By Andrew Mills, Maha El Dahan and Parisa Hafezi
DUBAI, June 16 (Reuters) – A $300 billion private fund designed to trigger investment into Iran is outlined in the U.S.-Iran framework agreement and more than half that sum has already been committed, a source with direct knowledge of the deal told Reuters.
The fund is designed to give both sides an economic incentive to conclude a final deal, said the source, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the plan has not yet been announced as Washington and Tehran prepare to sign on Friday.
U.S. and Iranian officials said on Sunday they had agreed on a framework to end their war, which began when U.S. and Israeli forces attacked Iran on February 28, halt the U.S. blockade of Iran and reopen the Strait of Hormuz, a key supply route for global oil and gas.
The new fund is a private investment vehicle, not a reconstruction or reparations program and will not include any government money or grants, the source said, adding that companies based in the U.S., the Gulf Arab states, Asia, South America and Africa have agreed to commit financing.
Investments pledged span energy, logistics, manufacturing and transport, the source said.
A senior Iranian source told Reuters that Tehran had originally sought $400 billion as compensation for war damages from the U.S. but Washington had said it would not provide it.
The idea for the fund, which is to be named the Reconstruction and Development Fund, had then emerged.
The mechanism envisages regional countries contributing in various ways, the Iranian source said. These include securing loans, establishing credit lines or directly financing the reconstruction of sites damaged in the war, including facilities such as the Mobarakeh Steel complex, refineries, airports and, more broadly, infrastructure affected by the conflict.
Iran, one of the Middle East’s largest economies, has attracted almost no significant foreign direct investment in the past four decades, frozen out of global capital markets by successive waves of U.S. and international sanctions.
The country has the world’s second-largest proven natural gas reserves and the fourth-largest proven oil reserves.
It also has a young, educated population of more than 92 million people, a diversified industrial base and significant untapped potential in sectors ranging from petrochemicals and mining to tourism and agriculture.
The investment fund is entirely separate from a parallel negotiating track over the lifting of U.S. sanctions and the release of Iranian sovereign assets frozen abroad, the source said, describing the two as distinct financial mechanisms with different purposes and timelines.
The fund will not be created or become operational until a final and satisfactory deal is concluded. The memorandum of understanding, once signed, is intended to structure the process over the next 60 days.
“It’ll only be created once the final deal is signed,” the source said. “During these 60 days the fund administrators will work with Iranians and investors to plan and scope projects.”
Iran’s foreign ministry and Pakistan’s foreign ministry, which helped mediate the investment fund deal, did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
A White House spokeswoman pointed to a CBS interview with Vice President JD Vance on Monday in which he said that Iran could gain access to a $300 billion reconstruction fund backed by Gulf states if it complies with an agreement with Washington, including dismantling its nuclear programme, eliminating its stockpile of enriched material, and accepting a stringent inspection and enforcement regime.
The source would not say how the fund will be administered or by whom, noting that key details were still to be worked out.
The source named companies from South Korea, Japan, Singapore, Malaysia and the United States among those that had made commitments, but declined to provide a comprehensive list.
The 60-day memorandum is a framework, not a final agreement, and U.S. and Iranian negotiators are expected to work across multiple tracks during that period covering nuclear, sanctions and regional security issues.
(Reporting by Andrew Mills, Maha El Dahan and Parisa Hafezi; Additional reporting by Gram Slattery in Washington and Saad Sayeed in Karachi; Editing by Jon Boyle and Alexander Smith)
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