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OO RUEHWEB

DE RUEHVI #0138 0361503
ZNY SSSSS ZZH
O 051503Z FEB 10
FM AMEMBASSY VIENNA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 4133
INFO RUCNIRA/IRAN COLLECTIVE PRIORITY

S E C R E T VIENNA 000138 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPARTMENT FOR U/S BURNS, NEA (AMBASSADOR LIMBERT), CA, 
SCA/A AND S/SRAP 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/05/2020 
TAGS: CASC PREL IR AF AU
SUBJECT: AHMADINEJAD ADVISOR TELLS AUSTRIAN DIPLOMAT AMCIT 
HIKERS WILL BE RELEASED; IRAN MAY JOIN AFGHANISTAN 
CONFERENCE 
 
REF: A. VIENNA 46 
     ¶B. VIENNA 100 
 
Classified by: DCM Christopher Hoh for reasons 1.4 (b) and 
(d). 
 
¶1. (S) Summary: Michael Postl, former Austrian Ambassador to 
Iran, gave Embassy Vienna and UNVIE Poloffs a readout 
February 5 of his meeting in Geneva with Esfandiar Rahim 
Mashaie, chief of staff to Iranian President Ahmadinejad, on 
February 1.  Postl said Mashaie told him the three Amcit 
hikers detained in Iran would be released soon.  In the 
meantime, Mashaie said, it could take two weeks to arrange 
for the Amcits to contact relatives and have access to 
lawyers and consular officials.  Mashaie also said he would 
consider recommending that the Government of Iran send a 
representative to an Afghanistan conference to be held in 
late February near Vienna.  End Summary. 
 
Amcit Detainees 
--------------- 
 
¶2. (S) Postl told Mashaie that the Amcit hikers were 
important to him, as he had raised the issue frequently with 
Iranian officials in Teheran before leaving post.  He noted 
that Mashaie had told him in September that the Amcits would 
be released by mid-October.  Mashaie assured Postl that the 
Amcits would be released, and would tell the world that they 
had been treated well.  He averred that there were two 
reasons for Iran's failure to release the detainees in 
October: 1) The USG raised the issue in the Geneva talks 
October, which, in the Iranian view, linked the case to the 
nuclear issue, and to Iranian nuclear physicist Shahram 
Amiri, who Iran claims was captured by the U.S. in Saudi 
Arabia; and 2) the Note Verbale delivered by the Swiss 
Ambassador in Teheran on the case contained "harsh language" 
and the Swiss Ambassador's handling of the matter was "not 
constructive." 
 
¶3. (S) Postl said he pressed Mashaie to move quickly to allow 
the Amcits to contact their families and to have access to 
their lawyers and Swiss consular officials.  Mashaie said he 
would "look into it."  Mashaie then asserted that there were 
11 Iranians in U.S. prisons, "Just to let you know that Iran 
has similar problems."  Postl asked whether he was trying to 
link the two issues, and whether he had evidence that the 
U.S. was denying the Iranian prisoners access to lawyers and 
relatives.  Mashaie said there was no linkage, and that he 
did not have information indicating the Iranians were being 
denied their rights.  However, he said, he was under pressure 
from the prisoners' families, who claim they are not aware of 
the charges against their relatives. 
 
¶4. (S) Mashaie refused to guarantee the near-term release of 
the hikers, but reiterated that he would follow up and is 
hopeful that there will be a "sign" within two weeks.  Postl 
recommended that the USG not take any actions or make any 
"big noises" on the Amcit case for the next two weeks to 
allow time for Mashaie to follow through.  Poloffs said they 
would make Washington aware of Postl's views. 
 
Afghanistan 
----------- 
 
¶5. (C) Postl argued that Iran should play a more constructive 
role in Afghanistan, and argued that it was a mistake not to 
participate in the London Conference.  Mashaie said Iran does 
not trust the British government and asserted that conference 
participants would not have listened to Iran's viewpoints. 
Postl noted that there will be another Afghanistan conference 
outside of Vienna February 25-28 (reftel B) and urged Iran to 
send a representative.  Mashaie appeared to reject the idea 
at first, noting that Iran had never supported the Taliban 
and implying that the U.S. was responsible for the problems 
in Afghanistan, "So why should we help solve it?"  He also 
griped that if Iran held an Afghanistan conference in Tehran, 
"Who would come?"  Nevertheless, he said he would consider 
recommending participation in the February conference.  Postl 
suggested to Poloffs that if Iran were to send a 
representative, U.S. participants might want to arrange a 
side meeting. 
 
¶6. (C) Other subjects covered during Postl's readout will be 
reported UNVIE septel. 
EACHO