RESPONSE TO REQUEST FOR INFORMATION ON INA'S IRAN

C O N F I D E N T I A L ZAGREB 000697 SIPDIS DEPT FOR EEB/ESC TOM HAMMANG, EEB/TFS CHRIS BACKEMEYER, NEA/IR RAJEEV WADHWANI; TREASURY FOR INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS LARRY NORTON AND OFAC E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/30/2019 TAGS: ECON ENRG EPET ETTC IR PREL HR SUBJECT: RESPONSE TO REQUEST FOR INFORMATION ON INA'S IRAN INVESTMENT REF: STATE 121808 Classified By: Econ Officer Derek Westfall, reasons 1.4 (b) and (d) (C) 1. In response to reftel, Economic officer met with Emilija Margeta, Director of Bilateral Economic Affairs at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. She promised to send us information to the questions in reftel regarding the activities of Croatia's oil and gas company INA in Iran, which we will report septel as appropriate. She explained that INA's investment in Iran was well below the $20 million threshold for sanctions and that INA was careful to keep it that way. She further explained that INA wished to maintain a foothold in Iran in anticipation of the day that Iran's economy was more open and no longer subject to sanctions. She had no further information on the nature of the investment or its contribution to Iran's hydrocarbon sector. We have a meeting scheduled with INA for early next week at which we will pose the same questions. We will report any additional information we learn from these meetings. FOLEY