The International Atomic Energy Agency will soon remove nuclear material stored at a clandestine site in Syria after the Trump administration reached understandings with Syria and Israel, Axios reported on Monday, citing Israeli and US officials.
The UN nuclear watchdog earlier said its inspectors found traces of uranium at a site in Syria believed to be part of a clandestine nuclear program by the former government.
Syria under former President Bashar Assad was believed to have operated an extensive undeclared nuclear program, which included an undeclared nuclear reactor built by North Korea in eastern Deir Ezzor province.
Syria’s new government, under President Ahmad Al-Sharaa, has given UN nuclear inspectors immediate access to suspected former nuclear sites. An IAEA team in 2024 visited some sites of interest while former President Bashar Assad was still in power.
The Deir Ezzor site only became public knowledge after Israel — which is believed to be the Middle East’s only state with nuclear weapons, although it has not declared its own program — launched airstrikes in 2007 destroying the facility. Syria later leveled the site and never responded fully to the IAEA’s questions.
