Report: Gulf states could fund Iran's postwar reconstruction under U.S.-backed deal

U.S. Vice President J.D. Vance has publicly said Iran could gain access to a $300 billion reconstruction and investment fund if it dismantles its nuclear program, gives up its stockpile of enriched material, and accepts strict monitoring. He stressed that the money would not come from the United States, while President Donald Trump said Washington would not invest “a single dollar” in Iran.

According to the article, the bill would instead be paid by a “Gulf coalition,” especially Qatar and Saudi Arabia. The piece portrays this as Gulf states effectively financing the rebuilding of a regime that has attacked them.

The article says that during the war that began in February 2026, Iran fired hundreds of ballistic missiles and drones at six Gulf states, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Oman, Kuwait, and Bahrain. It claims the attacks hit oil facilities, airports, military and civilian bases, caused thousands of strikes, dozens of casualties, and severe damage. Against that backdrop, the writer argues that the proposed fund is not reconstruction but a kind of protection payment.

The article also criticizes Saudi Arabia for demanding a Palestinian state as a condition for normalization or regional peace while, in the writer’s view, it is itself paying Iran for calm after being targeted. It says Gulf states also pay the United States through massive weapons purchases, including repeated Saudi interest in the F-35, and that U.S. bases across the Gulf are there to protect them from Iran. The conclusion is that the Gulf monarchies are paying both the attacker and the protector.