Iran said to be floating ‘economic bonanza’ for US in bid to avert attack

Iran is seeking to offer financial incentives to US President Donald Trump in a bid to reach an agreement on its nuclear program and avert an American attack, the Financial Times reports.

According to one source quoted in the report, the Islamic Republic will appeal to Trump’s affinity for deal-making and float a “bonanza” to the US, including investments in its large oil and gas industries.

Such an offer would be “specifically directed at Trump, a major economic bonanza in oil and gas and mining rights, critical minerals and all of that”, the source tells FT.

The report comes as US and Iranian negotiators are set to meet in Geneva today for a third round of talks over Tehran’s nuclear program. The US is demanding that Iran cease nuclear enrichment, which Iran claims it has a right to pursue. Trump has threatened to attack Iran if a deal is not reached, and has amassed forces in the Middle East.

A US official tells the publication that the Americans have yet to receive an economic proposal from Iran. “This was never discussed. President Trump has been clear that Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon or the capacity to build one,” the official says.

Another source says that Iran is gleaning lessons from the situation in Venezuela, where the US has sought access to the country’s vast oil reserves after seizing its president in a nighttime raid last month.