Trump and Vance say unfreezing of Iran assets to benefit American farmers

Hind Al Soulia - Riyadh - WASHINGTON — US President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance said the interim US-Iran deal to end the war will deliver a financial windfall to American farmers.

A tentative agreement reached last week would reopen the Strait of Hormuz, through which a fifth of the world’s oil and natural gas once passed, and allow Iran to start selling its oil freely again during a 60-day period when the two countries will continue negotiating key issues. The memorandum of understanding also promised to unfreeze Iranian assets.

Trump said Iranian funds that are being unfrozen will be used to buy food, exclusively from farmers in the United States.

According to Fox News, Trump was addressing an Oval Office press gathering on Monday where he made the announcement. Speaking to reporters, the US president said, "Money that's being unfrozen is going to be used to buy food... exclusively through the United States from our farmers."

"Corn, soybeans, and other agricultural products will be purchased from American farmers as part of the administration's latest progress with Iran. Our farmers are very happy... I've received a lot of calls," said Trump.

Vance, who spoke about the proposal after high-level talks in Switzerland, and Trump say that any frozen funds and assets held outside of Iran will be used to buy US crops.

But the Iranians deny that is part of the deal. A spokesperson for the Iranian Foreign Ministry, Esmail Baghaei, said any agricultural purchases would be based on “prices and quality,’’ not terms dictated by Washington.

“It is interesting that the philosophy and goal of the war, which was the destruction of the Iranian civilization and the collapse of Iran, has become enriching American farmers,” Baghaei said.

Iran’s ambassador in Geneva, Ali Bahreini, rejected Vance’s contention that the US and Qatar would dictate how Iran uses unfrozen funds. “Iran is the only country who decides what to do with those assets,” he told reporters.

In the absence of more details, sanctions experts are flummoxed over exactly how billions of dollars’ worth of Iranian assets would make their way to the American heartland from the escrow accounts where they’ve been locked for years by US sanctions.

Trump’s call for Iran to buy US crops as part of a peace deal is being met with a mix of doubt and cautious optimism by the American farm sector.

“I remain skeptical of Iranian purchases of US ag commodities, but the possibility must be respected,” StoneX chief commodities economist Arlan Suderman told Bloomberg. “That may end up being an area that Iran gives on in order to get what it wants in another area of the talks.”

A US official dismissed the contradiction, asserting that Iranian leaders were speaking to their domestic audience.

Joseph Glauber, a research fellow emeritus at the International Food Policy Research Institute, said Iran was unlikely to abandon its other trade partners on food.

Iran’s major suppliers include Brazil, India, Turkey, the European Union, Canada, Australia and Argentina, he said. Trump’s demand to buy from the US would “create some hard feelings with some of our competitors.”

Under previous sanctions, the US has required that money foreign countries spend on imports from Iran — such as South Korean purchases of oil and Iraqi purchases of Iranian electricity — be locked in escrow accounts and typically released only if the Treasury approves and if the proceeds go toward “non-sanctionable’’ items such as food and medicine.

On Monday, the US Treasury approved the sale of Iranian oil, petrochemicals and petroleum products through Aug. 21. It did not mention any escrow accounts.