IAEA head Grossi wants to become UN Secretary-General and seeks Trump's support - media
Kyiv • UNN
IAEA head Rafael Grossi has officially announced his candidacy for the position of UN Secretary-General. He is actively using his influence to gain Washington's favor.
IAEA head Rafael Grossi was the first to announce his candidacy for the post of UN Secretary-General and is using his influence to win Washington's favor, UNN reports with reference to Bloomberg.
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According to media reports, Grossi arrived in the US capital late last month with more than just Iran on his mind.
Officially, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency came to the city to brief senior officials on one of the world's most volatile nuclear hotspots. Unofficially, Grossi used the trip to make clear what many diplomats have long suspected: he wants the top job at the United Nations.
On August 27, at a small press conference during meetings with Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Special Envoy Steve Witkoff, the 64-year-old Argentine diplomat became the first person to publicly confirm that he is a candidate to succeed Secretary-General António Guterres.
The publication notes that with the UN experiencing its worst crisis since its founding eighty years ago, Grossi is positioning himself as the pragmatic diplomat needed to secure US funding. This week, world leaders gathered in New York for the UN General Assembly to discuss the future of the 193-nation body, while new states challenge US authority in the multilateral system.
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Grossi's challenge will be to combine this with convincing reform-minded countries of his ability to achieve significant changes, such as limiting the veto power of permanent members of the Security Council. How he balances this will determine his chances for the Secretary-General position in 2027, the publication adds.
"I need everyone's support," Grossi said in an interview at the UN. He dismissed suggestions that he was a US candidate, adding that he had also discussed his candidacy with diplomats from the European Union, India, Japan, Nigeria, and Pakistan.
However, the IAEA director's Washington pivot underscored his political calculations. A dozen senior diplomats and IAEA staff, who requested anonymity to discuss private conversations, said his strategy was based on strong support from the Trump administration and its allies.
"He would be a huge step up from the current Secretary-General," US Energy Secretary Chris Wright said on September 15 on the sidelines of the IAEA General Conference, praising Grossi's approach to Iran and nuclear energy.
Bloomberg reminds that the US quickly cut UN programs related to climate and diversity, and criticized the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), calling them "mission creep."
This has created the conditions for an unusual alliance: an aggressive proponent of multilateral relations, who heads the global nuclear inspection, is courting the conservative "America First" movement, which often publicly expresses distrust of international institutions, the material states.