WANA (Jun 23) – Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister and head of Iran’s technical negotiating team, Kazem Gharibabadi, announced that four-party talks have concluded with an agreement on the framework and arrangements for future negotiations.

 

Gharibabadi, who is leading Iran’s expert delegation in talks with the United States and is currently in Switzerland, said that following the meeting of the High-Level Committee tasked with overseeing the implementation of the Islamabad Memorandum of Understanding on Sunday—which continued into the early hours of Monday—technical discussions were held to determine the mechanisms for implementing the memorandum and the final statement issued after the high-level meeting. He said the parties reached the necessary understandings on these issues.

 

According to Gharibabadi, future negotiations will be conducted under the supervision of the High-Level Committee, with the participation of Iran’s Parliament Speaker and Foreign Minister, the U.S. Vice President, and the prime ministers of Pakistan and Qatar.

 

He added that four working groups would be established focusing on sanctions termination, nuclear issues, reconstruction and economic development, and monitoring and implementation.

 

The Iranian official also stated that, in line with the understandings reached by the High-Level Committee and the final communiqué issued after the previous night’s talks, the parties agreed to establish a coordination point among member states of the memorandum to facilitate the safe passage of commercial vessels through the Strait of Hormuz.

 

A separate deconfliction unit concerning Lebanon will also be formed, involving the memorandum’s member states as well as Pakistan and Qatar.

 

Gharibabadi said the heads of the four countries’ technical delegations will oversee and guide the activities of the working groups and the two newly established units, while reporting their progress to the High-Level Committee.

 

He further noted that the technical talks addressed efforts to secure a general license authorizing the sale of Iranian oil, petrochemical products, petroleum products, and all related services, as well as arrangements concerning the release of blocked Iranian assets.

 

According to Gharibabadi, the United States has issued the general license and published it on the website of the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC).

 

He added that previously signed agreements regarding the release of $12 billion in frozen Iranian funds—consisting of two separate tranches of $6 billion each—are set to enter the implementation phase immediately.