By custom, although not always respected, the UN top job will go to a Latin American after Antonio Guterres, who is Portuguese, ends his second term at the end of 2026.

"I'm considering that very, very seriously," Grossi, 64, a diplomat from Argentina, said when asked about becoming UN chief.

"The time will come to get into that type of discussion," he told reporters on a visit to Washington.

Any secretary-general would need support from all of the veto-wielding permanent five powers -- Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States.

Grossi since late 2019 has served as director-general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), putting him at the forefront of global diplomacy on Iran's nuclear program.

Grossi also led the dispatch of IAEA experts to Ukraine's vast Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, which Russian forces seized shortly after invading in 2022.

He has repeatedly visited the plant and also held talks in Moscow.

Among other potential candidates, Michele Bachelet, the former president of Chile, said at a UN event last month that she may consider a run for secretary-general.

Bachelet, who would be the first woman UN chief, previously served as the UN high commissioner for human rights.

Near the end of her term in 2022, she visited China including the western region of Xinjiang, facing criticism from human rights groups.