UN atomic chief to meet Tillerson Thursday: IAEA

UN atomic watchdog chief Yukiya Amano will meet US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson Thursday in Washington, the agency said, in talks expected to focus on the Iran nuclear deal.

The meeting is the first between Amano and senior figures from the new administration of President Donald Trump, who said previously he would "dismantle" the "disastrous" accord with Iran.

Amano "will meet with US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and other senior US officials in Washington on Thursday, 2 March," the International Atomic Energy Agency said Wednesday.

The hard-won nuclear deal was struck between Iran and six major powers in July 2015 after years of talks and failed diplomatic initiatives, and came into force in January 2016.

It saw Iran substantially scale down its atomic activities and submit to ultra-close IAEA inspections in order to make any dash to make nuclear weapons extremely difficult.

The latest report from the Vienna-based IAEA seen by AFP last week showed that Iran is in compliance with the agreement.

Iran has always denied wanting nuclear weapons, saying its nuclear activities are exclusively for peaceful purposes such as power generation and medicines.

The deal saw the lifting of painful sanctions imposed over Iran's nuclear activities. But others related to other issues such as support for "terrorism" and missiles have remained in place.

Trump has toughened the rhetoric against Iran considerably since coming to office and on February 3 introduced sanctions after an Iranian missile test.

Tillerson said in a confirmation hearing prior to his appointment that he would recommend a "full review" of the nuclear agreement.