AUSTRALIA SHARES U.S. VIEWS ON IRAN'S HUMAN RIGHTS

S E C R E T CANBERRA 000066 NOFORN SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/27/2020 TAGS: PHUM PREL IR AS SUBJECT: AUSTRALIA SHARES U.S. VIEWS ON IRAN'S HUMAN RIGHTS UNIVERSAL PERIODIC REVIEW REF: STATE 07242 Classified By: Political/Economic Counselor Edgard Kagan, for reasons 1 .4 (b),(d) ¶1. (C/NF) Australia shares U.S. views on the upcoming U.N. Human Rights Council's Universal Periodic Review (UPR) of Iran. Sandra Vegting, a Director in the International Organizations Branch of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, also confirmed that Australia supports U.S. recommendations that Iran take steps to address the host of issues listed in reftel. While Vegting said the United States and Australia share a commonality views, she noted that Australia will not state specifically, "Australia agrees with the United States," during its official time. Australia has not yet finalized the exact language for its points at the Iran UPR, but Vegting expected them to be very similar to the U.S. points. BLEICH