“As DG Grossi has previously stated, he aims to establish constructive working relationship w/ Iran,” the IAEA said in a tweet on its website Saturday.

Grossi met with Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi in Vienna on Friday. Araghchi was in Vienna to participate in the joint commission of the JCPOA.

In another tweet, the IAEA said, “IAEA Director-General @rafaelmgrossi met Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister @araghchi on Friday to discuss the Agency’s safeguards activities in Iran, including verification and monitoring of the country’s nuclear-related commitments under the JCPOA, and other issues.”

Grossi was appointed as the new director-general of the IAEA in October, following the death of the previous chief Yukiya Amano in July. He officially took office as director-general of the UN nuclear watchdog on Tuesday.

In an interview with NHK published on November 30, Grossi said that he wants to develop a constructive relationship with the Iranians.

Iranian Ambassador and Permanent Representative to the International Organizations in Vienna Kazzem Qaribabadi said on December 2 that the IAEA should be “impartial” in its dealings with Iran.

“Maintaining constructive working relations between Iran and the Agency is of paramount importance, which we believe that it should be carried out in an impartial, professional and independent manner, void of any hidden political agenda,” he said at the IAEA Second Special General Conference.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Abbas Mousavi said on October 31 that Iran is ready to expand cooperation with the IAEA based on “mutual trust” and adoption of a professional approach by the UN nuclear body.

“The Islamic Republic of Iran is ready to maintain and expand constructive interaction and cooperation with the Agency based on mutual respect and professional precision and neutrality of this institution,” he said in a message, congratulating Grossi as the new director of the IAEA.

Mousavi expressed hope that Grossi would fulfill his international duties professionally by adopting an independent position.

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“To put deadlines might not be the best idea,” Rafael Grossi told Reuters in an interview when asked how long he was willing to give Iran to provide an explanation that holds water on the particles of processed but not enriched uranium that IAEA inspectors say they have found at a warehouse near Tehran.

“This would for me mean that we would be in a very … an antagonistic relationship where basically one side would be resisting and then I as DG would need to be putting deadlines,” he said, adding, “We need to work together … Time is always of the essence.”

Grossi, a 58-year-old career diplomat from Argentina, took over as director-general of the International Atomic Energy Agency on Tuesday.

Grossi, a veteran of nuclear diplomacy who worked as a senior IAEA official from 2010 to 2013, has said he already knows some of the main decision-makers in Iran, but he has yet to meet senior Iranian officials since taking office.

He hopes he can help set a new tone with the Islamic Republic in his first face-to-face talks, starting this week on the sidelines of a meeting in Vienna of parties to Iran’s landmark 2015 nuclear deal with world powers. Iran’s delegation is usually led by Deputy Foreign Minister Seyyed Abbas Araqchi.

“I’m the new kid on the block in this relationship. They’ve been there, now they get a new DG, so we have to sit down together, start talking and take it from there,” he said.

“Let me start my conversation with Iran. I don’t think it would be appropriate, and it would be unfair, to pronounce myself about their attitudes before I sit down with them.”

Grossi has said he will be “firm but fair” on inspections generally, including in Iran, without spelling out what that means. He said he is satisfied with the work the IAEA’s inspections team has been doing.

While he has said he plans to communicate more actively than his late predecessor Yukiya Amano, he said that, like Amano, he would not voice an opinion on the state of the nuclear deal, which is on the verge of collapse since a US pullout from the accord last year and reimposition of sanctions on Iran.

Instead, the IAEA will stick to providing technical updates on Iran’s nuclear activities.

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