Trump call for crop sales to Iran met with skepticism by traders

President Donald Trump's call for Iran to buy U.S. crops as part of a peace deal is being met with a mix of doubt and cautious optimism by the American farm sector.

"I remain skeptical of Iranian purchases of U.S. ag commodities, but the possibility must be respected," said StoneX chief commodities economist Arlan Suderman. "That may end up being an area that Iran gives on in order to get what it wants in another area of the talks."

Grain traders are nonplussed so far, with corn and wheat futures slumping for the third straight session on Tuesday. Soybeans have barely budged so far this week.

While the U.S. supplied large volumes of corn, wheat and rice prior to Iran's 1979 revolution, the country now largely eschews American crops. Iran instead has established trade flows with grain and oilseed suppliers including Brazil, which shipped about a fifth of its corn crop to Iran last year.

"The U.S. farmer hopes that the war opens up a new market that has not existed since 1979," AgResource Co. said.

The prospect of trade with Iran comes as American farmers have been seeking for new avenues to sell corn, wheat and soybeans amid a spotty relationship with China. Traders are still waiting to see evidence that the Asian nation will come through with $17 billion in agricultural purchases that were promised following the Beijing summit last month, beyond a previous buying commitment for soybeans.

Trump has been actively courting U.S. farmers, a key voting bloc for the president, ahead of midterm elections, even as the Iran war and his tariff policies have upended exports and sent agricultural input costs higher.

While reopening the Iranian market would be welcome, challenges include still-slow vessel traffic in the Strait of Hormuz and the need to assess any damage to facilities that bring in or process crops after months of war in the Middle Eastern country.

"What's the state of infrastructure? We can't hardly agree on a ceasefire much less strong-arming them into making large U.S. ag purchases," No Bull Ag analyst Susan Stroud said.

Trump's call in a social media post for unfrozen assets to be used for U.S. crop purchases - which echoed a similar statement by Vice President JD Vance - presented a new complication to talks to end the months-long war that's snarled traffic in the Strait of Hormuz.

"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," Trump wrote.

However, Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei disputed that, saying the funds would be used by his country "freely, in whatever manner it deems appropriate," rather than being restricted to purchases from the U.S.

The stipulation would also run counter to the existing memorandum of understanding to end the war, which says the funds "shall be made fully usable for payment to any ultimate beneficiary designated by the Central Bank of the Islamic Republic of Iran."

Iran said $12 billion of its frozen funds are set to be released as part of ongoing talks, in two equal installments, according to a report by the Mehr news agency, citing Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi.

It's unknown how much supply Iran might be able to accept in the near term. Shipments of food and medicine are exempt from sanctions.

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This story was originally published June 23, 2026 at 7:44 PM.