TEHRAN – French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire who has traveled to Washington as part of a plan to offer Iran a $15 billion economic lifeline and rescue the Iran nuclear accord said his talks with U.S. counterpart Steven Mnuchin was “constructive”.

Le Maire met his U.S. counterpart Steven Mnuchin and tweeted afterwards that he had constructive talks about the digital tax, without mentioning Iran, according to a Tuesday report by Bloomberg.

He was due to later meet with U.S. President Donald Trump’s economic adviser Lawrence Kudlow, and chief U.S. trade negotiator Robert Lighthizer. According to a French official, Le Maire discussed waivers for companies that would allow Iran to sell oil. China, India and Japan would be the expected clients.

A senior U.S. administration official, who asked not to be identified discussing internal deliberations, poured cold water on the idea, saying Trump has been clear that Iran won’t receive any economic benefit from the U.S. for reverting back to the nuclear accord. The official said European nations are desperate to save what the administration believes is a terrible deal.

SP/PA