C O N F I D E N T I A L USUN NEW YORK 000254
SIPDIS
SIPDIS
E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/19/2018
TAGS: PARM, IR, UNSC, MNUC, ETTC, KNNP
SUBJECT: UN/IRAN SANCTIONS: CHAIRMAN DELIVERS QUARTERLY
REPORT TO COUNCIL; SANCTIONS COMMITTEE DISCUSSES FUTURE WORK
REF: STATE 27142
Classified By: MINISTER-COUNSELOR JEFFREY DELAURENTIS, FOR REASONS 1.4
(B) AND (D)
IRAN SANCTIONS COMMITTEE CHAIRMAN REPORTS TO THE COUNCIL
1. (C) On March 17, Belgian PermRep and Iran Sanctions
Committee Chair Johan Verbeke presented his fifth quarterly
report on the Committee's work to the Security Council. From
December 19 to March 17, the Committee received one report on
the implementation of UNSCR 1737, bringing the total to 88
member states reporting pursuant to UNSCR 1737 and 72
reporting pursuant to UNSCR 1747. Verbeke stressed the
importance of the timely submission of outstanding
implementation reports and member state diligence in
monitoring cargo to and from Iran, and pledged that the
committee would continue to "discharge its expanded mandate
carefully."
2. (C) USUN and Burkina Faso made statements following the
Chairman's briefing. Ambassador Wolff urged member states to
submit outstanding reports as soon as possible, stating, "the
international community has good reason to be concerned about
Iran's activities to acquire nuclear weapons capability."
Ambassador Wolff also reiterated the need to support the
IAEA's efforts and to continue to increase pressure on Iran
while also offering a path to negotiations. Burkina Faso
PermRep Kafando advocated clarifying reporting formats,
suggesting that the Committee develop a standardized form to
assist member states in preparing their reports.
SANCTIONS COMMITTEE INFORMAL MEETING
3. (C) On March 18, the Iran Sanctions Committee met
informally to discuss updating the Committee's guidelines to
reflect the new tasks contained in UNSCR 1803. The Committee
also agreed to write to the IAEA to seek an update on its
implementation of paragraph 16 of UNSCR 1803, and South
Africa proposed repeating the language of the Committee's
August 2007 letter to the IAEA. The Chair will also send a
letter to remind Member States that have not fulfilled their
reporting requirements under UNSCRS 1737 and 1747 to do so.
4. (C) Echoing its comments from the previous day's Council
meeting, Burkina Faso expressed concern that not all member
states understood how to prepare implementation reports, and
suggested that the Committee develop a questionnaire to
assist states with reporting. China and Russia cautioned
that any such guidance must fall within the Committee's
mandate, and argued that providing states with a
questionnaire would be outside of the Committee's purview.
USUN advocated considering alternative ways to provide
guidance, and noted that other committees (note: such as the
North Korea Sanctions Committee) had agreed to ways of
assisting states in their reporting duties. The UK and
France strongly supported the idea of assisting states and
stressed the need for expediency in reaching a decision on
the matter, but noted that states must comply with the 60-day
reporting deadline notwithstanding further Committee
discussions.
5. (C) The Committee also agreed to the Chairman's proposal
to create a consolidated list of all persons and entities
listed in the annexes of UNSCRs 1737, 1747 and 1803, which
will be posted on the Committee's website, and to assign
permanent reference numbers to each entry.
KHALILZAD