A proposed $300 billion investment fund for Iran included in the U.S.âIran memorandum of understanding may face major legal obstacles under existing U.S. sanctions law, raising questions about whether the plan is workable even if both sides move toward a final agreement.
The memorandum, digitally signed Wednesday by President and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, is aimed at ending the war and restoring traffic through the Strait of Hormuz. As part of the 14-point plan, the U.S. agreed to lift sanctions on Iran, allow Tehran to increase its oil revenue and regain access to parts of the international banking system, among other measures.
But one of the most ambitious parts of the framework â a proposed for Irans reconstruction and development â may collide with a longstanding U.S. determination that Irans construction sector is controlled directly or indirectly by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
The issue is not just technical. It goes to whether one of the central economic promises of the Trump-Iran framework can realistically be executed under current U.S. law. If the $300 billion fund depends on investment in sectors Washington has already identified as IRGC-controlled, experts say the administration may be forced to rely on temporary waivers or new licenses â a legal structure that could make long-term investors wary and complicate any final deal.
The formally determined in 2020, and again in May 2025, that Irans construction sector was controlled directly or indirectly by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. Under the Iran Freedom and Counter-Proliferation Act, known as IFCA, that finding creates sanctions risks for people or companies doing business in the sector.
Miad Maleki, a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies and a former Treasury Office of Foreign Assets Control executive, told Fox News Digital that the legal and sanctions-related problems surrounding the fund are more complicated than simply asking whether Congress would have to approve it.
“I think Congress is unavoidable for a durable version of that investment,” Maleki said. “If we have a final deal and now as part of this commitment, the U.S. government and allies are going to have to go in and help Iran to set up this fund or get access to such a fund.”
Maleki said the president has meaningful unilateral authority to begin easing restrictions. Trump could revoke relevant , direct the Treasury Departments Office of Foreign Assets Control to issue general licenses and waive some congressional sanctions laws.
But he said that does not mean the fund would be durable enough to attract serious investors.
“Technically, the fund could be switched on through some kind of an executive action plan alone, but it would be on paper and it would have to be renewed every 180 days,” Maleki said, referring to waivers for mandatory sanctions tied to Irans construction sector.
“If youre anyone who is in an investment-type business, its hard to find someone who would be investing in construction-type projects that take time,” he added. “These projects are not like 180-day projects.”
The concern, Maleki said, is especially acute in Iran, where investors would face sanctions uncertainty, political risk and an unreliable partner.
“Its hard to find someone who would be investing … based on something that could not just be renewed if Iran, especially in the context of Iran, where you dont really have a reliable partner, where things can blow up any minute,” he said.
That structure raises a broader question about whether negotiators were truly expecting the memorandum to mature into a final, durable agreement.
“The more Ive been digging into this memorandum of understanding, sanctions paragraphs of this memorandum, the more I have come to this kind of doubt that the negotiators really were counting on a final deal to be reached,” Maleki said.
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