JAKARTA - The Speaker of the Iranian Parliament Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf, who led his country's negotiating team, on Thursday rejected the United States' claim that Tehran's frozen assets and those that have been unfrozen will be used to buy American agricultural products.
"America falsely claims that our liquidated assets will be used to buy their agricultural products," Qalibaf wrote on the X social media platform, as reported by ANTARA from Anadolu, Thursday, June 25.
"The only crop we are picking is what you grow yourself: decades of mistrust. The harvest is natural, abundant, and the result of domestic agriculture," he added.
Qalibaf also criticized Washington's trade and political track record. According to him, the United States "only exports GMO soybeans (genetically modified products), broken promises, and nonsense."
The statement came after US President Donald Trump on Wednesday (24/6) said the initial phase of financial easing for Tehran would involve about 500 million US dollars in the form of American goods.
Trump stressed that there would be no cash given directly to Tehran. Instead, Washington would use Iranian funds under surveillance to pay American farmers for exports of products such as corn and wheat.
"Iran needs food very much, and we will buy it for them exclusively from the United States," Trump said.
Meanwhile, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told CNBC on Wednesday that the United States would oversee the release of Iranian funds frozen in the Gulf region under the Iran-US deal reached in the Trump era.
"Any funds received by Iran in the initial phase will be used for the benefit of the Iranian people. It will be Iran's frozen funds," Bessent said.
He added that the first disbursement of funds would likely be made through Qatar, and US Treasury officials would be in Doha to oversee the use of the funds.
According to Bessent, a very large percentage of the funds will be used to purchase food and medicine from the United States. He revealed that Washington will redirect the funds to American products through the supervision of the US Treasury in the Middle East.
The comments come amid ongoing debate over the implementation of the latest understanding between Iran and the United States, which includes provisions on easing sanctions and unfreezing frozen Iranian assets.
The agreement, mediated by Pakistan, came into force on June 18 after being signed electronically by Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian and US President Donald Trump.
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