Fox News contributor and Washington Post columnist Marc Thiessen called the Trump administration’s plan to establish a $300 billion reconstruction fund for Iran a “disaster” on Monday.

During a conversation with CBS’s Ed O’Keefe earlier that morning, Vice President JD Vance was asked, “The Iranians are saying that they’re gonna have access to a $300 billion reconstruction fund — true or false?”

Vance replied:

Well, Ed, that’s the sort of thing they could have access to, funded by the Gulf coast coalition, so long as they honor their end of the obligation. I think that one of the things you’re going to see, Ed—and people have to be skeptical of this—is that the hardliners in the Iranian system will overemphasize the benefits that Iran gets, while underemphasizing all the things that they have to concede and all the things they have to provide in order to get these benefits

So we absolutely are open to the Gulf coast countries investing in the reconstruction of Iran, but only if Iran ends their nuclear program, ends their enriched stockpile of material, and is really open to an inspections and enforcement regime that gives the American people confidence they’re never gonna have a nuclear weapon. So I think the dance you’re gonna see, Ed, which is gonna be interesting, is the Iranian media, especially the hardline media, they’re gonna talk a lot about what they get without talking about what they give. It’s important for all of us to correct that record.

Thiessen reacted to the clip on X by arguing that “$300 billion to Iran under any circumstances is a disaster. Like offered the Marshall Plan to rebuild Germany while the Nazis were still in power.”

His commentary is particularly notable given his influence over the Trump administration’s foreign policy and personal relationship with the president himself.

“Post opinion editor Adam O’Neal has told journalists that Thiessen’s calls with Trump regarding Ukraine were influential in persuading Trump to continue to take the country’s side in the conflict in the face of some Republicans pushing for a quick settlement with Russia, people familiar with the Post’s internal conversations said. Thiessen similarly told colleagues at the Post that he believed his columns were shaping Trump’s thinking on the war in Ukraine,” reported Semafor’s Max Tani last month. “Last year, Trump invited him to have dinner with their respective wives at the White House. Thiessen has told people at the Post that after one phone call with Trump, the president complimented the attractiveness of Thiessen’s wife.”

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