Rafael Grossi Photo: VCG

 
Veteran Argentine diplomat Rafael Grossi was sworn in on Monday as the new director general of the UN's nuclear watchdog the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), with the growing crisis over Iran's nuclear program at the top of his in-tray.

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.

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

Grossi began his tenure amid a growing crisis over Iran's nuclear program.

The IAEA is charged with monitoring the implementation of the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, which seems in danger of imminent collapse.

Without mentioning Iran by name, in his first speech to IAEA member states on Monday, Grossi praised the agency's "impartial, accurate system of inspections." "No one else can do what we can do, no one else can provide this credible assurance that nobody is diverting nuclear material  to make nuclear weapons," he said. 

Diplomats from Iran and the other remaining parties to the deal - the UK, France, Germany, China and Russia - will gather in Vienna on Friday to discuss ways forward for the crumbling deal.