TEHRAN – Kazem Gharibabadi, the current secretary of Iran's High Council for Human Rights, is set to be appointed to spearhead potential nuclear negotiations with the P4 + 1 group of countries, according to reports from Agah Newspaper. 

Agah says Gharibabadi will oversee a dedicated table for nuclear negotiations and sanctions relief at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He will also be designated as the Deputy for Legal and International Affairs in the coming days. 

The official has been serving as Iran’s top rights official and the Iranian Judiciary’s International Director since 2021.  Previously, he was Iran’s permanent representative to the UN office in Vienna, Iran’s representative at the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), and the country’s ambassador to the Netherlands. 

As Iran’s top nuclear negotiator, a role previously held by current Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi and former acting top diplomat Ali Baqeri Kani, Gharibabadi will be overseeing potential talks with the remaining signatories to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).

The JCPOA was a deal signed between Iran and the P5+1 group of countries (the U.S., UK, France, Germany, China, and Russia) that limited Tehran’s nuclear program in exchange for the termination of sanctions. The pact was scrapped by Washington in 2018 when then-President Donald Trump announced Washington’s withdrawal and reinstated sanctions against Iran. 

Multiple rounds of revival talks were held after Washington’s exit from the deal when Joe Biden came to office in 2021, but none came to fruition. The last round of negotiations was held in 2022.