Syria says IAEA will announce ‘significant progress’ on nuclear file

BEIRUT, Aug 11 (Reuters) – Syria will host a delegation from the International Atomic Energy Agency in the coming days to announce “significant progress” on the issue of nuclear materials, Syria’s ​Atomic Energy Commission said early on Tuesday, without providing ‌further details.

Since the ouster of President Bashar al-Assad in late 2024, Syria’s new authorities have committed to working with the United Nations’ nuclear watchdog to address the legacy of nuclear activities during decades of Assad family rule.

Syria is ‌not ​known to hold operational stockpiles of nuclear ⁠material for a weapons ⁠program, but Israel bombed a suspected Syrian nuclear reactor in 2007 in the country’s eastern province of Deir al-Zor.

The IAEA said last year that it had found traces of uranium in ​its investigation into that site. The traces were found at one of three unnamed locations “that were allegedly functionally related” to ⁠the site of interest in Deir al-Zor.

In ⁠June, IAEA chief Rafael Grossi said that as ​soon as conditions allow, the agency planned to conduct further work in ​the area to “achieve full clarity regarding past nuclear activities ‌in Syria.”

Citing Israeli and U.S. officials, Axios reported on Monday that the IAEA would soon remove nuclear material stored at a clandestine site in Syria after the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump ⁠reached understandings with both Syria and Israel.

Syria has not commented on the removal of nuclear materials. A Syrian official with knowledge told Reuters ⁠that discussions with the ‌IAEA on the nuclear material file as ⁠a whole were still underway, and that “no final ​agreement has ‌been concluded.”

“Consultations are underway on establishing an international ​support group ⁠to coordinate the necessary technical and legal assistance,” the official said.

The Syrian official said Syria was consulting with the IAEA to fulfill its own obligations and that “there is no Israeli role in this process.”

(Reporting by Maya Gebeily; Writing by Tala Ramadan; Editing by Aidan Lewis ​and Toby Chopra)