The IAEA ended by consensus the provisions of its 2011 resolution finding Syria in non-compliance. The decision says cooperation from the new authorities resolved the outstanding questions and closes the old file, while Syria's NPT obligations and agency oversight of nuclear material in the country remain in force. The move shifts a nearly two-decade institutional process into a new phase.
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The 2011 non-compliance resolution was terminated
The International Atomic Energy Agency's 35-country Board of Governors adopted by consensus on September 9 a new text terminating the provisions of its 2011 non-compliance resolution on Syria. Arab News and Reuters report the same decision. Egypt, Jordan, Morocco and Saudi Arabia submitted the text, and Reuters said no country objected during the closed meeting. The earlier resolution had found Syria's undeclared construction of a nuclear reactor at Deir ez-Zor in breach of its non-proliferation obligations. The new decision closes that former non-compliance process.[1], [2]
Cooperation by the new authorities resolved outstanding questions
The resolution cites the transparency and cooperation of Syria's new authorities. A confidential agency report described by Reuters said all questions about the outstanding issues previously reported to the board had been resolved. Arab News reported that inspectors visited two locations last month: the Deir ez-Zor site and another undisclosed location identified by the Syrian authorities. After those steps, the board recorded that Syria was no longer in non-compliance with its obligations. Closing the file does not withdraw the agency's earlier findings about the reactor; it ends the institutional non-compliance determination.[1], [2]
Oversight of the nuclear material continues
Syria's NPT obligations and safeguards agreement remain in force. The new text encourages Syria to continue cooperating with the agency, including excavation at the Deir ez-Zor site, and asks the director general to update the board as appropriate on the results of continuing work. Reuters reported that the agency found about 73 tonnes of natural uranium metal in Syria, that the material is now under IAEA oversight and that it will remain in the country. Ending the 2011 resolution did not remove that safeguards arrangement; the change concerns the status of the past non-compliance file.[1], [2]
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