Tasnim � Iranian Interior Minister Abdolreza Rahmani Fazli said foreign nationals who invest 250,000 US dollars in the country will be granted residence permits for 5 years.

�According to a plan approved by the administration, any foreigner who invests or deposits $250,000 (in a bank acount) in the country is granted a five-year residence permit,� Rahmani Fazli told reporters in Tehran on Tuesday.

The spokesman for the Iranian administration, Ali Rabiee, had earlier said that the country has decided to offer 5-year residence permits to those foreigners who invest 250,000 euros in Iran.

According to Rabiee, investment can be in the form of deposits in Iranian banks, purchase of stocks in the local equities market, investing in production or real estate.

The offer came against the backdrop of increased tensions between Iran and the US with Washington imposing new sanctions against the Islamic Republic.

The US has ratcheted up pressure on Iran since last year after withdrawing from the 2015 nuclear deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).

Since then, the administration of US President Donald Trump is trying to reduce Iran�s oil exports to �zero,� and has sent an aircraft carrier strike group, a bomber squad, an amphibious assault ship, and a Patriot missile battery to the Middle East to try to stack up pressure on Tehran.

Iranian officials, however, have dismissed such moves as psychological warfare, saying the country has its own ways of circumventing the American bans and selling crude oil.