Iran Buying Wheat, Fearing More Curbs
21:44 - 27 March 2012
KURDPA - Iran is ramping up imports of wheat, including rare purchases from the U.S., in a sign Tehran is building a strategic stockpile of grain in anticipation of harsher sanctions or even military conflict.
The country has bought wheat from the U.S., Australia, Brazil, and Kazakhstan in the past few months, and is in talks on what could be a major wheat buy from India, according to market watchers and official data.
Such a maneuver could bolster the Islamic regime at a time when the West is increasing pressure over Iran\'s disputed nuclear program, including curbing purchases of Iran\'s oil and freezing its government banks out of international networks. Current U.S. sanctions allow companies to sell food to Iran.
Access to wheat is crucial for the country, enabling it to prevent spikes in the cost of bread, a key staple among its 78 million citizens. Such spikes have in the past led to social unrest in Iran and elsewhere in the Middle East.
Iran is likely getting ahead of any tightening of sanctions, as well as a further decline in its currency, said Paul Sullivan, a Middle East security expert and adjunct professor at Georgetown University. The Iranian rial has fallen 30% against the U.S. dollar in the past six months, making purchases in U.S. dollars more expensive. \"It\'s clear they\'re worried about their currency declining and potential war ahead of them,\" Mr. Sullivan said. \"The country is really being squeezed.\"
The country has bought wheat from the U.S., Australia, Brazil, and Kazakhstan in the past few months, and is in talks on what could be a major wheat buy from India, according to market watchers and official data.
Such a maneuver could bolster the Islamic regime at a time when the West is increasing pressure over Iran\'s disputed nuclear program, including curbing purchases of Iran\'s oil and freezing its government banks out of international networks. Current U.S. sanctions allow companies to sell food to Iran.
Access to wheat is crucial for the country, enabling it to prevent spikes in the cost of bread, a key staple among its 78 million citizens. Such spikes have in the past led to social unrest in Iran and elsewhere in the Middle East.
Iran is likely getting ahead of any tightening of sanctions, as well as a further decline in its currency, said Paul Sullivan, a Middle East security expert and adjunct professor at Georgetown University. The Iranian rial has fallen 30% against the U.S. dollar in the past six months, making purchases in U.S. dollars more expensive. \"It\'s clear they\'re worried about their currency declining and potential war ahead of them,\" Mr. Sullivan said. \"The country is really being squeezed.\"
