VIENNA (AP) — Yukiya Amano, the Japanese diplomat who led the International Atomic Energy Agency for a decade and was extensively involved in negotiations over Iran’s controversial nuclear program, has died at 72, the agency announced Monday.
Amano, who had wide experience in disarmament, non-proliferation diplomacy and nuclear energy, had been chief of the key U.N. agency that regulates nuclear issues worldwide since 2009.
The news of his death comes at a time of increasing concerns and escalating tensions over Iran’s nuclear program, after U.S. President Trump left a 2015 deal with world powers that restricted the country’s nuclear uranium enrichment. Amano was heavily involved in the yearslong negotiations that led to the landmark Iran nuclear deal.
As head of the IAEA, Amano also dealt with the aftermath of the devastating 2011 Fukushima nuclear accident in Japan.
The IAEA Secretariat did not give a cause of death for Amano, or say where or when he died. Two European diplomats, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said he had cancer.
It was not immediately clear who would succeed Amano on an interim basis. The IAEA said its flag will be lowered to half-mast in tribute to its leader.
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The agency said Amano was planning to write soon to its board of governors announcing his decision to step down. It released part of that letter, in which Amano praised the agency for delivering “concrete results to achieve the objective of ’Atoms for Peace and Development.’” Amano added that he was “very proud of our achievements and grateful” to IAEA member states and agency staff.
Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi expressed his condolences over Amano’s death, writing on Twitter that they had worked closely together and commending his professionalism. He said they had ensured Iran’s compliance with the JCPOA, the nuclear accord that Iran struck with world powers in 2015 that is now unraveling under pressure from the Trump administration.
The U.S. unilaterally withdrew from the accord a year ago and Iran has recently inched past limits of its uranium enrichment set out in the accord.
Amano’s death will be a strong blow for the nuclear agency, said Adnan Tabatabai, an expert with the Center for Applied Research in Partnership with the Orient in Bonn, Germany.
“While I am convinced that the IAEA as an institution will be able to continue its work dedicated to nuclear non-proliferation, the loss of a personality like Yukiya Amano, who had embodied this dedication, will add to an already highly delicate and complex situation with regards to the nuclear agreement with Iran,” he told The Associated Press.
Tabatabai suggested that opponents of the nuclear agreement would “try to seize this opportunity to further weaken the position of the IAEA.”
“It is therefore of upmost importance that the agency immediately gets its act together and presents Amano’s successor, who will have to come out in strong support” of the Iran nuclear deal, he said.
The European Union’s foreign policy chief, Federica Mogherini, tweeted that she was saddened by Amano’s death and called him “a man of extraordinary dedication & professionalism, always at the service of the global community in the most impartial way.”
In addition to the Iran nuclear talks and the Fukushima disaster, Amano contributed to the 1995, 2000 and 2005 Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty Review conferences and chaired the 2007 preparatory committee for the 2010 Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty Review Conference.
Amano was Japan’s representative to the agency from 2005 until his election as director general in July 2009, including a stint as chair of its board of governors from 2005-2006.
A graduate of the Tokyo University Faculty of Law, Amano joined the Japanese Foreign Ministry in 1972 and was posted to jobs in Belgium, France, Laos, Switzerland, and the United States. At the Foreign Ministry, Amano was chief of the Disarmament, Non-Proliferation and Science Department from 2002 until 2005.
He also previously served as a governmental expert on the U.N. panel on missiles and on the U.N. expert group on Disarmament and Non-Proliferation Education.
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Grieshaber contributed from Berlin. Aya Batrawy contributed from Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
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