Syria's nuclear reactor, built during the rule of former President Bashar al-Assad, was configured to produce fissile material that could be used directly in nuclear weapons, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency has said.
IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi made the statement at a media conference in Vienna on Monday, following the agency's visits to several Syrian sites in August.
"This is a reactor that is very efficient in the production of fissile material that could be used directly for the fabrication of nuclear weapons," Grossi said.
The reactor is located at Deir Az Zor in eastern Syria and was reportedly built by North Korea. It only became public knowledge after Israeli air strikes destroyed the facility in 2007. Syria later levelled the site and never fully responded to the IAEA's questions about it.
A confidential IAEA report, released a week before Grossi's remarks, confirmed that inspectors had visited multiple Syrian sites in August and carried out verification work. Based on observations at the Deir Az Zor site, the agency said it had confirmed "that the cooling infrastructure which has now been uncovered is consistent with that of a nuclear reactor."
The agency added that it would continue to monitor activities at the site "as the excavation work progresses."
Grossi described difficult conditions during the August inspection. Inspectors had to "tear down walls" and navigate "very difficult and narrow passages" to reach nuclear material that had been hidden. The site had "boxes scattered all over the place," he said.
Despite the conditions, Grossi said "the important thing is that this material now is under safeguards" of the IAEA, adding that inspectors had managed to install cameras at the site.
Beyond the reactor at Deir Az Zor, the IAEA identified additional undeclared facilities linked to Syria's former nuclear programme. These included a fuel fabrication plant, where nuclear fuel for the reactor was manufactured, and a storage facility for nuclear fuel, uranium scrap, and waste.
During the August visit, an IAEA team also inspected a previously undeclared site. Syria's current administration, formed by the group that overthrew Assad in 2024, had notified the agency of its existence in July and invited inspectors to investigate.
The IAEA has stated that the former Syrian authorities failed to report nuclear material, facilities, and activities to the agency.
Syria was believed to have operated an extensive, undeclared nuclear programme under Assad. Israel is widely believed to possess its own undeclared nuclear weapons programme, making it the only nuclear-armed state in the Middle East. Israel neither confirms nor denies having nuclear weapons.
