The IAEA Board of Governors decided on Wednesday to close the file concerning Syria’s non-compliance with its nuclear obligations, ending a decision dating to 2011 after expressing satisfaction with the Syrian authorities’ cooperation and their granting inspectors access to key nuclear sites.
Two diplomats said the 35-member board adopted the text by consensus without a formal vote. The decision ends the 2011 finding that Damascus had failed to meet its obligations under the safeguards agreement, while encouraging it to continue cooperating, including with excavation work at the Deir al-Zour site.
A new phase of cooperation
A draft resolution submitted by Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Jordan and Morocco preceded the meeting. It called for settling the file and beginning a new phase of peaceful technical cooperation between Syria and the agency. The draft cited transparency, positive developments and access granted to undeclared sites, affirming that Syria would remain committed to its safeguards agreement and subject to routine inspections.
IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi praised Damascus’s decision to notify the agency about an undeclared site. Agency inspectors also visited two sites during the previous month, one in Deir al-Zour province that had remained closed for 18 years, and another undeclared site that Syrian authorities made available for inspection.
Prospects for peaceful nuclear applications
The Syrian Atomic Energy Commission said the file’s closure followed a year and a half of national and diplomatic efforts. It said the decision affirms Syria’s right to develop peaceful applications of nuclear science under the safeguards agreement and opens the way for research grants, training and exchanges of expertise in fields including radiation medicine, agriculture and scientific research.
Background to the nuclear file
The agency concluded in 2011 that the Deir al-Zour site most likely housed a nuclear reactor being built with assistance from North Korea. In 2018, Israel acknowledged carrying out an airstrike on the site in 2007, while US officials accused Syria in 2008 of seeking to build a clandestine reactor.
Robert Kelley, the agency’s former director of inspections, said there was no evidence that Syria possessed a nuclear weapons programme. He suggested that before its destruction, the site may have been intended to produce plutonium for North Korea or to sell it to a third party, rather than serve a Syrian nuclear weapons programme.
