TEHRAN: UN atomic watchdog chief Yukiya Amano is expected in Tehran on Monday, Iran’s nuclear chief Ali Akbar Salehi said on Tuesday, adding that he hopes for a deal to be clinched.

The visit by International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) head Amano is aimed at resolving the decade-long standoff over Iran’s disputed nuclear program.

“I invited Amano to visit Tehran on Nov. 11 and he expressed his willingness to come,” Salehi was quoted as saying by the website of state broadcaster IRIB.

Salehi said he hoped “to reach an agreement with (Amano) and issue a joint statement.”

Ten meetings between Iran and the IAEA since a major report from the UN body in November 2011 have made little headway, but the tone of negotiations changed after President Hassan Rowhani, a reputed moderate, took office in August.

The IAEA, which meets again in Tehran on Nov. 11, hailed the last round of talks with Iran in Vienna on Oct. 28 as “productive” and “constructive,” the latest possible sign of Tehran’s willingness to cooperate.