As his International Atomic Energy Agency opened a meeting in Vienna which could lead to international sanctions against Tehran, ElBaradei talked of a deal in around a week on the issue of current Iranian work on research-level uranium enrichment.
Resolving this issue would set the stage for Iran to resume talks with the European Union on guaranteeing it does not seeking to develop nuclear weapons, effectively heading off Security Council intervention.
Uranium enrichment makes fuel for nuclear power reactors but what can also be the explosive core of atom bombs.
Cease all work
The United States and the European Union insist Iran cease all enrichment work, even research. Tehran is refusing to abandon small-level enrichment but offering to compromise by holding off on industrial-scale work.
ElBaradei said there was a "flurry of activities in all capitals that are trying ways and means to bring Iran and the EU back to the negotiating table."
The Iran dossier is at the top of the agenda at the IAEA's 35-nation board of governors amid western fears Tehran is secretly working on making nuclear weapons.
The IAEA's board will hear ElBaradei's assessment on Iran, with the report then going to the Security Council.
ElBaradei said he was concerned that there were still "uncertainties" over Iran's nuclear program despite three years of IAEA investigation. But he said Iran was cooperating.
Iran's president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, has vowed his country would not be bullied into stopping its nuclear research work.
Meanwhile the US government has demanded that the international community "act" to prevent Iran from making nuclear weapons.
"It is important for the international community to continue to act and make sure that Iran does not develop a nuclear weapons capability," White House spokesman Scott McClellan told a press briefing.
"The regime in Iran continues to make provocative statements and take provocative actions that only further isolate it from the rest of the international community," said Mr McClellan.
"We will talk with the board of the International Atomic Energy Agency, we will talk amongst members of the (UN) Security Council about the way forward to addressing this issue and preventing Iran from developing nuclear weapons under the cover of a civilian program."
Russian proposal
Russia is proposing a package that would allow Iran eventually to do small-scale uranium enrichment but not obtain the technology that can be used to make nuclear weapons, diplomats told news agency AFP.
But the package is currently unacceptable to both the United States and European nations.
They want Iran to give up uranium enrichment but the package would only call for a full suspension of enrichment while talks were underway.
An Iranian diplomat said the Russians have not called for a short-term suspension of research activities.
The Russian plan, which Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov was to discuss with US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice in Washington involves:
- Iran suspending for a short time all enrichment activities, including small-scale research it began in February.
- Iran agreeing to ratify the Additional Protocol which allows for wider
inspections by the UN watchdog International Atomic Energy Agency.
-Iran agreeing to a long-term suspension of industrial-level enrichment activities.
- having the IAEA determine what would be a safe, non-proliferation level of small-scale enrichment, that is, how many centrifuge machines could be used.
The Russians are apparently willing to have the Iranian run a pilot enrichment project of 164 centrifuges but the Iranians want to run 3,000 centrifuges.
A US State Department official told reporters in Vienna that the US would not accept Iran doing any enrichment at all.