Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has ordered an assessment of both future and existing damage to Gulf allies, with Iranian assets potentially being used to cover the costs.
| Photo Credit:
MAJID ASGARIPOUR
The U.S. government
will attempt to redirect Iranian assets to Gulf states for
rebuilding and repairs of future damage caused by Iran, a source
familiar with the matter said on Saturday, a day after a wave of
attacks by Iran against Kuwait and Bahrain.
U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has also directed a
team to assess costs for damage already inflicted on Gulf allies
by Iran, the source said, adding that the U.S. will consider
using Iranian assets for those repairs as well.
The disclosure came a day after Mohsen Rezaei, an adviser to
Iran’s supreme leader, told CNN that a peace deal hinged on the
release of $24 billion in Iranian assets frozen by the United
States.
The source on Saturday did not specify what kind of assets
the Treasury was examining. The language used to describe the
new measures did not appear limited to frozen assets.
Peace negotiations appear to have stalled, although a
minister from mediator Pakistan traveled to Tehran on Saturday
with a letter for Iran’s Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei, Iran’s
semi-official ISNA news agency reported.
The threatened redirection of Iranian assets could create a
new irritant to a fragile ceasefire between the United States
and Iran, which was tested again this weekend with strikes by
the U.S. and Iran.
U.S. forces struck Iranian coastal radar sites in Goruk and
Qeshm Island, both in the Strait of Hormuz, early Saturday after
shooting down drones launched by Iran that U.S. Central Command
says posed a threat to maritime traffic.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guard said it retaliated against U.S.
bases in Kuwait and Bahrain, and Kuwait’s army said on Saturday
it engaged seven ballistic missiles that passed over residential
areas, resulting in material damage but no casualties.
In Bahrain, sirens sounded and residents were urged to seek
shelter. Kuwait and Bahrain condemned the strikes.
PAKISTANI MINISTER LANDS IN TEHRAN
Iran later said it had hit U.S. bases in both countries with
ballistic missiles, but the U.S. military said six missiles were
intercepted and a seventh did not reach its target.
The U.S. and Iran have been engaged in largely indirect
negotiations for an interim deal to halt the three-month-old war
that would leave issues including Iran’s nuclear programme to
further negotiations.
But a deal has remained elusive while the two sides have
periodically skirmished.
Tehran wants access to billions of dollars in oil revenue,
waivers on sanctions on crude exports, the lifting of a U.S.
blockade on its ports and leverage over the Strait of Hormuz.
Iran has effectively blocked the waterway, where about a fifth
of global oil traffic transited before the war.
Iranian state media reported that Pakistani Interior
Minister Mohsin Naqvi arrived in Tehran on Saturday for talks
with Iranian officials, including Foreign Minister Abbas
Araqchi. Naqvi said he was carrying a “special letter” from his
country’s army chief and prime minister to Iran’s Khamenei, ISNA
reported.
Trump is facing mounting domestic political pressure due to
rising gas prices to bring the unpopular war to an end. He told
NBC that while most of Iran’s drone and missile manufacturing
facilities had been destroyed, the Iranians still had access to
about a fifth of their missiles.
“They have some missiles, they have some drones. I would say
percentage wise, maybe 21% to 22% of their missiles. It’s a lot
of missiles, but it’s not what it was when we first attacked,”
Trump told NBC News’ “Meet the Press” program, according to
excerpts released by the network on Friday.
After the U.S. and Israel launched the war against Iran on
February 28, Tehran attacked Gulf states hosting U.S. bases and
largely stopped shipping through the Strait of Hormuz.
The conflict has driven up oil prices and disrupted supply
chains for other goods, including humanitarian aid.
FIGHTING FLARES ACROSS REGION DESPITE CEASEFIRES
In a parallel conflict in Lebanon, two Lebanese army officers
and a soldier were killed in an Israeli strike on a military
vehicle in south Lebanon, the Lebanese army said. The Israeli
military said it was investigating the incident.
Iran has made a ceasefire in Lebanon between Israel and
Iran-aligned Hezbollah a condition for any peace deal with
Washington.
Lebanon’s army said on Saturday its commander, General
Rudolf Haykal, left for Pakistan at the invitation of his
Pakistani counterpart, without giving further details.
The surprise visit was notable given the insistence by
Washington — and by Lebanese leaders, including the president —
that ceasefire talks for Lebanon remain separate from U.S.-Iran
negotiations mediated by Pakistan.
Hezbollah leader Naim Qassem this week rejected a U.S.-brokered
pact between Israel and the Lebanese government to halt the
fighting in Lebanon. The deal did not provide for an Israeli
withdrawal and Hezbollah had not been party to the negotiations.
Israel has said its forces would not withdraw or halt operations
in the country amid increasing friction with the U.S.
Published on June 7, 2026
