New head at UN nuclear watchdog as Iran tensions rise

VIENNA, Austria — Veteran Argentine diplomat Rafael Grossi is sworn in as the new director general of the UN’s nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

He tells reporters that Iran’s nuclear program — at the root of a growing international crisis — is a “priority” for the agency and that he plans to travel to Iran in “the relatively near future.”

Grossi had been serving as Argentina’s ambassador to the IAEA and is the agency’s first leader from Latin America.

He previously held high-level posts at the agency between 2010 and 2013 bringing him into contact with Iranian officials at a time when international negotiations over Iran’s nuclear activities were intensifying.

According to the former French ambassador to Iran, Francois Nicoullaud, Grossi will able to draw on “solid experience in proliferation matters.”

“He is someone of a very high caliber who comes from an important country in the nuclear field,” says Nicoullaud.

A current Vienna-based diplomat says on condition of anonymity that Grossi was expected to bring “a lot of energy and innovation” to the post, with a particular focus on pushing gender parity within the agency and promoting the role of nuclear energy in fighting climate change.

Grossi will be taking over from Yukiya Amano, who died in July at the age of 72 having been in the post since 2009.

— AFP