US embassy cable - 03AMMAN2505

S E C R E T AMMAN 002505 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/28/2013 
TAGS: PREL, IR, JO 
SUBJECT: IRANIAN DEPUTY FONMIN IN AMMAN TALKS IRAQ, PEACE 
PROCESS; KHARAZI EXPRESSES CONCERNS ABOUT MEK ON 
JORDAN-IRAQ BORDER 
 
REF: A. FBIS IAP20030423000043 
     B. FBIS GMP20030423000137 
     C. FBIS IAP20030423000076 
 
Classified By: PolCouns Doug Silliman for reasons 1.5 (B) and (D) 
 
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IRANIAN IN AMMAN 
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1.  (SBU)  Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister for Arab and 
African Affairs, Sayed Mohammed Sadr, visited Amman April 23. 
 He met with King Abdullah -- for whom he carried a message 
from President Khatami -- and Foreign Minister Marwan 
Muasher.  The official press releases following the meetings 
(refs) presented a decidedly moderate discussion.  The most 
radical statement attributed to Sadr was that "the Zionist 
regime of Israel should be strongly considered a serious 
threat to the region." 
 
2.  (S)  Ali al-Ayed, FonMin Muasher's personal assistant, 
told PolCouns April 24 that Sadr took an even more moderate 
line in private with the Jordanians.  Sadr told FonMin 
Muasher that Iran supports "the same outcome in Iraq as 
Jordan" -- the emergence of a strong, stable Iraqi state.  On 
the peace process, Ayed said Sadr expressed pessimism that 
the formation of a new Palestinian cabinet and presentation 
of the Roadmap would lead to concrete progress, not because 
of the process itself, but because the Iranian government 
doubts whether Israeli PM Sharon will be willing to reach an 
acceptable settlement with Palestinians.  "Sadr seemed to be 
completely in the reformist camp," Ayed commented. 
 
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KHARAZI CONCERNED ABOUT MEK IN IRAQ 
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3.  (S)  Separately, Foreign Minister Muasher told the 
Ambassador and PolCouns April 21 that, during the April 18 
meeting of Iraq's neighbors in Riyadh, Iranian Foreign 
Minister Kharazi asked that Jordan admit a number of 
Iraq-based members of the Mujeddin-e-Khalq (MEK) terrorist 
group currently stuck at the Iraq-Jordan border.  Kharazi 
asked that Jordan then arrest the MEK members and extradite 
them to Iraq.  Muasher commented that "this is a political 
headache we don't need" and said that Jordan would not admit 
the MEK members.  Muasher asked Kharazi about the nearly 1000 
Iranian Kurdish refugees also at the border (who had fled the 
UNHCR-run refugee camp at al-Tash, west of Baghdad).  Kharazi 
said these refugees "were not Iranian and would not be 
admitted to Iran."  Again, Muasher commented, Jordan would 
not admit these Iranians into its territory. 
 
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COMMENT 
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4.  (S)  Despite the moderate nature of these discussions, 
the Jordanians understand the dual nature of the Iranian 
government, and remain concerned about continued Iranian 
support for Hizballah and other regional terrorist groups. 
Last year, three members of Hizbollah were arrested in Jordan 
trying to smuggle arms to the West Bank:  the Iranians 
intervened with Jordan to secure their release.  In addition, 
a recent seizure of U.S.-produced C-4 being smuggled from 
Syria into Jordan originated in Iran (and had been shipped to 
Iran by the U.S. in 1978).  It is this kind of Iranian 
behavior that has caused the King to postpone several times 
acceptance of an invitation to visit Teheran. 
GNEHM