The chief architect of Iran’s new oil contracts has said domestic companies linked to the country’s Revolutionary Guards may be approved to partner international energy majors. Speaking on the sidelines of the Oil & Money conference in London on Tuesday, Seyed Mehdi Hosseini said he was not opposed to companies owned by or linked to the elite military unit with deep ties throughout the Iranian economy taking part in joint ventures. “The point of these Revolutionary Guards is that they are engineering companies, normal engineering companies, that have done something in Iran, they have got experience,” said Mr Hosseini. “It depends on the quality and selection of the IOCs [international oil companies],” he said. “If the IOCs want to work with them, we have no problem. We are not going to interfere in the private negotiations between private companies and the IOCs on what kind of arrangement they have.”