UN inspectors this week visited several undeclared Assad-era Syrian nuclear sites for the first time — including some used to store nuclear material. Why it matters: The inspections by International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General Rafael Grossi and his team came after diplomatic efforts by the Trump administration, first reported by Axios , that produced understandings with both Syria and Israel. - It marked the first time the IAEA was given full access to suspicious nuclear sites in Syria. Flashback: The Assad regime had developed a secret nuclear program centered on the clandestine Al-Kibar reactor. - After Israel bombed the reactor in 2007, the Syrian nuclear program was mostly destroyed. But several…
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) will soon remove nuclear material stored at a clandestine site in Syria after the Trump administration reached understandings with Syria and Israel, according to Israeli and U.S. officials. Why it matters: The Trump administration and IAEA scrambled to reach a diplomatic agreement to secure the material and prevent an escalation involving Israel, Syria and possibly even Turkey over the sensitive site. - U.S. officials say the episode validates President Trump's approach to Syria and shows how the U.S. used its close relations with the new Syrian government to neutralize a potential crisis. - The dramatic, behind-the-scenes exchange of threats and diplomacy over the secret site — which…
Venezuela had built the RV-1 reactor to support physics and nuclear research, and its work finished up in 1991. The material was leftover from those operations.
On Tuesday's "Bianca Across The Nation," foreign policy analysts Victoria Coates and Joel Rubin discussed President Trump's efforts to negotiate an end of the war with Iran.
The U.S. and Israel have discussed sending special forces into Iran to secure its stockpile of highly enriched uranium at a later stage of the war, according to four sources with knowledge of the discussions. Why it matters: Preventing Iran from ever obtaining a nuclear weapon is one of President Trump's stated war objectives . The regime's 450 kilograms of 60%-enriched uranium — convertible to weapons grade within weeks — is one key to that goal. The big picture: Any operation to seize the material would likely require U.S. or Israeli troops on Iranian soil, navigating heavily fortified underground facilities in the middle of a war. - It remains unclear whether it would be an American, Israeli or joint mission. - It would likely…
