US embassy cable - 03KUWAIT4078

C O N F I D E N T I A L KUWAIT 004078 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR NEA/NGA, NEA/ARP 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/03/2013 
TAGS: PREL, EPET, KU, IR, IZ, KNPT, IAEA 
SUBJECT: (U) IRANIAN FM VISITS KUWAIT 
 
Classified By: CDA Frank Urbancic; reason 1.5 (b,d) 
 
1. (C) SUMMARY AND INTRODUCTION:  Iranian Foreign Minister 
Kamal Kharrazi met with PM Shaykh Sabah al-Ahmed al-Sabah and 
FM Shaykh Dr. Mohammed al-Sabah, during a one-day visit to 
Kuwait on September 1.  According to MFA, the visit was 
previously planned and not prompted by Kuwaiti PM Shaykh 
Sabah's impending trip to Washington, where he is due to meet 
with POTUS on September 10.  Contrary to press speculation, 
Kharrazi did not ask Shaykh Sabah to pass any message to 
Washington.  Most of the discussion centered on the IAEA; 
Kharrazi urged the GOK to support President Khatami against 
hardliners, and sought assurances that if his country did 
sign the Additional Protocol, "that would be the end" of IAEA 
demands.  The GOK pressed Iran to sign the Additional 
Protocol unconditionally.  In remarks to the media, Kharrazi 
characterized the Iraqi Governing Council (IGC) as "an 
instrument to forward power to a publicly elected Iraqi 
government."  The two sides failed to agree on a common 
candidate for OPEC Secretary General.  END SUMMARY AND 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
2.  (C) Our source in MFA, the Minister's Office Director 
Shaykh Dr. Ahmed Nasser Mohammed al-Sabah, explained that 
Kuwait had expected Kharrazi to focus on finalizing a 
bilateral agreement on the maritime border.  He said 
negotiations had begun long ago but had picked up momentum in 
the past couple of years.  The main issue now concerns 
natural resources.  As it turned out, Kharrazi wanted to talk 
mostly about Iran's relations with the IAEA.  (NOTE:  Kuwait 
chairs the IAEA Board of Governors.) 
 
3. (C) Shaykh Ahmed said Kharrazi discussed the situation in 
Iraq, attributing the car bombing in Najaf that killed 
Ayatollah Mohammed Baqer al-Hakim to either Saddam loyalists 
or a very complex Israeli plot.  (Shaykh Ahmed himself -- a 
Sunni -- speculated to Pol Chief September 3 that perhaps 
Shi'a were to blame, given the high stakes involved in the 
rivalry between Najaf and Qom. 
 
4.  (C) Shaykh Ahmed confided that the two sides had declined 
each other's requests to withdraw their candidacies for 
Secretary General of OPEC.  He explained that Kuwait's 
 
SIPDIS 
candidate is Adnan Shihab al-Din, though this is not yet 
public knowledge; an Iranian is the only other candidate. 
 
5. (U) As reported widely in local dailies, Kharrazi told 
reporters during his visit that the US and coalition forces 
had "committed blunders" in Iraq by not heeding the 
(unspecified) advice of Iraq's regional neighbors, and should 
heed the advice of such an experienced statesman as Shaykh 
Sabah.  On a more positive note, he characterized the Iraqi 
Governing Council (IGC) as "an instrument to forward power to 
a publicly elected Iraqi government."  Kharrazi said Iran was 
serious about combating terror, and noted that Iran had 
repatriated terrorists to their original countries and would 
try the remainder "for charges related to carrying out 
activities harmful to the national security of Iran." 
URBANCIC