Draft deal

A decision on the draft proposal could come as soon as Friday, said Mohamed ElBaradei, the head of the UN's International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). ElBaradei wrote up the draft agreement after talks between Iran, Russia, the United States and France.

"I would cross my fingers that by Friday we should have an OK and an approval by all the parties concerned," he told reporters on Wednesday.

ElBaradei said the agreement could pave the way for drastically improving relations between Iran and the international community. It has the potential to "defuse a crisis that has gone on for a number of years," he said.

ElBaradei refused to reveal any details about the draft document.

Iran could be asked to export its uranium

But unnamed diplomats said it included demands that Iran ship most of its stockpile of low-enriched uranium abroad for further processing.

Iran's delegation chief Ali Asghar Soltanieh would not say whether Iran was, indeed, ready to ship its enriched uranium stock out of the country for further enrichment. In the past, Iran has rejected similar offers.

"You'll get an answer to your question on Friday," he said.

Western countries fear that Iran will enrich the uranium to the point where it could be used to build a nuclear bomb.

th/AP/AFP/Reuters
Editor: Michael Lawton