Under a deal brokered by the Donald Trump administration, UN watchdog International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) will reportedly remove nuclear material kept at a secret site in Syria. These nuclear materials are the remnants of ousted Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad’s nuclear programme that Israel bombed in 2007.
The United States has brokered a deal for the removal of nuclear materials from a secret site in Syria, according to Axios.
Under the deal brokered by the Donald Trump administration, the United Nations (UN) nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), will remove nuclear materials stored at ‘Site 99’.
These materials are the remnants of ousted Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad’s nuclear programme and could be used to make a ‘dirty bomb’.
In 2007, Israel bombed Syria’s Al-Kibar reactor and destroyed most of Assad’s nuclear programme. But some nuclear material remained at inactive sites.
The development comes as Syria’s new regime under President Ahmed al-Sharaa is on a campaign to woo the West and rehabilitate the country’s standing on the world stage after a decade and a half of civil war. While Trump has met al-Sharaa and appears to have established a good relationship with him, Israel continues to view him with suspicion, particularly because of his ties with Turkey, which was the main backer of the offensive that overthrew the Assad dynasty in late 2024.
The secret deal over the risk of a ‘dirty bomb’
The US-brokered deal involves an understanding between Syria, Israel, and the IAEA.
The Trump administration brokered the agreement to prevent any escalation in the region as Israel had considered attacking the site again and remained suspicious of Turkey’s position on the matter. The negotiations continued for months.
After al-Sharaa took power in Syria, the IAEA signed an agreement with his government allowing visits to the Al-Kibar reactor and several other sites linked to Assad’s secret nuclear programme. One of the facilities of greatest interest to Israel was ‘Site 99’ where a material known as ‘yellowcake’ was stored.
Yellowcake is a powder derived from uranium ore that can be further processed and enriched. While it cannot be made into a bomb on its own, it can be used in a ‘dirty bomb’, a conventional explosive laced with radioactive material to contaminate an area and maximising the impact of the blast.
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