Syria says IAEA decision closes 15-year safeguards file, opens new phase of cooperation

Damascus, Sept. 14 (SANA) The International Atomic Energy Agency’s decision to remove Syria’s “non-compliance” item from its agenda closes a 15-year safeguards file and opens a new phase of cooperation with the Agency, Foreign and Expatriates Minister Asaad Hassan al-Shaibani said Monday.

Addressing the 70th session of the IAEA General Conference via video link, al-Shaibani hailed the Board of Governors adoption of the decision by consensus on Sept. 9. He thanked Egypt, Jordan, Morocco and Saudi Arabia for sponsoring and submitting the draft resolution, as well as countries that supported it and the IAEA Secretariat.

Al-Shaibani said Syria informed the Agency on July 17 of nuclear material at an undeclared site and signed a memorandum of understanding on July 29 outlining a roadmap for peaceful nuclear uses.

Syria also opened the Deir Ezzor site to the IAEA, allowing the Agency’s director general to visit it on Aug. 16 after nearly two decades of restricted access. Syrian and IAEA experts subsequently began removing reactor remnants from beneath reinforced concrete, he said.

Damascus also provided design information and nuclear material inventory reports requested by the IAEA Board since 2011, al-Shaibani said, adding that 73 tons of natural uranium are now under Agency supervision and safeguards and will remain secured in Syria.

Al-Shaibani said Syria viewed transparency and cooperation with the Agency as a long-term policy and that the roadmap with the IAEA had entered practical implementation.

He said Syria was seeking peaceful nuclear applications in cancer treatment, agriculture, water-resource management and scientific research, as well as electricity generation to support the country’s recovery.

Al-Shaibani also said the IAEA decision restored Syria’s standing among parties to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons and reflected the country’s policy of greater international engagement.

He renewed Syria’s call, in accordance with the 1995 resolution, for a Middle East free of nuclear weapons and other weapons of mass destruction and for all facilities in the region, without exception, to be placed under IAEA safeguards.

Turning to regional developments, al-Shaibani said Israeli occupation attacks on Syrian territory violated Syria’s sovereignty, the 1974 Disengagement Agreement and international law. He called for international diplomatic pressure to halt the attacks and said regional stability required a return to the 1974 agreement and the full withdrawal of the occupying force to the lines that existed before Dec. 8, 2024.