The United States plans to discuss easing sanctions on Iran in order to return it to nuclear talks

According to CNN, the Trump administration has discussed potentially helping Iran secure up to $30 billion in funding for its civilian nuclear energy programme, easing sanctions and unfreezing billions of dollars in restricted Iranian funds - all as part of a stepped-up effort to bring Tehran back to the negotiating table, according to four people familiar with the discussions. Despite the intensive US-Israeli military strikes on Iran over the past two weeks, US and Middle Eastern point persons have held secret consultations with Tehran, the sources said. Discussions continued this week after the ceasefire agreement was reached. Trump administration officials stressed that a number of proposals had been made, which were preliminary and still evolving, but with a core non-negotiable condition: a complete halt to uranium enrichment, which Iran has always claimed it needed. But at least one preliminary draft proposal contains several incentives for Iran, according to two sources who described it to CNN. Among the terms under discussion, Trump administration officials and people familiar with the matter told CNN, is an expected $200-30 billion investment in Iran's new non-enriched nuclear energy program for civilian energy purposes. One official insisted the money would not come directly from the United States, preferring instead to have Arab allies pay for it.