AZERBAIJAN GOVERNMENT COMMENTS ON MOBILIZING

C O N F I D E N T I A L BAKU 000079

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/05/2030
TAGS: PARM PREL UNSC OSCE RU IR AJ
SUBJECT: AZERBAIJAN GOVERNMENT COMMENTS ON MOBILIZING
PRESSURE TO PERSUADE IRAN'S ENGAGEMENT ON ITS NUCLEAR
PROGRAM

REF: STATE 09124

Classified By: Charge D'Affaires Don Lu, Reasons 1.4 (b and d)


1. (C) Baku Iran Affairs Officer vigorously delivered
reftel talking points on February 2 to Elchin Huseynli, MFA
point man on the Iranian nuclear program. Huseynli, reports
directly to GOAJ Deputy Foreign Minister Araz Azimov, and was
accompanied by his deputy, Aykan Hajizada.


2. (C) Huseynli took in all points and displayed a good
grasp of the issue as well as the historical and technical
background. He did not dispute any reftel characterizations
of Iranian behavior, which he acknowledged is a legitimate
cause for concern. Nonetheless Huseynli stressed that
Azerbaijan is not ready to take any public action supporting
sanctions against Iran, and is unlikely to do much
unofficially either. He repeated the standard GOAJ position
that Azerbaijan is a small country in a tough neighborhood,
that as a matter of national interest is highly reluctant to
confront either Iran or Russia publicly, except on matters of
state independence and sovereignty.


3. (C) In this context, he said that Azerbaijan is not
prepared to openly support additional sanctions against Iran
in the United Nations, or vote for resolutions in other
bodies that explicitly "singles out" Iran for harsh criticism
over their nuclear activities. Depending on the context, he
said that Azerbaijan IS willing to support resolutions
indirectly concerning Iran in international bodies, including
those that call on all signatories to adhere to the
Non-Proliferation Treaty, or express strong opposition to
pursuit of nuclear weapons programs in the region.


4. (C) As an illustration, he said that the GOAJ was
prepared to vote for a generally-worded, Ukrainian-drafted
resolution during the 2009 OSCE plenary, but could not vote
for the more explicit amended resolution criticizing Iran and
North Korea that was successfully submitted by the USG and
some other member states. (Note: Until recently, Huseynli
was a member of the Azerbaijani mission to OSCE in Vienna.
End Note). He also said that the GOAJ does not feel
comfortable pressing Iran even informally and unofficially on
these issues. (Note: Several GOAJ Ministers are allegedly
commercial partners with Iranian regime-connected figures in
several major business projects in Azerbaijan and elsewhere.
End Note).


5. (C) Speaking personally, Huseynli questioned the breadth
of support from other P5 1 states for a significantly
stronger Iran sanctions regime. He specifically expressed
skepticism that Russia is "willing to move beyond words" in
supporting new sanctions goals. He also asserted that
existing Iran sanctions have had no positive impact on
Iranian behavior, and opined that any new sanctions would
only "hurt the Iranian people." He did not, however, offer
any alternative suggestions for promoting a solution to the
nuclear issue.
LU