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US President Donald Trump could be planning a U-turn to his opposition to a French $15 billion bail-out for Iran, which could help ease tensions between Washington and Tehran.

Sources told The Daily Beast website that Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is mulling over France's offer of a $15 billion credit line for Iran.

The country has been hit hard by US economic sanctions that were slapped on Tehran a year ago.

"Several sources told The Daily Beast that foreign officials are expecting Trump to either agree to cooperate on the French deal or to offer to ease some sanctions on Tehran," the online news site reported.

Trump hinted on Wednesday that he might be willing to meet Iran President Hassan Rouhani.

"We'll see what happens," Trump said when asked whether the US might ease sanctions on Iran.

"I do believe they'd like to make a deal. If they do, that's great. And if they don't, that’s great too," Trump added.

"But they have tremendous financial difficulty, and the sanctions are getting tougher and tougher."

Trump pulled out of a nuclear deal with Iran last year, and targeted Tehran's oil exports and banking industry with sanctions, which is said to have had a crippling effect on the country's economy.

The president appears to be willing to come to some compromise with Iran, while Tehran insists that sanctions must be dropped if talks between the two countries are to take place.

The $15 billion credit line - which would be secured with Iran's oil exports - could be one way of easing sanctions without officially ending them.

Trump's National Security Advisor John Bolton - a known Iran hawk - also left his position this week, reportedly due to the president's interest in securing talks with his Iranian counterpart.