Cablegate: Sri Lanka Supportive of Eu On Iran/Iaea Issue

This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.

UNCLAS COLOMBO 001654

SIPDIS

SENSITIVE

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PREL KNNP PARM IR MNUC TRGY CE IAEA
SUBJECT: SRI LANKA SUPPORTIVE OF EU ON IRAN/IAEA ISSUE

REF: A. STATE 168950
B. TOKYO 5039
C. COLOMBO 1408

1. (SBU) On September 16 poloff delivered Reftel A demarche
to V. Krishnamoorthy, Director of UN and Multilateral Affairs
at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Poloff followed up on
September 20, when Krishnamoorthy responded that the
Government of Sri Lanka (GSL) is "waiting to see" whether the
matter can be resolved within the IAEA rather than sending a
referral to the Security Council. Krishnamoorthy added that
the GSL has not/not yet decided what stance it will take on
the referral issue. In a separate September 20 conversation,
Assistant Director of UN and Multilateral Affairs Sumedha
Ekanayake told poloff that Sri Lanka has been strongly
supportive of the EU on this issue. He cited the late
Foreign Minister Kadirgamar's telephone call expressing the
EU's position to Iran's former Foreign Minister (Reftel C).

2. (SBU) Comment: While our sources here did not directly
confirm the Government of Japan's assessment (Reftel B), the
GSL seems willing to support the US and EU positions on this
issue; nevertheless, Sri Lanka's dependence on Iran's sale of
oil at a concessional price is also a significant factor.
LUNSTEAD

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