EXPLAINING U.S. POLICY ON IRAN'S TEHRAN RESEARCH

C O N F I D E N T I A L BERN 000081 SIPDIS DEPT FOR ISN/RA (R.NEPHEW),IO/T, AND EUR/CE E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/24/2020 TAGS: KNNP MNUC PARM IAEA IR SZ SUBJECT: EXPLAINING U.S. POLICY ON IRAN'S TEHRAN RESEARCH REACTOR REF: STATE 15979 Classified By: Acting POLE Counselor Chris Buck; reasons 1.4(b) and (d) . ¶1. (U) Poloff delivered reftel message on February 24 to Andreas Friedrich, Head of the Arms Control and Disarmament Section of the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs (FDFA). Friedrich's deputy, Jean-Daniel Praz, joined the meeting. ¶2. (C) Praz asked about the Iranian proposal for a simultaneous swap of Iranian low enriched uranium (LEU) for fuel for the Tehran Research Reactor (TRR). He suggested that this "latest" Iranian proposal might raise the bar for any attempt to achieve a new resolution on Iran at the March 1-5 IAEA Board of Governors (BOG) meeting, since "countries like China might argue that the Iranian proposal had created a new situation." Poloff emphasized (reftel) that the Iranian proposal was not new and would not provide any confidence in Iran's intentions. ¶3. (C) Poloff noted that he did not have instructions on what the USG position would be at next week's IAEA BOG meeting with regard to the question of a possible resolution. Friedrich informally indicated little enthusiasm for pursuing a resolution on Iran at the March BOG meeting. Praz said that he expected that Switzerland would, in any case, make a firm national statement calling on Iran to meet its international commitments. BEYER