Vienna (AFP)

The world's nuclear policeman gets a new boss at a time when tensions are exacerbating around the Iranian case: discussions with Tehran will be at the heart of the mandate of the Argentinean Rafael Grossi at the head of the International Agency of Atomic Energy (IAEA).

Grossi, who will be officially appointed on Monday, will head the only international body with access to Iran's nuclear facilities thanks to the agreement signed in 2015 between the Islamic Republic and the major powers.

Who is the new director of the IAEA?

A 58-year-old diplomat, Rafael Grossi is familiar with the IAEA, where from 2010 to 2013 he held positions that led him to talk directly with Iranian officials.

Ambassador of Argentina to Austria since 2013, he was the representative of the country at the IAEA.

On non-proliferation issues, François Nicoullaud, former French ambassador to Iran, considers the diplomat "impressive", "of a very good caliber".

Diplomats who met him, questioned by AFP, praised his "professional ethics" and his "energy". One thinks it will make nuclear promotion in the battle against climate change an important topic.

Grossi emerged victorious after a tight duel with Romania's Cornel Feruta, who was interim head of the agency.

The election of a new director is linked to the death in July of Japan's Yukiya Amano, who led the IAEA for ten years.

Mr. Grossi is the sixth director of the IAEA since the agency's inception in 1957 and the first from a South American country.

What is the IAEA doing in Iran?

The UN agency is responsible for verifying on the ground Tehran's application of the 2015 nuclear agreement signed with the major powers to ensure that Iran does not acquire nuclear weapons.

Mr. Grossi takes office as this historic agreement is being disintegrated since the United States withdrew in 2018.

In response to the reinstatement of US sanctions, Tehran has been implementing a plan to withdraw from the agreement since May and is stepping up its nuclear activities. The country exceeds in particular the stock of enriched uranium provided by the text, the rate of enrichment and the quantity of heavy water authorized and modernizes its centrifuges.

The IAEA estimates that the inspection regime for Iranian sites set up since 2015 is the hardest in the world. To date, inspectors' access to Iranian facilities has not been questioned.

The challenge for this agency with technical skills is to maintain its reputation for neutrality, insensitive to the many political pressures in the Iranian file.

Rafael Grossi's candidacy for the IAEA was supported by the United States, but diplomats questioned by AFP put forward his "independence" and his "ability to withstand pressure from wherever they come".

What are the developments to watch for?

Frictions in cooperation between Tehran and the IAEA have been made public in recent months.

The Vienna agency asked Tehran for an explanation of the nature of past activities on an undeclared site where traces of uranium have been found.

Iran's latest responses on this point were not considered satisfactory.

A rare incident involving an IAEA inspector briefly prevented at the end of October from leaving Iran after setting off a security alarm at an inspected site provoked a tense exchange between the Islamic Republic and the Agency.

A Vienna-based diplomat said that "even countries that normally understand Iran" did not support Tehran's reaction to the episode.

On the diplomatic side, the Europeans, China, Russia, who remain parties to the 2015 agreement, lack arguments to convince Iranian officials to return to the strict application of the text.

A new meeting of representatives of these countries with Iranian officials will take place Friday in Vienna.

Teheran announced for early January an additional step of intensifying its nuclear program.

Europeans have recently raised their voices, threatening to trigger a mechanism that may lead to a reinstatement of UN sanctions against Iran. This measure would sign the "death knell" of the agreement, according to analyst Kelsey Davenport, Institute Arms Control.

© 2019 AFP