Vienna: Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani, announced that his country has placed 73 tons of natural uranium under the supervision of the International Atomic Energy Agency, considering this a new chapter in relations between Syria and the agency, based on certainty and cooperation.
Al-Shaibani said, in a speech before the agency's General Conference in its seventieth session, that Syria, based on its belief in transparency and constructive cooperation, made a sovereign decision on July 17 to disclose to the agency the presence of nuclear material at an undeclared site, before signing a memorandum of understanding and a roadmap for peaceful uses on the 29th of the same month.
He pointed out that Syria opened the Deir ez-Zor site to the agency, and its Director General was the first to enter it on August 16, while work began with its experts to remove reactor remnants and provide design information and nuclear material inventory reports, confirming that 73 tons of natural uranium are now under the agency's supervision and safeguards.
Al-Shaibani called for the Middle East to be free of nuclear weapons and weapons of mass destruction, and also demanded international pressure to stop Israeli violations in Syria and a return to the 1974 Disengagement Agreement and withdrawal.
