‘Harvesting Mistrust’: Iran Rejects Trump’s Claims to Use Its Frozen Funds on US Agriculture
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US and Iran dispute how $12 billion in unfrozen assets will be spent under a new interim nuclear deal.
By Pranjal Gupta
New Delhi, June 25: Iran has rejected US claims that its unfrozen assets will be used to purchase American agricultural products for the Iranian people. Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammed Bagher Ghalibaf, who was part of last week's high-stakes negotiations with Washington, dismissed the assertion, saying the United States had sown decades of mistrust.
“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,” Ghalibaf said.
What is happening to Iran's frozen assets?
As with several aspects of the ongoing US-Iran negotiations, both sides appear to have differing interpretations of what has been agreed.
Following the first round of talks in Switzerland on Monday, held after the signing of a US-Iran Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) last week, Ghalibaf said an agreement had been reached to release $12 billion in frozen Iranian funds.
However, US Vice President JD Vance said any unfrozen Iranian assets would be directed towards the purchase of American agricultural products.
“They’re going to go to make American farmers richer and feed the Iranian people,” Vance said.
President Donald Trump echoed the sentiment, saying the negotiations were progressing well and that Iran would purchase products such as corn and soybeans from US farmers.
“We’re doing very well in terms of negotiating a fair and reasonable deal. Corn, soybeans, all of the things they need are going to be bought from our farmers,” Trump said.
A day later, Trump wrote on Truth Social that the funds and sanctions relief provided by the US Treasury would be placed in a US-controlled escrow account and used exclusively to purchase food and medical supplies from the United States.
“The Money and/or Sanctions that the U.S. Treasury is releasing goes into escrow, controlled by the U.S.A., and will be used for the purchase of food and medical supplies, exclusively from the United States, including corn, wheat and soybeans from our great American farmers,” he posted.
Calling the situation a humanitarian crisis, Trump added that assistance was necessary before it was too late and said talks were progressing positively.
On June 22, the US Treasury issued a 60-day licence waiving sanctions on Iranian oil as part of an interim agreement aimed at ending the conflict. The licence authorises the production, delivery and sale of Iranian oil until August 21.
The move came as Vance said his discussions with senior Iranian officials in Switzerland had laid a “good foundation for a successful final deal”.
Negotiators are now working towards a permanent agreement to end the conflict involving the United States, Israel and Iran.
