Argentina's Rafael Grossi was elected on Tuesday to head the UN's nuclear watchdog, which is tasked in particular with monitoring the implementation of the increasingly shaky Iran nuclear deal.

Grossi beat Romanian diplomat Cornel Feruta to become director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) following the death of the former head Yukiya Amano of Japan in July.

The election of Grossi, Argentina's ambassador to the IAEA, comes at a critical time for the Vienna-based agency as Iran is decreasing its commitments under the 2015 landmark deal.

US President Donald Trump last year withdrew from the agreement and proceeded to re-introduce sanctions, leaving Iran to press the remaining signatories to hold up economic benefits in return for its nuclear programme cutbacks.

Grossi received 24 votes to Feruta's 10 from the IAEA's 35-member Board of Governors in the third official round of voting, reaching the two-thirds majority needed to become the new director general.

- 'Broker for all' -

Grossi, who becomes the first IAEA head from Latin America and is believed to have had the backing of the US, said he was "delighted".

"The work of the agency is of the essence for international peace and security. This is clear for all of us," he told reporters after his election.

On monitoring Iran's nuclear activities, he said he would follow the mandate the IAEA member states have given him "in close consultation with those involved", adding the issue was of "the greatest concern for all".

Grossi will be appointed by board meeting, open to all of the IAEA's 171 member states, on Wednesday, after which a general conference is expected to approve the decision. The appointment is for a term of four years.

Feruta had been the organisation's acting director general since the death of Amano, who had led the agency since 2009. He died at age 72.

Grossi has said he wants to be "an honest broker for all" without a "hidden agenda".

"My approach with Iran will be very firm but very fair," the 58-year-old told AFP in a September interview.

Grossi, a seasoned diplomat, became Argentina's permanent representative to the United Nations in Vienna in 2013.

Prior to that he was at the IAEA from 2010, latterly as the assistant director general for policy and chief of cabinet.

- 'Shake things up' -

Both Grossi and Feruta had been lobbying strongly for the post with two other contenders -- Lassina Zerbo of Burkina Faso and Marta Ziakova of Slovakia -- dropping out earlier in the race.

"I think Grossi's style would be to shake things up a little more," one diplomat told AFP ahead of this week's voting, describing the Argentinian as hard-working and engaged.

"You can't fault his work ethic," the diplomat added.

The IAEA is tasked with monitoring Iran's nuclear activities to ensure they abide by the terms of the 2015 deal known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).

Tensions have been escalating between Iran and the United States since May last year when Trump pulled out of the nuclear accord and began reimposing sanctions.

The remaining partners in the deal with Iran are Britain, China, France, Germany and Russia.

The European parties have repeatedly said they are committed to saving the accord, but their efforts have so far borne little fruit.

Tehran has already hit back three times with countermeasures in response to the US withdrawal from the deal.

On July 1, Iran said it had increased its stockpile of enriched uranium to beyond a 300-kilogramme maximum set by the deal, and a week later it announced it had exceeded a 3.67-percent cap on the purity of its uranium stocks.

In its latest move it fired up advanced centrifuges to boost its enriched uranium stockpiles on September 7.

What is the IAEA? The global agency monitoring Iran nuclear deal
Vienna (AFP) Oct 29, 2019 - The UN's nuclear watchdog, which picked Argentina's Rafael Grossi as its new head on Tuesday, is charged with monitoring the implementation of the Iran nuclear deal as part of its efforts to prevent nuclear weapons proliferation worldwide.

The landmark 2015 agreement gave Iran relief from sanctions in return for curbs on its nuclear programme, but it has been pushed to the verge of collapse since US President Donald Trump withdrew from it last year and proceeded to re-introduce sanctions.

In retaliation, Iran has been scaling back its committments to limits on nuclear activities since earlier this year, putting pressure on the remaining signatories to the deal -- Britain, China, France, Germany and Russia.

The Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has had the delicate task of verifying the deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), through regular inspections of Iranian facilities.

- What role does the IAEA have in Iran? -

Set up in 1957, the IAEA has 171 member states and employs some 2,500 experts.

Its Board of Governors, comprising 35 states, meets five times a year.

The IAEA promotes peaceful uses of atomic energy while at the same time overseeing efforts to detect and prevent possible nuclear weapons proliferation.

Because of previous international concern over its nuclear programme, Iran agreed in 2003 to allow snap IAEA inspections of its nuclear facilities.

However, cooperation broke down in 2006. The IAEA referred Iran to the UN Security Council, which went on to impose sanctions, and Iran halted enhanced IAEA inspections.

A renewed diplomatic push eventually led to the JCPOA in 2015, under which the IAEA is charged with regular inspections of declared facilities in Iran such as uranium mines and centrifuge workshops for up to 25 years.

The aim is to ensure that Iran is not holding undeclared stocks of nuclear material and is not enriching uranium beyond a certain level.

But Tehran has already hit back three times with countermeasures this year in response to the US withdrawal from the nuclear deal.

In its latest move it fired up advanced centrifuges to boost its enriched uranium stockpiles. Iran has also broken the limits on uranium enrichment levels and the overall stockpile of enriched uranium laid down in the JCPOA.

- How do IAEA inspections work? -

The IAEA insists the inspection regime put in place by the JCPOA is the world's toughest.

Under the "Additional Protocol" agreed with Iran, inspectors may "conduct complementary access to any location in Iran".

The agency says that its inspection work has doubled since 2013.

Former IAEA head Yukiya Amano, who died in July, says the agency's inspectors spend 3,000 calendar days per year on the ground in Iran.

He has also highlighted the some 2,000 tamper-proof seals attached to nuclear material and equipment and the "hundreds of thousands of images captured daily by our sophisticated surveillance cameras", the number of which has almost doubled since 2013.

Amano has called the JCPOA "a significant gain for verification" and said its failure "would be a great loss for nuclear verification and for multilateralism".

- Agency under pressure -

In addition to the US withdrawing from the deal, Israel -- Iran's regional arch-foe -- has also been highly critical of the JCPOA.

In August 2017, Washington's envoy to the UN Nikki Haley urged the IAEA to widen its inspections, including to military sites.

A year later in an address to the UN General Assembly, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu claimed Iran had a "secret atomic warehouse" as part of a clandestine nuclear programme and called on the IAEA to inspect the site immediately.

In January, Amano rejected pressure on the agency, saying: "If our credibility is thrown into question, and, in particular, if attempts are made to micro-manage or put pressure on the Agency in nuclear verification, that is counter-productive and extremely harmful."

In recent reports on the JCPOA, the agency has also taken to reminding Iran that "timely and proactive co-operation" in providing access to locations it wishes to inspect would "enhance confidence".

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