The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has found new evidence that a covert nuclear program was run under former Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s government. The agency’s recent investigation confirmed that an undeclared nuclear reactor was being built in the Deir ez-Zor area of eastern Syria, and that fuel production and storage activities were also underway at related facilities.
The IAEA’s latest report says the infrastructure found at the Deir ez-Zor site closely matches that of a nuclear reactor. In particular, a cooling structure found there is consistent with those used in nuclear reactors. The agency said Syria’s former government did not provide the IAEA with the required information about its nuclear materials, facilities and activities.
The Deir ez-Zor site was destroyed in an Israeli airstrike in 2007. Syria’s then-government subsequently leveled the area and did not fully answer the IAEA’s questions. However, IAEA inspectors collected samples from the site in 2024, and those samples were later found to contain uranium particles.
The IAEA’s investigation has also uncovered information on several other facilities effectively linked to Deir ez-Zor. The report states that one facility was involved in nuclear fuel production or related activities, while another was used to store construction materials and related equipment. This has strengthened the view that the reactor was not an isolated project, but part of an effort to build a larger nuclear infrastructure.
The investigation also turned up striking information at another undeclared Syrian facility, where about 73 tons of natural uranium metal was found, roughly 55 tons of it in the form of fuel rods. These nuclear materials are currently under IAEA monitoring and security.
The IAEA’s investigation has also reinforced a long-standing suspicion. Past assessments by U.S. intelligence agencies and other parties had suggested North Korea assisted Syria’s covert nuclear program. In 2007, Israel struck and destroyed the unfinished reactor at Deir ez-Zor. It is believed the reactor was intended to eventually produce plutonium suitable for nuclear weapons.
However, Syria’s current government has chosen to cooperate with the IAEA over this legacy from the former government. After Assad was ousted in late 2024, the new government gave international nuclear inspectors access to the suspect sites. IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi has described Syria’s cooperation as a significant step forward.
Syria’s new government has said the country’s nuclear materials will remain in Syrian custody, but under the IAEA’s international security safeguards. Damascus has also expressed interest in using nuclear technology for peaceful purposes. The IAEA has said that, alongside resolving the matter of past undeclared activities, cooperation with Syria on peaceful nuclear technology could be expanded.
This new information about the Assad government’s covert nuclear program has once again brought old concerns about nuclear security in the Middle East to the fore. But with Syria now cooperating with the IAEA, the path to resolving this long-pending investigation has opened up far more than before.