Iran invites IAEA chief for talks before showdown with West

FILE PHOTO: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General Rafael Grossi attends a news conference during a board of governors meeting at the IAEA headquarters in Vienna, Austria, June 7, 2021. REUTERS/Leonhard Foeger

VIENNA (Reuters) -U.N. nuclear watchdog chief Rafael Grossi will fly to Tehran this weekend for talks that may ease a standoff between Iran and the West just as it threatens to escalate and scupper negotiations on reviving the Iran nuclear deal.

Three diplomats who follow the International Atomic Energy Agency closely told Reuters that Grossi's trip before next week's meeting of the IAEA's 35-nation Board of Governors was confirmed. Two said he would meet the new head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, Mohammad Eslami, on Sunday.