IAEA: Syrien gibt Inspektoren Zugang zu Atommaterial aus Assad-Ära

The Syrian government has reopened investigation into its alleged secret nuclear program from the era of former President Bashar al-Assad, according to the United Nations' International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). In July, Syria informed the IAEA in Vienna about substantial amounts of nuclear material and allowed the first inspection, as reported in a joint statement by Syrian Foreign Minister Assad al-Schaibani and IAEA Director-General Rafael Grossi during Grossi's visit to Syria.

Grossi stated that they were discussing "several tons of nuclear material that could be misused." The US news outlet Axios reported last week that the material in question is yellowcake, a weakly radioactive uranium ore concentrate that can be further processed into reactor fuel. The IAEA did not provide further details. Iran has suspected that Syria had built a reactor modeled after North Korea's, which Israel attacked and destroyed in 2007 to prevent the country from producing nuclear weapons.

The IAEA concluded in a 2011 investigation report that the facility was a secret reactor with similarities to a reactor in the nuclear-armed state of North Korea. However, due to the resistance of the Assad regime and the ongoing civil war, the IAEA could not investigate the secret activities on the ground. Following the ousting of Assad at the end of 2024, movement has resumed in the investigation.

Grossi visited the reactor site and another location associated with the nuclear material during his Syria trip, as reported by al-Schaibani and Grossi in the joint statement.