In comments on Monday, Kazem Gharibabadi said that after the meeting of the high-level committee tasked with following up the implementation of the Islamabad memorandum of understanding was held on Sunday and continued until the early hours of Monday, technical negotiations were also conducted to determine the executive mechanisms for carrying out the memorandum and the statement issued at the conclusion of the high-level meeting.
He said the talks resulted in the necessary understandings among the parties.
According to Gharibabadi, based on the agreements reached, future negotiations will be conducted under the supervision of the high-level committee and attended by the speaker of Iran’s Parliament, the Iranian foreign minister, the US vice president, and the prime ministers of Pakistan and Qatar.
He added that the parties also agreed to establish four working groups focusing on sanctions termination, nuclear issues, reconstruction and economic development, and monitoring and implementation.
The head of Iran’s technical negotiating delegation further stated that, in line with the understandings of the high-level committee and the final statement issued after the Sunday night’s talks, it was decided to create a contact point among the memorandum’s member states to facilitate the safe passage of commercial vessels through the Strait of Hormuz.
He added that a separate de-confliction cell concerning Lebanon would also be formed among the member states together with Pakistan and Qatar.
Gharibabadi said the heads of the technical delegations of the four countries will oversee and guide the activities of the four working groups and the two newly established cells and will report their progress to the high-level committee.
The Iranian deputy foreign minister also stressed that the technical talks addressed follow-up measures aimed at obtaining a general license for the sale of Iranian oil, petrochemical products and petroleum products, along with all related services.
According to him, the understandings also covered the release of blocked Iranian assets.
“Accordingly, a general license for the sale of oil, petrochemical products, petroleum products and related services was issued by the US side and published on the OFAC website,” Gharibabadi said.
He added that, under the understandings, arrangements were made for the immediate implementation of agreements concerning the release of $12 billion in blocked funds, consisting of two tranches of $6 billion.