UN agency approves Syria nuclear aid

The UN nuclear agency on Wednesday overrode US concerns and approved sensitive technical aid for Syria, despite allegations the country has a secret atomic program that could be used to make weapons. In the end, Washington and its allies agreed to the deal, which provides IAEA expertise and equipment to help Syria build a power-producing reactor. But they did so only after three days of deadlock at a closed meeting of the International Atomic Energy Agency. The dispute pitted Western nations against backers of Syria, which included Iran, Russia and China. Agreeing to approval appeared to have been a painful concession for the US, Canada, Australia, France and Britain - the nations that at the start of the meeting spearheaded the effort to deny Syria the aid. Syria portrayed the decision as vindication. Approval by the 35-nation board of the International Atomic Energy Agency showed an "understanding of the position of Syria," Ibrahim Othman, head of Syria's nuclear agency, told The Associated Press. An IAEA report last week said satellite imagery and other information suggested a site allegedly bombed last year by Israel was a nuclear reactor, adding that agency inspectors had found traces of processed uranium on location. The US said the target was a nearly completed reactor that would have produced plutonium, a possible fissile warhead component. (23,09)