IAEA Asks Syria to Cooperate With Nuclear Probe

The head of the United Nations nuclear agency says he asked Syria for greater cooperation in an ongoing probe into a suspected nuclear site.

International Atomic Energy Agency chief Yukiya Amano said Thursday he sent a letter to Syria's foreign minister requesting "prompt access to relevant information and locations" connected to the site.

The IAEA is investigating U.S. assertions that a desert facility destroyed by Israeli warplanes in 2007 was a secretly-built reactor meant to produce plutonium. Syria said the site, known as al-Kibar or Dair Alzour, was a non-nuclear military installation.

Amano told the IAEA's 35-nation governing board that he asked for Syria's cooperation in the agency's verification activities.

The IAEA has previously expressed concerns about Syria's refusal to allow a probe into the site, which the agency has not been allowed to inspect for more than two years.