He said that \u201ctechnical assessments\u201d indicate that \u201cthese materials do not pose a risk,\u201d adding that they \u201cwill remain in Syrian national custody and subject to the agency\u2019s safeguards system.\u201d<\/p>\n
Shaibani asserted Syria\u2019s \u201csovereign and legal right\u201d to pursue a peaceful nuclear program, and said Syria had the right to use nuclear energy \u201cfor civilian and peaceful purposes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\t Grossi, meanwhile, said, \u201cthis material will be accounted for, will be put within the international safeguards system.\u201d<\/p>\n Syrian and IAEA experts will work together to safely store the materials, he said.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are starting to turn a page, and turning a page does not mean forgetting the past.\u201d<\/p>\n Grossi also visited a site in Deir Ezzor in the east, which has been shut for 18 years and which the IAEA had suspected contained a nuclear reactor. Israel bombed the site on September 6, 2007, in a mission known to much of the world as Operation Orchard.<\/p>\n The attack<\/a>, which Israel refused to comment on until 2018, is believed to have ended the regime\u2019s efforts to build a nuclear weapon.<\/p>\n \u201cWe were at the\u2026 site of Deir Ezzor, where a very comprehensive work of excavation and exploration is taking place now,\u201d Grossi said. \u201cThis is very important because, of course, this validates the longstanding evaluation of the IAEA that a nuclear facility was being built in secrecy.\u201d<\/p>\n The watchdog said last year that it discovered uranium particles at the site during an inspection in 2024.<\/p>\n Shaibani said Syria had granted the IAEA access to the Deir Ezzor site on its own initiative.<\/p>\n \t Grossi\u2019s visit came after news outlet Axios last week reported <\/a>US and Israeli officials as saying Washington and the IAEA reached an agreement to have the watchdog remove nuclear material stored at a clandestine site in Syria after having \u201creached understandings with Syria and Israel.\u201d<\/p>\n Axios said Israel was closely monitoring a location called \u201cSite 99,\u201d where Israeli officials say the Assad government stored nuclear material that was part of the Deir Ezzor project, also known as Al-Kibar, and that Israel threatened to bomb it.<\/p>\n The White House, IAEA, and Israel\u2019s Prime Minister\u2019s Office declined to comment on the report.<\/p>\n
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\n\t\tThis handout picture released by the official Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General Rafael Grossi giving a news conference after his meeting with Syria\u2019s interim foreign minister in Damascus on August 18, 2026. (SANA\/AFP)<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/20221006-Al-Kibar-site1-640x400.jpg\")
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\n\t\tThe Syrian nuclear reactor site before it was destroyed by the IDF in 2007, as seen by satellite. (Photo: Google Earth)<\/p>\n
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