Syria said on Friday it would cooperate with the UN atomic watchdog over its suspected nuclear program but stressed it would not compromise on national security.
“We would like to underline that my government is cooperating with the [IAEA] in full transparency and we will follow suit all along the way,” the head of Syria’s Atomic Energy Commission, Ibrahim Othman, told the IAEA’s general conference here.
“However, this cooperation will not be in any way at the expense of disclosing our military sites or causing a threat to our national security,” Othman said.
The UN atomic watchdog is probing allegations that Damascus had been building a clandestine nuclear facility at al-Kibar, a remote desert area, until it was bombed by Israeli planes in September last year.
Syria has denied the allegations as “ridiculous,” saying the building was a disused military utility.
Damascus allowed a three-member IAEA team to visit the site in June but has refused any follow-up trips.
The US and its Western allies complained during this week’s general conference that Syria was dragging its feet on the IAEA probe.
“We have listened with regret to statements from some countries calling on us to show more transparency and cooperation with the agency,” Othman told the assembly on Friday.
“I would like here to recall what the Director General [Mohamed ElBaradei] and his deputy for safeguards [Olli Heinonen] have said ... namely that Syria has cooperated and complied with the implementation of the measures agreed to with the agency,” Othman said.
At a week-long meeting of the IAEA’s 35-member board last week, agency chief ElBaradei said that the cooperation shown by Syria so far was “good.”
ElBaradei revealed that the probe had been delayed because the agency’s contact man in Syria was murdered.
ElBaradei said the IAEA was still evaluating samples taken from the site, but that inspectors had found “no indication” so far of any nuclear material.
Nevertheless, he complained that Syria had not yet responded to IAEA requests for additional access to individuals, sites and information.
In view of the allegations of its illicit nuclear work, Syria’s bid for a seat on the IAEA’s 35-member board had run into fierce opposition, particularly by the US and other Western states.
‘IN A DIFFERENT PLACE’: The envoy first visited Shanghai, where he attended a Chinese basketball playoff match, and is to meet top officials in Beijing tomorrow US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday arrived in China on his second visit in a year as the US ramps up pressure on its rival over its support for Russia while also seeking to manage tensions with Beijing. The US diplomat tomorrow is to meet China’s top brass in Beijing, where he is also expected to plead for restraint as Taiwan inaugurates president-elect William Lai (賴清德), and to raise US concerns on Chinese trade practices. However, Blinken is also seeking to stabilize ties, with tensions between the world’s two largest economies easing since his previous visit in June last year. At the
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese
RIVER TRAGEDY: Local fishers and residents helped rescue people after the vessel capsized, while motorbike taxis evacuated some of the injured At least 58 people going to a funeral died after their overloaded river boat capsized in the Central African Republic’s (CAR) capital, Bangui, the head of civil protection said on Saturday. “We were able to extract 58 lifeless bodies,” Thomas Djimasse told Radio Guira. “We don’t know the total number of people who are underwater. According to witnesses and videos on social media, the wooden boat was carrying more than 300 people — some standing and others perched on wooden structures — when it sank on the Mpoko River on Friday. The vessel was heading to the funeral of a village chief in