Next IAEA Chief Capable Of Preserving Verification Regime Under Iran Nuclear Deal - NGO

The next chief of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) is a very experienced diplomat who will be able to keep Iran in line, the chief executive of the Nuclear Threat Initiative said Friday

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 08th November, 2019) The next chief of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) is a very experienced diplomat who will be able to keep Iran in line, the chief executive of the Nuclear Threat Initiative said Friday.

Rafael Grossi was appointed in October to succeed late IAEA Director General Yukiya Amano. He will take over in December amid an escalating row with Iran, which has been ratcheting up uranium enrichment after being targeted by renewed US sanctions.

"Whoever is the DG [Director General] I think plays a very important personal role in the interactions with the very senior Iranians. Rafael Grossi is very experienced in the diplomatic world. So I have a lot of confidence that he will continue that," Ernest Moniz told reporters in Moscow.

Moniz, whose US-based nonprofit has been working with governments to reduce their reliance on nuclear weapons, said Grossi's number one priority would be maintaining the verification regime under the 2015 deal, which includes inspections of Iranian nuclear facilities.

"I think Grossi will be quite up to the test," he added.

Iran took another step away this week from its commitments not to develop its nuclear program when it said it began injecting uranium gas into centrifuges at an underground facility. Washington fears that Tehran wants to reduce its "break-out" time, which is the time it takes to accumulate enough nuclear material to build a bomb.