on meetings or discussions held. ¶5. (C) On May 20, Ambassador Mathieu asked Minister of Foreign Affairs Marco Hausiku if Iran had made any approaches to the GRN in an effort to procure uranium. Hausiku responded that he was not aware of any attempts by Iran to procure uranium in Namibia. ¶6. (S) COMMENT: As requested, post has made further inquiries in an effort to get a "direct" readout of any discussions Iran may have had in an effort to procure uranium from Namibia. To date, we have acquired no information indicating that Iran has sought to procure uranium in Namibia, or that government and/or Rossing officials would be willing to sell uranium to Iran under current conditions. In the absence of specific information from Washington as to whom Iran may have approached, post believes it would be counterproductive to our relations to continue to reach out broadly to Namibian officials and our other contacts at this time. MATHIEU