Iran indicated on Thursday that it could buy food from the US under certain conditions, as President Donald Trump promises American farmers a windfall from the Middle East peace deal.
With as much as $12 billion in frozen Iranian cash to be released under the deal, Mr Trump has promoted a plan for Iran to spend the money on corn, wheat and soybeans from US producers.
The Iranian negotiating team initially mocked the idea. But on Thursday, Iran's Agriculture Minister Gholamreza Ghezeljeh appeared to leave the door open to doing business with the US.
Iran could buy “a portion of essential goods from multinational companies with American shareholders”, Mr Ghezeljeh said – although this would “only take place if Iran's conditions are met”.
As well the terms agreed on in the US-Iran deal, the price, quality and health standards of American goods will be taken into consideration, he said. “If any of the conditions are not met, procurement will be carried out from other sources.”
What the deal says
Clause 11 of the deal says: “The United States of America undertakes to make fully available for use the frozen or restricted funds and assets of the Islamic Republic of Iran.”
It leaves details to be negotiated later.
At stake are at least $12 billion in Iranian funds. Some of the money is sitting in US accounts, frozen by sanctions. Other assets are held by third countries such as Qatar.
The fate of the money was one of the main sticking points in the US-Iran negotiations that led to the deal, along with control of the Strait of Hormuz and the situation in Lebanon.
What the US says
Mr Trump spies a business opportunity and a windfall for farmers in a year of congressional elections.
The Iranian funds, he said last week, would remain under US control and “used for the purchase of food and medical supplies, exclusively from the United States, including corn, wheat and soybeans from our great American farmers”.
After peace talks in Switzerland, Vice President JD Vance said the US had asked Qatar to help set up a process. Like Mr Trump, he said any money unfrozen would benefit American farmers.
Mr Vance added that the money “is not going to be unfrozen unless we continue to see progress”. Talks in Qatar this week involving Trump envoys Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff delivered no obvious signs of that.
What Iran says
Iran's top negotiator, Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, was scathing about the farm goods proposal when Mr Trump announced it last week.
“America falsely claims our unfrozen assets will buy their agriculture. Interesting. The only crop we're harvesting is what you planted: decades of mistrust,” Mr Ghalibaf said on social media.
Top Iranian officials including President Masoud Pezeshkian say they expect an initial $6 billion to be released through Qatar. Deputy foreign minister Kazem Gharibabadi said the money could be used for the “purchase of necessary goods”, without mentioning the US.
Mr Ghezeljeh's comments on Thursday were Iran's strongest hint yet that Mr Trump could get his wish.
But he appeared to play down the significance of any US deal, saying that buying from “companies with American shareholders” would be a “continuation of the trend from recent years”.
The US has previously waived sanctions to allow Iran to buy certain goods. In 2023, a prisoner release deal brokered by Qatar led to $6 billion being transferred and Iran offered a “humanitarian channel” to buy food and medicines.
While Mr Trump has one eye on the midterms, Iran may not have time on its side either because of its precarious economic situation, analysts Hamidreza Azizi and Erwin van Veen wrote for the Clingendael Institute in the Netherlands.
With Iran in economic need, the US “might decide to tie part of the carrot of unfreezing tranches of Iranian assets abroad and staged sanction relief to verifiable Iranian commitments” on nuclear matters, they said.
