TEHRAN – Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi has expressed his condolences over the death of Yukiya Amano, the chief of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), who passed away at the age of 72.

“My deep condolences for #Amano demise. We worked very closely. I commend his skillful & professional performance as DG of IAEA resulted in complete closure of so-called #PMD & 15 consecutive reports confirming Iran’s full compliance to the #JCPOA. May the Almighty bless his soul,” Araqchi said in a tweet on Monday.

Earlier on Monday, the IAEA secretariat said in a note to member states that “the Secretariat of the International Atomic Energy Agency regrets to inform with deepest sadness of the passing away of Director General Yukiya Amano.”

Last week, the agency said that Amano’s health problems had forced him to plan an early end to his term, which was originally set to expire in December 2021.

The 72-year-old Japanese diplomat had held the position of IAEA director general since 2009, taking over from Mohamed ElBaradei and steering the UN agency through a period of intense diplomacy over Iran’s nuclear program.

His death coincides with a sharp escalation of tensions between Iran and the West following Washington’s decision last year to quit a 2015 international deal under which Tehran agreed to some limitations on its nuclear program in return for termination of economic sanctions.

President Donald Trump has reimposed U.S. sanctions on Iran, and the fate of the landmark deal, which the IAEA has been overseeing, is unclear.

Amano had, on several occasions, reaffirmed Iran’s compliance with its nuclear-related commitments under the deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). 

MH/PA