UN atomic agency head arriving for talks

TEHRAN, IRAN >> Iran says that the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency is arriving in the country for talks with Iranian officials.

Kazem Gharibabadi, Iran’s envoy to the IAEA, said in a tweet that Rafael Grossi is arriving Saturday, and will travel to Tehran this afternoon.

He’s scheduled to meet Iran’s vice-president and head of the country’s atomic organization, Mohammad Eslami, on Sunday.

It will be Grossi’s first visit to the country since new president Ebrahim Raisi took office. Gharibabadi said the two sides will issue a joint statement after the meeting.

Talks between Iran and world powers over limiting Iran’s nuclear program in exchange for sanctions relief have been idle since June, and Raisi took office in August.

Earlier this month, the IAEA in a report said that Iran has continued to increase its stockpile of highly enriched uranium.