Trump reasserts U.S. to spend Iranian assets on farm goods

Trump reasserts U.S. to spend Iranian assets on farm goods

Published 1:00 pm Wednesday, June 24, 2026

President Trump reaffirmed that unfrozen Iranian assets will buy U.S. farm goods, though an Iranian official said no one will dictate how Iran spends the money.

Iran needs food and the U.S. will buy it from American producers, Trump said in a social media post June 24.

“We will be releasing some of their money, that is totally controlled by us, to our farmers and ranchers for the purchase of corn, wheat, soybeans and more,” Trump said.

Iran’s ambassador to the United Nations in Geneva, Ali Bahreini, said the U.S. has agreed to unfreeze Iranian assets. “And Iran is the only country who decides what to do with those assets,” he said.

“There would be no role for any country or entity to have a say on how those assets should be used by Iran,” Bahreini said.

Vice President J.D. Vance said June 22 in Switzerland that unfrozen Iranian assets would be used to buy U.S. soybean, corn and wheat. Major farm groups, usually quick to comment on major developments, have been quiet.

U.S. Wheat Associates said the situation was too fluid to comment on. The American Soybean Association and National Corn Growers Association did not respond to requests to comment.

The U.S. and Iran were robust trading partners in agricultural products before the Iranian Revolution. The U.S. exported $578.6 million worth of farm goods to Iran in 1978, according to the USDA Foreign Agricultural Service.

Farm trade fell off after the revolution, though trade sporadically spiked. Iran, suffering a severe drought, bought $535.6 million worth of U.S. wheat in 2008. The U.S., however, has not exported wheat to Iran since 2012.

The U.S. exported a record $318 million worth of soybeans to Iran in 2018. Soybean sales to China slumped that year because of a 25% retaliatory tariff. Iran has not bought any U.S. soybeans since then.

The U.S. has sold no corn to Iran since 2015.