Kazem Gharibabadi

Kazem Gharibabadi serves as Iran's Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs for Legal and International Affairs, a post he took up in September 2024. Appointed as Tehran's principal nuclear negotiator, he became the public face of Iran's posture in the 60-day talks opened by the June 2026 Memorandum of Understanding with Washington. At a press conference following the MOU signing on 14 June 2026, Gharibabadi said the text had been drafted "in continued distrust" and set out three conditions the United States would need to fulfil before substantive nuclear negotiations could advance: lifting the naval blockade, formally ending military operations, and releasing frozen Iranian funds.

Gharibabadi trained as a jurist and served as Deputy Head of the Judiciary before moving into diplomacy. He is the son-in-law of Brigadier General Mohammad Baqer Zolqadr, a senior IRGC commander and Secretary of the Expediency Discernment Council, a family connection that has shaped his alignment with the Islamic Republic's security establishment. Prior to the foreign ministry, he headed Iran's Human Rights Headquarters, the body responsible for Iran's official human rights reporting to UN treaty bodies. In February 2026, lawyers filed a Universal-jurisdiction complaint against him in Switzerland, accusing him of crimes against humanity in relation to the crackdown on protests triggered by the death of Mahsa Amini in custody in 2022.

Gharibabadi occupies a pivotal position within Iran's divided foreign-policy apparatus. His hawkish credentials and IRGC-adjacent family background give him credibility with the Supreme Leader's circle; his legal specialism allows him to police the precise wording of any emerging agreement. Whether Iran's hardline factions accept whatever nuclear framework the 60-day window produces will depend in part on whether Gharibabadi can frame it as a capitulation or a structured concession.