US embassy cable - 05OTTAWA1857

C O N F I D E N T I A L OTTAWA 001857 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR P, WHA/CAN AND NEA/ARPI 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/20/2015 
TAGS: PREL, IR, CA 
SUBJECT: CANADA: IRANIAN NOMINEE TO BE AMBASSADOR IN OTTAWA 
 
REF: STATE 114104 
 
Classified By: POL M/C Brian Flora, reasons 1.4 (b/d) 
 
1.  (C)  Charge delivered reftel demarche, regarding the 
appointment of Ahmad Azizi as Iran's ambassador to Canada, to 
Peter Boehm, Assistant Deputy Minister (North America) at 
Foreign Affairs Canada (FAC), on June 20.  Boehm, referring 
to the conversation last week between Under Secretary 
Nicholas Burns and Assistant Deputy Minister Jim Wright, 
welcomed the opportunity for us to present more information 
about our opposition to Azizi's appointment as Ambassador to 
Canada. 
 
2.  (C) Boehm emphasized that no decision had been made on 
whether to accredit Azizi, and reiterated that the GoC had 
been deliberating this issue for some time.  In response to 
Charge's question on the timeline for a decision, Boehm 
(protect) said that Tehran had been pushing Ottawa to make a 
decision before the Iranian elections last week.  Boehm 
couldn't provide a definitive timeline, but he gave his 
assurance that FAC would share with us whatever decision was 
made, before it was announced publicly. 
 
3.  (C) Continuing, Boehm said that FAC was in the process of 
checking with other missions on Azizi's history, given 
reports that Azizi might be considered a relative moderate 
(or one of the "good guys," as Boehm put it).  In addition, 
he noted that Azizi had served previously as Iran's 
Ambassador to Germany.  Boehm also stressed that the GoC had 
to consider its own bilateral relationship with Iran when 
making this decision, and the possible adverse impact a 
rejection of Azizi might have, particularly in terms of 
Ottawa's influence with Tehran on ongoing nuclear and human 
rights issues in Iran. 
 
4.  (C) In a parallel meeting, POL M/C registered U.S. 
concerns at a senior level in the Privy Council Office (PCO). 
 He met with Phil Ventura, the Assistant Secretary to the 
Cabinet for U.S.-Canada relations to make sure the PCO was 
aware of how strongly we felt about the Azizi nomination and 
the irritation his acceptance by Ottawa would cause among 
senior U.S. officials.  Ventura said he was preoccupied with 
SPP matters and was only vaguely aware of the discussion 
surrounding Azizi.  He agreed that it should be brought 
forward for senior PCO review, and promised to raise the 
issue with the Prime Minister's Senior Foreign Policy 
Advisor, Jonathan Fried. 
 
 
 
Visit Canada's Classified Web Site at 
http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/wha/ottawa 
 
RODDY