Iran: US crop purchases with frozen funds depend on prices
Shafaq News- Tehran/ Washington
Iran may use frozen funds to buy US agricultural products if “prices are competitive,” Agriculture Minister Gholamreza Nouri Qezeljeh said on Wednesday.
Nouri Qezeljeh stated that using frozen financial resources to secure goods serves Iran’s interests, but Tehran would turn to other suppliers if US offers were not suitable.
On June 17, Iran and the US signed a memorandum of understanding aimed at ending the war and reopening the Strait of Hormuz, with part of the arrangement involving access to frozen Iranian assets held abroad. Iranian state media, citing government officials, reported that an initial $12 billion would be released under the understandings to buy essential goods and medicine.
US President Donald Trump claimed the money would be used exclusively to buy food and medical supplies from the United States, including corn, wheat, and soybeans. Central Bank Governor Abdolnaser Hemmati rejected that interpretation, saying the $12 billion would be used to buy “essential goods and medicine” without obliging Tehran to spend it only on US products.
