IAEA Board of Governors Closes Syria Nuclear Non-Compliance File After Deir Ez-Zor Reactor Findings

The IAEA Board of Governors decided on Wednesday to close the file concerning Syria’s non-compliance with its nuclear obligations, ending the 2011 decision after years of investigation opened during the era of the deposed President Bashar al-Assad.

“decided today, Wednesday, to close the file concerning Syria’s non-compliance”

Al-Jazirah Net

The Board expressed satisfaction with cooperation shown by Syrian authorities by allowing IAEA inspectors access to key nuclear sites, and the decision was described as adopted “unanimously” and without an official vote by diplomats cited by AFP.

Al-Intibāda Arabiya

IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi said on Monday that a secretly built nuclear reactor during Assad’s era was found in Deir ez-Zor and was close to completion, and he said it could have produced materials usable for making nuclear weapons.

A confidential IAEA report seen by Reuters stated that inspectors found about 73 tonnes of natural uranium metal, and the IAEA had announced in 2011 that the Deir ez-Zor site was “likely” to contain a nuclear reactor.

The closure followed IAEA inspectors visiting two sites last month, including one in Deir ez-Zor province and another undisclosed site made available by Syrian authorities.

Saudi Arabia and Jordan welcomed the IAEA Board of Governors’ decision to remove Syria’s non-compliance item from the agenda, with the Saudi Ministry of Foreign Affairs saying Riyadh welcomed the decision “in light of the positive developments in the file, and the cooperation shown by the Syrian Arab Republic with the IAEA.”

The Arab states’ role was described as central through the Quartet of Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Jordan, and Morocco, which submitted a draft resolution in Vienna to end the 2011 decision and move beyond the “non-compliance” clause.

Al-Jazirah Net

Syria’s Atomic Energy Commission said the closing of the Damascus non-compliance file was a “strategic achievement resulting from extensive national and diplomatic efforts conducted by the Syrian state with confidence and competence over a year and a half.”

In Damascus, the Syrian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates said in a statement that Syria affirms the decision “represents an important diplomatic and legal achievement for Syria,” reflecting success in building consensus within the IAEA Board of Governors.

The IAEA Board’s action was also framed as removing Syria from the Agency’s agenda and placing it among ordinary countries subject to oversight like any other country, according to a diplomat quoted by Al Jazeera’s correspondent in Vienna, Issa Al-Taybi.

The IAEA’s closure was tied to a shift toward technical cooperation, with the Arab draft resolution calling on the IAEA to settle Syria’s nuclear file definitively and begin a new phase of technical cooperation between Syria and the IAEA.

“including drilling at the Deir ez-Zor site”

Al-Intibāda Arabiya

The draft resolution also stated: “Encouraging Syria to continue its cooperation with the Agency, including drilling at the Deir ez-Zor site,” and it said Syria remains bound by the Safeguards Agreement and subject to routine inspection like any other non-nuclear-weapon state.

Syria’s Atomic Energy Commission said the decision paves the way for the flow of research grants, training fellowships, and the exchange of advanced expertise with countries around the world, pushing forward local technical and health development.

IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi said the uranium discovered in Syria is under agency safeguards and that “the Syrian government is the party that will decide what happens to these materials,” stressing the agency’s concern to know where materials are at all times.

The sources also link the closure to earlier allegations and strikes, including that Israel acknowledged carrying out a secret airstrike on the site in 2007 and that American officials accused Syria in 2008 of seeking to build a secret nuclear reactor.