Bessent Moves to Channel $24 Billion in Frozen Iranian Assets to Gulf Allies for War Repairs
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has directed the Treasury Department to use 'all available authorities' to make frozen Iranian assets — estimated at roughly $24 billion — available to Gulf partners as compensation for d.
At a glance
- Bessent directed Treasury to use 'all available authorities' to make ~$24 billion in frozen Iranian assets available to Gulf partners
- Funds would compensate Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Kuwait and Bahrain for damage from Iranian strikes
- Treasury is compiling damage assessments from affected nations
- Frozen assets comprise bank funds and seized ships held in South Korea, Qatar, China, India, Japan and Luxembourg
- Tehran demands release of the same $24 billion as a deal precondition and calls the plan illegal
VERDICT — CONFIRMED
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has directed the Treasury Department to use 'all available authorities' to make frozen Iranian assets — estimated at roughly $24 billion — available to Gulf partners as compensation for damage from Iranian military strikes, CBS News reported June 6, citing a source familiar with the plan. The proposal surfaced days after Iranian missile and drone attacks on Kuwait and Bahrain, including a strike on Kuwait International Airport that killed an Indian national, the first fatality on GCC soil from direct Iranian fire since the ceasefire.
Bessent ordered his team to compile damage assessments from affected nations, with the funds intended to cover both past destruction and future protective measures for Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Kuwait and Bahrain. The frozen assets consist of bank funds and seized ships scattered across institutions in South Korea, Qatar, China, India, Japan and Luxembourg.
The move directly repurposes the same pool of money whose immediate release Tehran has demanded as a precondition for any war-ending deal; senior adviser Mohsen Rezaei said negotiations are 'at deadlock' over the assets, and Iran has called the plan illegal while counter-demanding $270 billion in damages from the United States. Fortune carried the plan on June 7.
Why it matters
weaponizing Iran's own frozen reserves for Gulf reconstruction converts sanctions leverage into a war-reparations mechanism — and may price Tehran's chief negotiating demand out of any deal.
Key facts on file
- Bessent directed Treasury to use 'all available authorities' to make ~$24 billion in frozen Iranian assets available to Gulf partners
- Funds would compensate Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Kuwait and Bahrain for damage from Iranian strikes
- Treasury is compiling damage assessments from affected nations
- Frozen assets comprise bank funds and seized ships held in South Korea, Qatar, China, India, Japan and Luxembourg
- Tehran demands release of the same $24 billion as a deal precondition and calls the plan illegal
