The new Iranian Petroleum Contract (IPC) requires reforms before it can be offered to international oil companies (IOCs), according to Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.

The Iranian government is preparing the IPC model to attract foreign investment in its oil and gas sector after the lifting of nuclear-related sanctions in January.

“These contracts will not be signed unless the necessary reforms are implemented in the framework of national interests,” Khamenei was quoted as saying by the Iranian Tasnim news agency.

Minister of Petroleum Bijan Zanganeh, who has been working on the contract model for almost three years, said in an interview published on 11 June by Seda Weekly that the first deal with a foreign company will be signed within three months, but that the ministry is still making revisions to the IPC.

The terms of the IPC are a contentious issue within Iran’s political establishment, with hardline conservative factions seeking to block any model that relinquishes too much control of oil reserves to overseas companies.

Companies developing oil assets under the previous buy-back contracts, launched in the 1990s, were reported to have made little profit or even incur losses.