Who is the only Argentine in TIME’s 100 most influential people list

TIME magazine included Argentine diplomat Rafael Grossi — a candidate to become the United Nations next secretary-general — in its 100 most influential list of 2026, released on Wednesday. Grossi is the only Argentine and one of the few Latin American people included in the list, which also includes Mexican president Claudia Sheinbaum, actors Wagner Moura (Brazil) and Benicio del Toro (Puerto Rico) and Puerto Rican singer Rauw Alejandro, among others. Grossi, a career diplomat and expert in international relations is the current head of the UN’s International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), which focuses on promoting a peaceful and secure use of nuclear energy. In November 2025, Argentina’s foreign ministry nominated him as the new UN secretary-general in 2027 to replace António Guterres, who is set to end his term at the end of this year. As head of the IAEA, Grossi played a key role mediating in some of the biggest international conflicts of the past years, including the war in Ukraine and the conflict between the United States, Israel and Iran over Tehran’s nuclear program. TIME editor-at-large Karl Vick wrote a review of Grossi for this special edition, in which he highlighted his role in the assessment of the state of Iran’s nuclear program “in the wake of the massive U.S. and Israeli attack.” “One measure of a diplomat is whether, even when world governance falls out of favor, states still open their doors to you,” Vick said. “After Russian troops overran the Zaporizhzhia atomic plant in Ukraine, both sides cleared the way for an inspection team headed by Rafael Mariano Grossi, chief of the UN’s International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), to assess the damage and help keep the core cooled,” he continued. Vick mentioned that “Iran was about to show IAEA inspectors a new facility in June 2025 when Israel attacked — a day after the agency’s board declared Tehran was violating the nuclear nonproliferation treaty.” The editor added that Grossi sees the leadership of the Secretary-General of the United Nations as “essential,” and included a quote by the diplomat: “If you look at Gaza, South Sudan, the Caucasus, India and Pakistan, Cambodia — the common denominator is the absence of the United Nations. This cannot continue.” Grossi was threatened by the Iranian government following the release of IAEA’s reports on the Irarian nuclear program and the bombing of their facilities. “Once the war is over, we will deal with him,” a member of Iran’s government said in June 2025. The Herald included Grossi in its list of “Up-and-coming Argentines to keep an eye on in 2026” due to his UN nomination. “If he were to come out on top, he would become the most relevant Argentine on the international scene, filling the spot Pope Francis had until his death in April 2025,” highlighted the article published in January.