US embassy cable - 05OTTAWA578

C O N F I D E N T I A L OTTAWA 000578 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/24/2013 
TAGS: KNNP, PARM, PREL, TRGY, MNUC, CA, IAEA, Iran 
SUBJECT: IRAN/IAEA: CANADA SUPPORTS USG APPROACH FOR 
FEBRUARY 28 IAEA BOARD OF GOVERNORS MEETING 
 
REF: SECSTATE 31323 
 
Classified By: POL M/C BRIAN FLORA.  REASON 1.4 (B) AND (D). 
 
1. (C) Polmiloff conveyed reftel points to Foreign Affairs 
Deputy Director for Nuclear Nonproliferation Terry Wood on 
February 24, encouraging Canada to make a national statement. 
 Wood said he was pleased to see that the USG's assessment of 
the upcoming BOG briefing on Iran tracked with Canada's own 
take.  While guidance had already gone out for the Canadian 
delegation to "intervene in good company" should the DG 
express concern about Iran's suspension activity, Wood said 
he would transmit USG's non-paper as well. 
 
2. (C) Regarding the last item in the U.S. non-paper, Wood 
cautioned that leaving Iran on the agenda for the June BOG 
would go against the EU-three agreement with Iran to keep the 
latter off the agenda.  Though his government was not pleased 
with this deal, Wood anticipated that there would be 
considerable resistance from the EU to anything that would 
keep Iran on the agenda.  He thought that this might come up 
in today's US-Canada-EU talks in Washington. 
 
3. (C) Wood volunteered that Nuclear and Chemical Disarmament 
Implementation Agency Director Marc Vidricaire would attend 
the BOG meeting on Monday.  Though unusual for Ottawa-based 
officials to attend, Wood said it was as much an 
"informational" trip for Vidricaire as an opportunity to 
underscore Canada's strong commitment to holding Iran 
accountable.  In this respect, Wood wanted to draw attention 
to Prime Minister Martin's remarks at the NATO Summit this 
week, in which the PM spoke of Iran in the strongest language 
to date.  The PM recognized Iran as posing a "serious 
proliferation threat," and said "Iran must be encouraged to 
end its nuclear weapons program and to proceed with (human 
rights) reforms."  Wood noted that the PM's feisty comments, 
including the first public acknowledgement that Canada 
believes Iran has a nuclear weapons program, had "raised 
eyebrows" in a number of quarters, particularly his own 
building.  He said that Foreign Minister Pettigrew also had 
acknowledged separately that the Government wanted to take a 
tougher stand with Iran. 
 
Visit Canada's Classified Web Site at 
http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/wha/ottawa 
 
CELLUCCI