ElBaradei hopes for Iran fuel deal by end of year

The chief of the United Nations' nuclear watchdog said on Friday he hoped for an agreement with Iran on an offer to send enriched uranium abroad for further processing before the end of the year.It is a unique opportunity to move from sanctions and confrontation to the process of building trust, Mohamed ElBaradei, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), told a news conference in Berlin.I believe frankly the ball is very much in the Iranian court, he added. I hope they will not miss this unique but fleeting opportunity.Iran on Wednesday rejected sending enriched uranium abroad for further processing, but would consider swapping it for nuclear fuel provided it remained under supervision inside the country, the ISNA news agency said. The decision is expected to anger the United States and its allies, which had called on Iran to accept a deal which aimed to delay Tehran's potential ability to make bombs by at least a year by divesting Iran of most of its enriched uranium. A draft deal brokered by the IAEA, calls on Iran to send some 75 percent of its low-enriched uranium to Russia and France, where it would be turned into fuel for a Tehran medical research reactor. ElBaradei has been seeking compromises to rescue the deal, including Iran parking its LEU in a third country, pending delivery of reactor fuel. Turkey says it would be willing to store Iran's enriched uranium.