Iran's enriched uranium could be shipped to Turkey as a means of easing U.S. and European concerns over the Persian Gulf country's nuclear ambitions, the head of the United Nations' nuclear watchdog agency said, Bloomberg reported.

Mohamed ElBaradei, director-general of the Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency, said he proposed Turkey as a third-country destination after Iran didn't agree to a Western suggestion that its enriched uranium be sent to Russia for further enrichment to reactor-grade fuel.

"It should work," ElBaradei said in an interview today on Public Broadcasting's Charlie Rose television show as he ends his tenure as IAEA chief. "Iran has a lot of trust in Turkey." The Obama administration would agree to this proposal because the U.S. is "very comfortable with Turkey," he said.

ElBaradei said that, while he hasn't presented the idea to the Turkish government, he is confident that Turkish officials would be receptive to holding the material in IAEA custody. Iran would then get fuel for its research reactor in Tehran from Russia. Iran is considering the proposal, he said.

"I am in contact with them every single day," ElBaradei said in the interview with Rose. "They said they would like to keep it on our territory, but I said that defeats the whole purpose of defusing the crisis. We need to get the material out to eliminate the perception that you could develop nuclear weapons tomorrow."

The Turkish ambassador to the UN, Ertugrul Apakan, said he is unaware of the plan, when asked today. Turkey is a member of the UN Security Council. A U.S. State Department spokesman wasn't immediately available to comment.

Weapon Concern

Iran's acceptance of such a plan might help ease tensions over its nuclear work, which the U.S. and its allies say is aimed at developing the means to build atomic weapons. Iran says the program is purely civilian.

Uranium enrichment is at the center of concern over Iran's nuclear program. The material can be enriched beyond reactor grade to form the core of a bomb.

In response to the U.S. and European plan, Iran indicated that it favors purchasing the fuel from abroad instead of sending its own stockpile. Its hesitation to sign on to the original proposal may lead to a new impasse.

The subject may come up next week in Turkey, when Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad meets with Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Turkey, a U.S. ally and member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, has expanded trade ties with Iran under Erdogan's Islamist-rooted government. The countries are negotiating an energy accord that would allow Turkey's state oil company to develop natural gas fields in Iran, and Turkey backs Iranian efforts to sell its gas to Western Europe via the proposed Nabucco pipeline through Turkey.

Erdogan visited Iran last month and said that its nuclear program has "peaceful aims" and that the Iranian governnment took a "positive" approach to the latest round of negotiations, the Istanbul-based Dunya news agency reported.