Cablegate: Demarche -Iranian President's Increasing Extremism

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

UNCLAS OTTAWA 003233

SIPDIS

SENSITIVE

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PHUM PREL PTER CA IR
SUBJECT: DEMARCHE -IRANIAN PRESIDENT'S INCREASING EXTREMISM

REF: SECSTATE 199225

SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED. HANDLE ACCORDINGLY.

1. (SBU) Poloff discussed reftel with Foreign Affairs Deputy
Director for Iran and Iraq Jeffrey McLaren on October 28.
McLaren concurred with the points in our non-paper. He said
that upon learning of Ahmadi-Nejad's remarks on October 26,
Assistant Deputy Minister David Mulroney immediately brought
in the Iranian Charge d'Affaires, Abbas Assemi, to convey
Canada's outrage. Apparently, Assemi was "completely
unaware" of Ahmadi-Nejad's speech, though he said he would
report Canada's reaction to Tehran.

2. (U) Foreign Minister Pettigrew vigorously condemned the
extremist statements of the Iranian President regarding
Israel in the following statement issued October 26:

"On behalf of all Canadians, I want to vigorously condemn the
remarks made by Iran's President. We are in the 21st
century. Canada will never accept such hatred, intolerance
and anti-Semitism. Never.

We believe that this extreme view does not reflect the
opinion of the Iranian people.

The comments are all the more troubling given Iran's nuclear
ambitions and its refusal to cooperate fully with
International Atomic Energy Agency inspectors. This refusal
underlines the need for all countries to stand together to
ensure that Iran is prevented from developing nuclear
weaponry. In fact, during her recent visit to Ottawa, U.S.
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and I discussed how to

SIPDIS
address nuclear proliferation in Iran, including the
possibility that the UN Security Council may have to send a
strong message."

3. (U) Prime Minister Martin reiterated Canada's condemnation
of Ahmadi-Nejad's remarks in the House of Commons on October
27.

Visit Canada's Classified Web Site at
http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/wha/ottawa

WILKINS

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