WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump on Thursday (local time) claimed that Iran is struggling with food shortages and announced that the United States would use money from unfrozen Iranian assets to purchase American agricultural products, including wheat, soybeans and corn.
Speaking at the Rose Garden Club Dinner with American farmers, Trump said Iran would become a new market for US agricultural exports.
“We have another one, a new market coming up, and that’s called the lovely country of Iran. It’s a beautiful place. Would anybody like to go there? The Islamic Republic of Iran is having a hard time with food, and we’re going to be taking some of their money and we’ll spend it, and we’re going to be buying wheat, soybeans and corn—a lot of it. And that process is going to be starting pretty soon. It’s going to be pretty big too. I think it’s going to be very big,” Trump said.
His remarks come amid discussions surrounding financial relief under the recently announced Memorandum of Understanding (MoU). According to Al Jazeera, Trump said the initial package would involve $500 million worth of American goods, adding that no cash would be transferred directly to Tehran. Instead, the unfrozen funds would be used to purchase wheat, corn and other agricultural products from US farmers to address what he described as Iran’s food shortage.
US Vice President JD Vance also defended the proposal, saying that if Iranian assets are unfrozen, “they’re going to go to make American farmers richer and feed the Iranian people,” according to Al Jazeera.
Iran, however, rejected Trump’s claims.
Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf dismissed the assertion that unfrozen Iranian assets would be used to purchase American agricultural products.
In a post on X, Ghalibaf wrote, “America falsely claims our unfrozen assets will buy their agriculture. Interesting. The only crop we’re harvesting is what you planted: decades of mistrust. It’s organic, abundant, and homegrown. But apparently the US only exports GMO soybeans, broken promises and trash talks.”
The exchange highlights the sharp differences between Washington and Tehran over the proposed use of Iranian assets, with US officials presenting the plan as humanitarian assistance while Iranian leaders reject the characterisation and deny Trump’s claims.
