Abstract <p>Iron (Fe) is considered an impurity for aluminum alloy AA6061, and its content can increase significantly due to variations in the feedstock, especially when scrap aluminum is added in alloy production. The influence of Fe content on phase formation and hot tearing susceptibility (HTS) in AA6061 during solidification was investigated. A weighted average hot tearing index was applied to evaluate the HTS in AA6061 alloys with 0.3 wt&#xa0;pct Fe and 0.7 wt&#xa0;pct Fe. It was found that the higher Fe content reduced HTS, with the weighted average hot tearing index decreasing from ~&#xa0;3 in AA6061-0.3Fe to ~1.3 in AA6061-0.7Fe. Increasing Fe content from 0.3 to 0.7&#xa0;pct resulted in an increased volume fraction and refined particle size of Fe-rich intermetallic phases. Meanwhile, the formed <i>β</i>-Al₅FeSi phase transferred into <i>α</i>-Al₈Fe₂Si that distributed in the eutectic region, which provided strong bonding and additional feeding in inter-dendritic regions, mitigating crack initiation. Tensile test results showed that increasing Fe content from 0.3 to 0.7 pct led to a yield strength improvement of 10 pct while maintaining similar ductility. The results elucidate the effect of Fe-rich intermetallics on the HTS in aluminum alloys and offer a new insight in mitigating hot tearing, especially for recycled aluminum alloys.</p> Graphical Abstract <p></p>