The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency said on Wednesday that Iranian negotiators had agreed to a draft of a deal to ship much of Iran’s stockpile of nuclear fuel to Russia, but cautioned that it would still have to be approved by Friday in Tehran and Washington.

The draft, which came after three days of talks here, adds important details to an agreement in principle made on October 1, after a preliminary round of negotiations. If approved, the deal would commit Iran to temporarily exporting 75 per cent of its known stockpile of low-grade nuclear fuel to Russia for additional enrichment. Negotiators say that would prevent the possibility that Iran could turn the fuel into weapons-grade material anytime soon.

The talks, which brought together Iran, the United States, France and Russia, are regarded as an important test of President Barack Obama’s administration’s policy of seeking to engage America’s adversaries.

IAEA chief Mohamed ElBaradei said he hoped leaders “see the big picture” and approve the agreement by the end of the week. But he gave no details about the contents of the draft, some of which were later described by diplomats involved in the talks.

If Iran actually sends a majority of its stockpile of low-enriched uranium to Russia in a single shipment, it would have too little fuel on hand to build a nuclear weapon for roughly a year, according to the agency’s experts.

With the clock ticking, Obama is under pressure to show that there have been early fruits from the decision to engage directly with Iran on the status of its nuclear programme.

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