Syria to limit UN nuclear inspectors” access
Syria told a 35-nation meeting Thursday that it will limit what U.N. nuclear inspectors can see when they investigate allegations that Damascus has a hidden atomic program, diplomats said.
The main purpose of the planned visit later this month by International Atomic Energy Agency inspectors is to investigate U.S. assertions that a target flattened in September by Israeli war planes was a nearly completed plutonium-producing reactor built with North Korean help.
But the agency also would like more information on three other sites identified by U.S. intelligence as hidden nuclear facilities, possibly linked to attempts to produce atomic arms. Agency officials have said they hope for Syrian cooperation in that regard as well.
Diplomats already told The Associated Press on Tuesday that Ibrahim Othman, the top Syrian nuclear official, had said it would not let any IAEA probe extend beyond the bombed site at Al Kibar.
But on Thursday, other diplomats inside a session of the IAEA”s 35-nation board said Othman made his country”s stance official.
The diplomats, who spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity because the board meeting was closed, paraphrased Othman as saying inspectors could only visit the bombed installation.
Syria denies any hidden nuclear activities and Othman said as much again Thursday, they said, suggesting Syria”s willingness to allow a visit to the remote Al Kibar site should not be exploited with attempts to extend the probe to what he said were other non-nuclear facilities.
The diplomats also said he warned against using the inspections as a pretext to increase political pressure on his country and condemned Israel for its September attack.
The U.S. criticized the Syrian stance.
"Syrian authorities should let inspectors go wherever they think they have to go," said Gregory L. Schulte, the chief U.S. delegate to the IAEA.
"We hope that the Syrian authorities will give their full cooperation to this investigation and not try to put any limits on it," he told reporters.
The European Union, in a statement to the meeting, expressed its concerns about Syria”s alleged nuclear cover-up and also urged full cooperation with the IAEA.
On Monday, after IAEA chief Mohamed ElBaradei announced plans for the June 22-24 visit, diplomats and a nuclear expert told the AP that at least one of the three sites subsequently declared off limits by Syria may have equipment that can reprocess nuclear material into the fissile core of warheads.
The nuclear expert said two of the military sites were operational and one was under construction. He and the diplomats asked for anonymity because their information was confidential.
Explaining Syria”s stance Tuesday, at a meeting of Arab states, Othman argued that his country could not open secret military sites as long as Syria and Israel remained technically in a state of war.
After fighting three wars and clashing in Lebanon, Israel and Syria are bitter enemies whose last round of peace talks collapsed eight years ago. Both countries recently confirmed that they are holding peace talks through Turkish mediators.
The diplomats also said Othman expressed fear that too much openness on Syria”s part would lead to what Damascus considers relentless U.S.-instigated international scrutiny of the kind Iran”s nuclear program is now undergoing.
Tehran asserts that its aims are purely peaceful, and on Thursday its chief delegate accused the U.S. of pressuring the IAEA to accept fake evidence as the basis of its investigation into allegations that Iran tried to build a bomb.