{"id":244118,"date":"2026-08-10T23:59:14","date_gmt":"2026-08-10T23:59:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/244118\/"},"modified":"2026-08-10T23:59:14","modified_gmt":"2026-08-10T23:59:14","slug":"us-negotiates-deal-for-removal-of-nuclear-material-from-covert-syrian-site-report","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/244118\/","title":{"rendered":"US negotiates deal for removal of nuclear material from covert Syrian site: Report"},"content":{"rendered":"

The United States negotiated a plan to remove nuclear<\/a> material from a clandestine site in Syria<\/a> after reaching an agreement with the governments of Syria and Israel.<\/p>\n

According to the deal, the International Atomic Energy Agency<\/a> will safely remove the nuclear material from a secret nuclear storage site called \u201cSite 99,\u201d which contains the remnants of nuclear material acquired or produced as part of former Syrian President Bashar Assad\u2019s aborted nuclear program, Axios reported<\/a>. The site had been buried as part of Israel\u2019s blistering air campaign in the days following the collapse of Assad, which sought to destroy dangerous assets of the government that could fall into the hands of the rebels.<\/p>\n

The nuclear material in question included yellowcake, powder from uranium ore that can be processed and enriched but can\u2019t be turned into a nuclear weapon by itself. The fear from Israel was that the material could be used in a \u201cdirty bomb\u201d rather than turned into a nuclear weapon.<\/p>\n

The top-secret negotiations, involving the U.S., Syria, Israel, and Turkey, took place over months and concluded several weeks ago.<\/p>\n

Discussions began first between the U.S. and Israel, who agreed that the best course of action was to get the approval of the Syrian government. According to sources speaking with the outlet, the new Syrian government wasn\u2019t even aware of the presence of nuclear material, a pattern consistent with the new government\u2019s continued struggle to comprehend or get a hold of much of the material left by its predecessor.<\/p>\n

Urgency increased several weeks ago when Israel observed movement at the site, sparking concerns that Syria could be trying to access the material. With the prospect of a second bombing run growing, the U.S. got the IAEA involved, which agreed to extract the material safely. The outcome appears to have satisfied all interested parties.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe think everybody is happy with the result. Hopefully we will be able to kick off the removal process soon and end it before the end of the year,\u201d a U.S. official told Axios.<\/p>\n

The Washington Examiner reached out to the State Department for confirmation and comment.<\/p>\n

AFTER ASSAD: SYRIA\u2019S SECTARIAN RECKONING<\/a><\/p>\n

The Assad government had pursued a nuclear program in the mid-2000s, with the help of North Korean experts. It was abandoned after a secretive Israeli raid in 2007, Operation Outside the Box, which obliterated the main Al Kibar reactor.<\/p>\n

The negotiations and deal illustrate the growing closeness of the U.S. and the new Syrian government. The Trump administration took a gamble in supporting the new government of Ahmed al Sharaa, a former commander of al Qaeda\u2019s Syrian affiliate, to steer the government on a moderate path.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The United States negotiated a plan to remove nuclear material from a clandestine site in Syria after reaching…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":244119,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[30],"tags":[672,887,13058,37,49,68027,269,95,309],"class_list":["post-244118","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-syria","tag-ahmed-al-sharaa","tag-bashar-assad","tag-iaea","tag-israel","tag-middle-east","tag-nuclear-waste","tag-nuclear-weapons","tag-syria","tag-trump-administration"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@iran\/117073933881718822","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/244118","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=244118"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/244118\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/244119"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=244118"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=244118"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=244118"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}