Syria nuclear probe closed by IAEA board

The International Atomic Energy Agency's board of governors closed a long-running probe against Syria on Wednesday after the country's current authorities led inspectors to key nuclear sites.

Two diplomats said the IAEA board adopted by consensus a text terminating a 2011 resolution that had found Syria in non-compliance with its obligations. The text noted cooperation by Syria's current government.

The resolution was submitted by Egypt, Jordan, Morocco and Saudi Arabia. It encourages Syria to continue cooperating with the agency, including excavation work at the Deir Ezzor site, and asks the IAEA director general to update the board as appropriate on ongoing activities in Syria.

Inspectors visited two sites last month: one in Deir Ezzor and a second undisclosed location identified by Syrian authorities.

IAEA director general Rafael Grossi said Monday that a near-complete nuclear reactor at Deir Ezzor, built secretly during Bashar al-Assad's rule, would have been able to produce material for nuclear weapons. He said it was “obvious” that the previous government had pursued clandestine activities.

The IAEA also found a fuel fabrication plant and a location where nuclear fuel, uranium scrap and waste were stored. A confidential IAEA report said inspectors found around 73 tonnes of natural uranium metal.

Assad was toppled in December 2024. Grossi praised Damascus's decision to report the undisclosed site.

The UN atomic watchdog had said in 2011 that the Deir Ezzor location was “very likely” to host a nuclear reactor and that its information suggested it was being built with North Korean assistance. Israel admitted in 2018 that it had carried out an air raid on the site 11 years earlier.

Robert Kelley, a former director of IAEA inspections and now an associate fellow at the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, said after the IAEA report that there was “no evidence of any weapons programme” in Syria. He said the earlier aim may instead have been to produce plutonium for North Korea, possibly to sell to a third party.