11-11-10 U.N. Nuclear Chief Sets Sights on Syria

The head of the United Nations atomic watchdog said he is open to demanding intrusive new inspections of alleged Syrian nuclear sites,signaling a potential hardening of the international community's position."We need to think:What will be the future possibilities," Yukiya Amano,director-general of the International Atomic Energy Agency,said in an interview in response to a question about such an inspection."I'm open…I'm open for various options." Mr. Amano also said he is eager to see renewed international negotiations with Iran,even as he acknowledged Tehran has offered no indication that it is willing to suspend its atomic work.The IAEA has been locked in a protracted standoff with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's government over its refusal to allow inspectors to visit as many as four sites suspected of being part of a covert nuclear program.Damascus denies it has a nuclear-weapons program.In recent months,the Obama administration has raised the prospect that a "special inspection" may be required if Damascus refuses to cooperate."We are rapidly approaching a situation where the [IAEA board of governors] and secretariat must consider all available measures and authorities," U.S. ambassador to the IAEA Glyn Davies said Friday.A demand for a special inspection would force Mr. Assad's government to comply, or risk being referred to the U.N. Security Council for being in noncompliance with its nonproliferation commitments.A similar process led to Iran facing its fourth round of U.N.-backed economic sanctions in June.Israeli jets destroyed a Syrian facility along the Euphrates River in late 2007 that the Central Intelligence Agency alleges was a North Korean-built nuclear reactor.