Iran says memorandum with US finalised, signed by both presidents

The memorandum of understanding between Iran and the United States has officially entered into force after being formally signed by the presidents of both nations, with the final text now approved and adopted, Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson announced on June 17.

Esmaeil Baghaei said the agreement was signed electronically rather than through a traditional ceremony, Caliber.Az reports, citing Press TV.

According to him, no signing ceremony will be held in Switzerland.

Baghaei noted that the decision to have the document endorsed by the top leaders of both countries was made deliberately, taking previous experiences into account.

"When the text is signed by the highest authorities of both countries, violating it will naturally carry greater costs. Given our past experiences, we preferred that this happen," Baghaei added.

He further stressed that discussions were still ongoing regarding whether the Iranian negotiating delegation would travel to Geneva, although the signing process itself had already been completed electronically.

"The text of the Iran-US memorandum of understanding is now officially finalized because both parties have signed it," he said.

Baghaei also addressed the gap between the completion of the memorandum on June 21 and its public release on June 17, attributing it to routine diplomatic procedures and the need for coordination with mediators involved in the process.

"In every diplomatic process, there are procedures that the relevant parties try to adhere to. The mediators' views are also important so that they can bring this process to the desired conclusion," Baghaei emphasised.

He further stated that both sides had agreed to refrain from releasing the document before the negotiations were fully completed.

Nevertheless, in his view, Iranian authorities had already made the key elements of the agreement public.

"If we review the text now, we will see that there was nothing left unsaid during this period. We had expressed all the issues more or less. We may not have gone into details on some points, but regarding the overall issues, we had mentioned all of them," he explained.

By Bakhtiyar Abbasov