Syria has told international nuclear inspectors it cannot cooperate with a probe of its alleged secret nuclear programme because of the current upheavals in the country, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said Monday dpa reported
The Vienna-based agency thinks that Syria secretly built a nuclear reactor in the desert, which was bombed by Israel in 2007.
IAEA Director General Yukiya Amano quoted a letter he received from Syria in February, which asked for understanding of "the difficult circumstances and the delicate situation that Syria is passing through."
IAEA inspectors have visited the alleged reactor site, but they have not been allowed a return visit and have not been able to see other installations that could have been involved in a nuclear programme.