Ambassador Khaddour: IAEA’s Board of Governors’ repeated discussion of implementing the safeguards item in Syria waste of time

Vienna, (ST) – The Permanent Representative of Syria to the United Nations Office and other international organizations in Vienna, Ambassador Hassan Khaddour, affirmed that the continuation of the Board of Governors of the International Atomic Energy Agency(IAEA)  to discuss implementing the safeguards item under the Non-Proliferation Treaty in the Syrian Arab Republic on a repeated basis in terms of form and content is ineffective and a waste of time.

In a statement he delivered yesterday evening before the Board of Governors of the IAEA in Vienna, Ambassador Khaddour stated that the continuation of the discussion allows some countries to disturbe the work of the Council and divert its attention from Israel’s nuclear activities and capabilities.

He added that “Israel” is the only party that did not join the Non-Proliferation Treaty, so the removal of this item from the agenda has its strong justifications, and we all remember the position of the former Director General of the International Atomic Agency, Mohamed El-Baradei, when he said: “Israel” did not only obstruct the agency’s work when it By bombing what it claimed to be a nuclear facility in Syria, it also committed a clear violation of international law.

Khaddour pointed out that the aggression of “Israel” in September 2007 on an area in Deir Ezzor governorate was used as a platform to attack Syria with the aim of distorting its image, exerting political pressure on it and besieging it instead of being strongly condemned as it represents a flagrant violation of international law. “Also, Israel’s belated official admission of responsibility for its aggression against Syria obliges it to cooperate with the Agency to reveal the truth about the pollution caused by its missiles, and unless “Israel”, the aggressor force, cooperates with the Agency, any discussion of this issue will remain useless.”, he added.

Khaddour warned of Israel’s aggressive behavior in the region and its staying with its nuclear capabilities,outside the framework of the Non-Proliferation Treaty.

Khaddour continued: In light of all this, “Israel” is not qualified at all to talk about cases of non-compliance with the treaty or commitment to international standards that it violates every day, and it constantly proves that it is a major cause of instability in the Middle East region through its aggression against other countries that results in killing civilians and military personnel.

Khaddour indicated that the conclusion presented by the secretariat to the Board of Governors in June 2011 is not consistent with the technical and scientific methods of the agency’s work. “The secretariate based this conclusion on information collected from open sources after being fabricated by well-known intelligence circles and presented inconclusively and without hard evidence”, he added.

Ambassador Khaddour pointed out that Syria’s cooperation with the agency never stopped, and the successive reports on implementing the safeguards, the latest of which was the report on the visit that took place on May 29, 2023, testify that Syria was not late in fulfilling its legal obligations, under the Comprehensive Safeguards Agreement and the Non-Proliferation Treaty.

Ambassador Khaddour concluded his statement by saying that the Syrian Arab Republic reaffirms that it was and will remain committed to full and constructive cooperation with the Agency, in accordance with its obligations under the Non-Proliferation Treaty and the Comprehensive Safeguards Agreement signed with the Agency.

Raghda Sawas