President Trump was right to call reports of a $300 billion reconstruction fund for Iran “fake news.” He should keep calling them that until the idea is dead, buried and impossible to revive under another name.
Vice President JD Vance has sought to reassure skeptics about the plan. “The Iranians are not receiving any cash, and no funds are being released for simply signing a deal or attending a meeting,” the Vice President said this past weekend.
Vance then stated that economic benefits would flow only if Tehran met its obligations under a future agreement. This is better than a blank check, but it suggests a $300 billion remains in play as part of the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) that initiates a 60-day ceasefire.
The central question is: Why should Iran receive access to any reconstruction fund — let alone one valued at $300 billion?
The proposed plan makes no sense. It would reward a maniacal regime for not reforming, for not compensating its victims, and for not abandoning terror as an instrument of statecraft.
It would reward Iran for surviving a war it provoked through decades of nuclear blackmail, proxy violence, and regional aggression.
For more than 40 years, Iran’s rulers have obsessed over acquiring the capability to destroy Israel, threaten America, and dominate the Middle East. They call the United States the “Great Satan.”
They have burned through tens of billions of dollars and effectively checked out of the civilized community of nations in pursuit of their dream: nuclear weapons.
They have repeatedly stated their aim publicly and loudly: “to wipe Israel off the map.”
In the interim, Tehran has funded mayhem across the region. Hezbollah, so clearly backed by Iran it has been part of their negotiations, has long terrorized northern Israel. For 40 years, Hezbollah has fired tens of thousands of rockets into Israel — costing billions in damage, thousands of casualties and hundreds of deaths.
The Houthis, another proxy of Tehran, have fired missiles at Israel and disrupted international shipping for years. They have attacked U.S. naval ships with drones and missiles no less than 400 times.
This is not a misunderstood regime looking for an off-ramp. It is a revolutionary regime that made violence its business model. Even the assassination of President Trump remains a priority business item.
By late February, intelligence sources indicated Iran was dangerously close to a nuclear breakout — weeks if not days. On February 28, the United States and Israel acted by striking Iran’s nuclear and military infrastructure to prevent the nightmare scenario of a terror-sponsoring regime armed with nuclear weapons.
The strikes were not Dresden. They were not Hiroshima. They were not indiscriminate attacks on civilians. They comprised over 2600 highly selective strikes aimed overwhelmingly at military infrastructure. More than 2400 targets included missile sites, command-and-control facilities, launchers, air bases, drone facilities, and naval assets. Even a handful of reported hits on bridges or steel plants were tied to military logistics and weapons production.
So why should Iran deserve $300 billion to rebuild?
The missile bases? The drone factories? The command centers? The steel plants feeding its weapons program?
If anyone should be paying reparations, it is Iran. Iran should compensate Israel for decades of Hezbollah attacks. It should compensate shipping companies for Houthi attacks on international commerce. It should compensate Gulf states for unprovoked strikes on their civilian and energy infrastructure.
The UAE has borne the heaviest share of Iranian missile and drone attacks — including on civilian airports, ports, industrial facilities, hotels, and residential areas. Energy analysts have estimated that war damage to Gulf energy-linked infrastructure at $58 billion.
The world economy has also paid an enormous price as shipping and energy markets absorbed the shock.
So where is the $300 billion fund for the UAE and other Gulf allies? Where is the compensation for Israeli and Gulf state businesses, families, and workers harmed by Iran’s aggression?
If the United States is not paying, then who is supposed to pay? Gulf states? The same Gulf states Iran attacked?
Not one dollar should flow from Abu Dhabi, Riyadh, Manama or Kuwait City into a fund that strengthens the regime that targeted them.
Senator Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., put it best when he said any reconstruction package for Tehran “would be akin to a Marshall Plan for Germany with the Nazis still in charge.”
A just and reasonable peace with Iran must begin with core premises: no enrichment, no missiles capable of carrying nuclear warheads, no proxy funding; full inspections, full disclosure of uranium stockpiles; reparations to victims; sanctions relief only after verified compliance. And please — no international reconstruction fund that strengthens the Revolutionary Guard.
President Trump deserves enormous credit for defending American interests and for helping to destroy Iran’s nuclear program. Previous presidents refused to take up this challenge, but Trump didn’t choke.
Now negotiators and countries such as Pakistan that are trying to broker terms with Iran should understand this clearly: peace at any cost is not peace.
The world should not reward Iran for its crimes. The $300 billion Iran fund will not buy peace. It will, most certainly, finance Iran’s next war.
