who is – President Donald Trump says a new U.S.-Iran memorandum could drive at least $300 billion in reconstruction money, while insisting “we’re not putting up 10 cents.” But the plan’s language leaves the funding sources murky, and officials point to private investor
When President Donald Trump left Versailles and shouted to reporters that “it’s signed. ” he was referring to a June 17 memorandum of understanding between the U.S. and Iran. In the same moment. he also launched a familiar attack on his predecessor. slamming Barack Obama for giving Iran $1.7 billion in “green cash” as part of the 2015 Iranian nuclear deal that Trump later ripped up.
Yet the new deal—aimed at ending the U.S. war in Iran—has quickly become a different kind of headline problem. The memorandum calls for an ambitious Iranian redevelopment fund that could reach $300 billion. and questions are now turning to the same issue that has dogged both parties for years: who would pay.
The memorandum, signed June 17, lays out a path in which the U.S. and its Middle East partners would “develop a definitive, mutually agreed plan with at least U.S.D. 300 billion for the reconstruction and economic development of the Islamic Republic of Iran. ” according to the text of the memorandum of understanding. The idea is to use reconstruction and economic development as an incentive for Iran to follow through on nuclear commitments.
Under the framework, the U.S. would lift all sanctions on Iran and unfreeze its assets—but only if Iran completes commitments not to develop nuclear weapons and to dispose of highly enriched uranium in a final Iran agreement that the Trump administration hopes to reach within 60 days. The U.S. also immediately lifted restrictions on Iran’s oil exports upon signing the memorandum.
In public, Trump drew a bright line at payment. Speaking at the G7 conference in France, he denied the U.S. would fund the effort.
“We’re not investing. We’re not putting up 10 cents,” Trump said on June 17. He later doubled down in a Truth Social post: “There is no 300 Billion Dollar payment to Iran by the U.S. That’s Fake News!” He added that “All there is for the U.S. is Success, Lower Oil Prices, and Victory.”
At a June 18 White House briefing, Vice President JD Vance echoed the same position. The United States, he said, “isn’t giving up a cent of money, and even the economic benefits, the sanctions relief that comes along with this bargain, only happens if the Iranians perform.”
But even with those assurances, the memorandum’s text does not spell out which countries or private entities would cover the costs of a fund that could total at least $300 billion. That gap has put the deal under scrutiny at the exact point where it matters most: money.
Reuters. citing an unnamed source familiar with the deal. reported that more than half of the fund’s $300 billion has already been committed and that it would be comprised entirely of private-sector funds. The report said companies based in the U.S. the Gulf Arab states. Asia. South America. and Africa have committed to financing. It also said the administration views the fund as a private investment vehicle rather than a government reconstruction program.
Vance, however, did not name specific funding sources when asked during the June 18 briefing. “There is a great desire from the Arab world and from outside the Arab world to actually get involved in Iran if they behave properly,” he said.
He pointed to the United Arab Emirates as an example. “Let’s just say that they would like to invest in building a power plant. That is actually impossible right now because of the way that U.S. sanctions work,” Vance said. “So what we’re saying is that if you behave and if the Emirates themselves want to build a power plant. then we will do the sanctions relief necessary to make that possible.”.
Vance added that funding discussions are preliminary because Iran must first agree to the nuclear terms in a final agreement. “This is so far in advance because it assumes a transformation in Iranian behavior,” he said.
The timeline and the incentives are clear in the memo; the financial plumbing is not. The mechanism for how the redevelopment fund would be implemented would be finalized in the final agreement with Iran, and access would require Iran to comply with the peace deal’s terms.
There is an additional political layer to the fight over money. For years. Trump has attacked Obama for a $1.7 billion cash payment to Iran. calling it part of a deal that helped pave the way for Iran’s nuclear agreement. That payment. however. came from an Obama administration 2016 settlement that ended a decades-long legal dispute after Iran never received military equipment that it paid the U.S. $400 million for before the 1979 Iranian revolution.
Trump also accused Obama of giving Iran $150 billion as part of the nuclear deal. even though Obama’s agreement did not involve direct payments to Iran. Instead. the Obama plan—like Trump’s preliminary agreement—unfroze Iran’s access to its own cash in foreign bank accounts totaling about $50 billion.
At this week’s G7 summit in France, Trump again framed Obama’s actions as bribery. “He tried to bribe his way out. I didn’t do that,” Trump said of Obama. “And you know what the Iranians did? They laughed at Obama, and they said, ‘He’s a stupid son of a b—-.’”
Even as Trump and Vance insist the U.S. will not contribute money. the core question around the $300 billion redevelopment fund remains unresolved in the memorandum’s language: if it is not U.S. funding, then which governments and private investors will write the check—and how much has truly been committed.
For now. Trump is selling the plan as a sanctions-and-reconstruction bargain tied to Iranian behavior. while also insisting the country will not be on the hook financially. But with the final structure of the fund still to be negotiated and the funding sources left deliberately unclear in the text. the dispute over responsibility is set to follow the talks into their next phase.
Trump Iran redevelopment fund $300 billion sanctions memorandum of understanding JD Vance nuclear deal oil exports financing sources