Syria Says Nuclear Material Will Stay in Its Custody Under IAEA Safeguards

Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani said at a joint Damascus press conference with IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi on Tuesday that nuclear material inherited from the ousted Assad regime is in Syrian hands and will stay there under agency safeguards. Al-Shaibani said Damascus disclosed it in a July 17 letter, called the step voluntary, and asserted what he described as Syria's right to use nuclear energy for peaceful purposes. Grossi said inspectors reached the previously undeclared site and collected samples that morning. Al-Shaibani said Syria opened a Deir Ezzor site after more than 18 years, the province where Israel struck a suspected nuclear reactor in 2007.