Shafaq News- Damascus
Syria has placed 73 tons of natural uranium under International Atomic Energy Agency safeguards, Foreign Minister Asaad Al-Shaibani said on Monday, after Damascus gave the UN nuclear watchdog access to the Deir ez-Zor site linked to the country’s undeclared nuclear activities.
Addressing the IAEA’s 70th General Conference in Vienna, Al-Shaibani clarified that Director-General Rafael Grossi was allowed to visit Deir ez-Zor in August after nearly two decades of restricted access, and Syrian and IAEA experts began removing reactor remnants from beneath reinforced concrete. Damascus also supplied design information and nuclear-material inventory reports sought by the agency since 2011.
Grossi separately told the conference that, after receiving the necessary access and information from Syria, the agency had been able to clarify and resolve outstanding safeguards questions related to the country’s past nuclear activities.
Today we begin the 70th #IAEAGC in Vienna.Seven decades after our first General Conference, that “common spirit of dedication” remains at the heart of what we do, even during these fractured times. We see it in cancer specialists sharing expertise across borders, in… pic.twitter.com/c6CbUITIiO
— Rafael Mariano Grossi (@rafaelmgrossi) September 14, 2026
A recent IAEA investigation found about 73 tons of natural uranium metal in Syria, mainly in the form of reactor fuel, according to an agency report. The IAEA also reaffirmed its assessment that the building destroyed at Deir ez-Zor in 2007 had been a nuclear reactor under construction that Syria was required to declare under its safeguards agreement.
On September 9, the IAEA Board of Governors ended the 2011 non-compliance finding against Syria and removed the issue from its agenda without objection, after the agency reported that its outstanding questions had been resolved.
Al-Shaibani said the roadmap is now being implemented, with Syria seeking to use nuclear technology in cancer treatment, agriculture, water management, and scientific research. He also called for a Middle East free of nuclear weapons and other weapons of mass destruction, while accusing Israel of continuing to violate Syrian sovereignty and the 1974 Disengagement Agreement.