NEW YORK – The United Nations’ nuclear watchdog, the Interational Atomic Energy Agency, said Monday that its chief, Yukiya Amano, who has been in poor health for some time, has died.
“The Secretariat of the International Atomic Energy Agency regrets to inform with deepest sadness of the passing away of Director General Yukiya Amano,” the IAEA said in a statement.
The Secretariat did not say how Amano, who was 72, died.
Amano, a former Japanese diplomat, had extensive experience in disarmament and non-proliferation diplomacy, as well as nuclear energy issues, and had been chief of the key agency that regulates nuclear issues worldwide since 2009.
The news of his death comes at a time of increasing concern and escalating tensions about Iran’s nuclear program after the United States left a 2015 deal with world powers that restricted the country’s nuclear uranium enrichment. Amano was heavily involved in the years-long negotiations that led to the Iran nuclear treaty.
In addition to the Iran nuclear talks, Amano contributed to the 1995, 2000 and 2005 Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty Review Conferences, and he chaired the 2007 Preparatory Committee for the 2010 Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty Review Conference.
