Syria urges IAEA monitoring of Israel's nuclear activities

Syria has called on the international community not to turn a blind eye to Israel’s nuclear activities and compel the Tel Aviv regime to join the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).

During a meeting of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) on Tuesday, Bassam al-Sabbagh, the Syrian ambassador to the IAEA, said that given the Tel Aviv regime’s hostile nature and its tendency to wage wars and occupy lands, its unsupervised nuclear facilities and capabilities raise concerns for many countries.

The Syrian envoy (pictured below) further demanded that all Israel’s nuclear facilities be subjected to IAEA inspections without any restrictions.

Sabbagh went on to say that Israel ignores all resolutions issued by international organizations on its nuclear activities and facilities.

He also criticized certain IAEA member states for helping Israel develop its nuclear facilities and adopting double-standards on the issue of non-proliferation policies when it comes to Israel.

Israel has never allowed any inspections of its nuclear facilities and continues to defy international calls to join the NPT.

Mordechai Vanunu, a former Israeli nuclear technician, on September 4 revealed details about Tel Aviv’s “greatest secrets” regarding its clandestine nuclear activities. 

In a lengthy interview on Israeli TV, Vanunu explained how he once exposed the existence of Israel’s nuclear arsenal and elaborated on a potential disaster which could emanate from Israel’s notorious Dimona nuclear facility.

The new revelations by Vanunu, in fact, amount to Israel’s acknowledgment of possessing the warheads.

A report released in the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists in September 2013 also confirmed that Israel possesses at least 80 operative nuclear warheads and has enough material to produce up to 190 more.

Nuclear weapon proliferation experts Robert Norris and Hans Kristensen estimate, in the report, that Israel halted its production of nuclear warheads back in 2004 “once it reached around 80 munitions.”

Iran’s honest cooperation with IAEA

The Syrian ambassador further welcomed a nuclear agreement reached between Iran and the P5+1 group in mid-July and commended the Islamic Republic’s cooperation with the IAEA.

Sabbagh said that Tehran’s cooperation with the IAEA proves its sincere intentions and commitment.

On July 14, Iran and the five permanent members of the UN Security Council – the United States, Britain, France, China and Russia -- plus Germany finalized the text of the nuclear agreement, dubbed the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), in the Austrian capital, Vienna.

Under the JCPOA, limits will be put on Iran’s nuclear activities in exchange for, among other things, the removal of all economic and financial bans against the Islamic Republic.

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