Syria will give inspectors immediate access to suspected former nuclear sites, UN watchdog tells AP

DAMASCUS, Syria — Syria's new government has agreed to give inspectors from the United Nations' nuclear watchdog access to suspected former nuclear sites immediately, the agency's head told The Associated Press on Wednesday.

The International Atomic Energy Agency's director-general, Rafael Mariano Grossi, spoke in an exclusive interview in Damascus, where he met with President Ahmad al-Sharaa and other officials.

He also said al-Sharaa expressed an interest in pursuing nuclear energy for Syria in the future, adding, ''Why not?''

The agency's aim is ''to bring total clarity over certain activities that took place in the past that were, in the judgment of the agency, probably related to nuclear weapons,'' Grossi said. He described the new government as ''committed to opening up to the world, to international cooperation'' and said he is hopeful of finishing the inspection process within months.

An IAEA team in 2024 visited some sites of interest while former President Bashar Assad was still in power. Since the fall of Assad in December, the IAEA has been seeking to restore access to sites associated with Syria's nuclear program.

Syria under Assad is believed to have operated an extensive clandestine nuclear program, which included an undeclared nuclear reactor built by North Korea in eastern Deir el-Zour province.

The IAEA described the reactor as being ''not configured to produce electricity'' — raising the concern that Damascus sought a nuclear weapon there by producing weapons-grade plutonium.

The reactor site only became public knowledge after Israel, the Mideast's only nuclear power, launched airstrikes in 2007 destroying the facility. Syria later leveled the site and never responded fully to the IAEA's questions.

Grossi said inspectors plan to return to the reactor in Deir el-Zour as well as to three other related sites. Other sites under IAEA safeguards include a miniature neutron source reactor in Damascus and a facility in Homs that can process yellow-cake uranium.

''We are trying to narrow down the focus, to those or that one that could be of a real interest,'' he said.

While there are no indications that there have been releases of radiation from the sites, he said, the watchdog is concerned that ''enriched uranium can be lying somewhere and could be reused, could be smuggled, could be trafficked.''

He said al-Sharaa — who has courted Western governments since taking power — had shown a ''very positive disposition to talk to us and to allow us to carry out the activities we need to.''

Apart from resuming inspections, Grossi said the IAEA is prepared to transfer equipment for nuclear medicine and to help rebuild the radiotherapy, nuclear medicine and oncology infrastructure in a health system severely weakened by nearly 14 years of civil war.

''And the president has expressed to me he's interested in exploring, in the future, nuclear energy as well,'' Grossi said.

A number of other countries in the region, including Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt and Jordan, are pursuing nuclear energy in some form. Grossi said Syria would most likely be looking into small modular reactors, which are cheaper and easier to deploy than traditional large ones.

Talks on Iran

Regarding the ongoing negotiations between the United States and Iran for a deal over Tehran's nuclear program, Grossi said he has been in ''constant contact'' with the parties.

''They are negotiating, it's not us, but it is obvious that the IAEA will have to be the guarantor of whichever agreement they come to,'' he said.

While there continue to be major areas of contention between the two sides — particularly over uranium enrichment — Grossi said he is encouraged that they are negotiating directly, and he believes both sides are serious about reaching a deal.

''I think they both want an agreement, which doesn't mean that it's easy to get, but, simple and obvious as this may sound, having two sides that want an agreement is an enormous advantage,'' he said. ''In my long diplomatic career, I have participated in negotiations where it was not necessarily the case that the sides wanted an agreement.''

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Associated Press writer Jon Gambrell in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, contributed to this report.