DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) The world wants more nuclear energy as a means to fight climate change and supply an ever-growing demand for electricity, part of a generational shift in thinking on atomic power, the head of the United Nations nuclear watchdog said Thursday.

Rafael Mariano Grossi, the director-general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, made the comments in an interview with The Associated Press at the COP28 climate talks. He called the inclusion of nuclear power at the summit, where he said a major nuclear agreement was likely, showed just how far the formerly taboo subject had come decades after the disasters at Three Mile Island and Chernobyl.

However, he acknowledged the challenge still posed for his agency in monitoring nuclear programs in countries, particularly in Iran after the collapse of its 2015 nuclear deal with world powers .

This used to be easier when this international consensus was there and so Iran could see that this was not about political pressure, but a widespread approach that was to see a Middle East, one of the if not the most volatile region in the world, not to add to the mix the possibility of a country getting nuclear weapons, Grossi said.

Grossi said more countries getting nuclear weapons could create a domino effect.

So its a very, very complicated and potentially dangerous trend, he said.

Grossi, who had just arrived in Dubai from Paris, said he spoke with French President Emmanuel Macron about the likely nuclear announcement that will include a public commitment in favor of nuclear energy, which in a way that we have never seen before. He said such an arrangement with the backing of world powers could see nuclear energy become attainable by more nations.

Nuclear power does not produce greenhouse gas emissions, a plus as the world works to reduce emissions. Still, nuclear is sharply opposed by many environmentalists because of its waste.

Macron is expected to speak Saturday at the COP or Conference of Parties. The talks are taking place just across the Persian Gulf from Iran.

Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, who had been scheduled to take part in the summit, now will not attend the talks over it including Israeli officials, the state-run IRNA news agency reported late Thursday. Irans energy minister will attend instead, with Irans foreign minister calling the Emirates complain over Israels inclusion during its war in the Gaza Strip against Hamas after the militants Oct. 7 attack.

In Iran since the collapse of the deal, the IAEAs access to the countrys program has been restricted, to the point that inspectors havent been inside its centrifuge manufacturing plant since February 2021.

Asked if it was possible centrifuges could have been diverted elsewhere by Iran outside of the IAEAs watch, Grossi said: We dont know and our estimation is that production is continuing.