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. It also said that verification and monitoring activities have been �seriously undermined� since February, after Iran refused to let inspectors access IAEA monitoring equipment.

In response, Iran said its nuclear activities had been �carried out in the framework of Iran�s nuclear rights and under nonproliferation treaty.�

The two major issues being negotiated are the rollback of American sanctions imposed by former President Donald Trump�s administration after it withdrew from the deal, and the return of Iran to compliance with restrictions imposed on its nuclear program.

(AP)