IAEA Picks Iran Envoy as VP of Its Special Session

The Second Special Session of the IAEA General Conference was held in Vienna on December 2 to approve the appointment of the IAEA’s new Secretary-General Rafael Grossi.

At the beginning of the session, Iran’s permanent representative in the international organizations in Vienna, Kazem Gharibabadi, was appointed by the IAEA’s Middle East and South Asia regional group as the vice president of the Special Session of the General Conference.

Back in October, the International Atomic Energy Agency picked Argentina’s Grossi as the UN nuclear watchdog’s next director general.

Grossi, 58, managed to secure the necessary two-thirds in a vote by the agency’s 35-nation Board of Governors to become the next chief of the nuclear watchdog, some three months after his predecessor, Yukiya Amano, died in office.

In a press conference following his victory, Grossi pledged to act independently and neutrally as the new chief of the IAEA.

“I will do my job and I think my job is to implement the mandate in a manner which is independent, which is fair, which is neutral,” Grossi told reporters when asked about Iran’s nuclear deal, which is arguably the most significant challenge he will have to tackle on his road ahead.