US says Iran will buy its goods: What could US-Iran trade look like?

Published 25 June 2026 · india

Before the 1979 revolution in Iran, Washington and Tehran had close trade ties. Analysts tell us if a peace deal can revive them. The United

Before the 1979 revolution in Iran, Washington and Tehran had close trade ties. Analysts tell us if a peace deal can revive them. The United States says it has come up with a spending plan for unfrozen Iranian assets, as negotiations to reach a final deal to end the war in the Middle East continue. President Donald Trump’s administration insists that the unfrozen money will be used to buy US agricultural products, which will then be provided to Iran. Ultimately, that could translate into a $12 billion shot in the arm for the currently heavily restricted bilateral trade between the US and Iran, which is largely confined to humanitarian goods. From being close trading partners to arch rivals over the past five decades, the US-Iran relationship has all but petered out. However outlandish the idea may seem, can Trump restore trade ties with Tehran? What is happening to Iran’s frozen assets? As is the case with many things in the US-Iran negotiations, the two sides do not appear fully aligned on what has been agreed so far. After the first round of talks in Switzerland on Monday, following the signing of the US-Iran memorandum of understanding (MoU) last week, Iran’s top negotiator, Mohammed Bagher Ghalibaf, said an agreement had been reached to release $12bn in frozen Iranian funds. But US Vice President JD Vance said if Iranian assets are unfrozen, they will be used by Iran to buy US agricultural products. “They’re going to go to make American farmers richer and feed the Iranian people,” he said. President Trump added: “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. So our farmers are very happy. I’ve had a lot of calls; they were very happy about this.” Next day, Trump posted on Truth Social: “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.

These are things that are desperately needed by Iran.” “This is a humanitarian crisis, and I feel it is necessary to help, NOW, before it is too late. Talks are going well!” Iran has not confirmed that it has agreed to this at all, however. Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei said the assets “will be released and will be employed with absolute liberty by Iran in order to purchase whatever goods or commodities needed by the nation”. He added that 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 civilisation and the collapse of Iran, has become enriching American farmers,” Baghaei said. Iran’s ambassador in Geneva, Ali Bahreini, also rejected the US contention, saying “Iran is the only country that decides what to do with those assets”. How will this be agreed? Gary Hufbauer, a non-resident senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics, said: “Any attempt to put spending conditions on unfrozen Iranian assets will lead to lengthy negotiations.” In reality, he told Al Jazeera, “lots of Congressmen oppose the Iran deal, and multinational companies will be wary of another political flare-up and credit risk in doing business with Iran”. Mohammad Reza Farzanegan, a professor and economist at Germany’s Philipps-Universitat Marburg, said the US president has a strong motive to force Iran to buy US goods: “To extract something positive for his reputation in this illegal war against Iran”. Farmers in the US, especially soybean exporters, have been hurt by Trump’s trade war with China, the economist said. “Redirecting Iranian frozen assets towards US agricultural purchases would allow Washington to frame sanctions relief as humanitarian trade. But in reality, it is a move to improve his popularity among his social support base in the US,” he said. Cullen Hendrix, a senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics, a Washington-based think tank, said the US proposal could also be a way of “avoiding the straightforward transfer of funds to Iran, which would scan as a capitulation by the US”.