Iran's parliament speaker rejects US claim on use of frozen assets

WASHINGTON, United States — TEHRAN — Mohammad Bagher Kalibaf, speaker of Iran's parliament, rejected comments by US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, denying that most of Iran's frozen assets would be directed toward purchasing American agricultural products. In a post on X, Kalibaf pushed back against Washington's suggestion that funds released to Iran would be used to buy US goods, saying the only thing that has been "harvested" is "sown distrust." Kalibaf also accused the United States of exporting genetically modified products such as soybeans, along with "unkept promises and insults," and argued that the "culture of distrust" is organic, abundant and produced domestically in Washington. His remarks come against the backdrop of a long-running dispute between Tehran and Washington over Iran's frozen assets, which remains a central point of friction in the broader economic relationship between the two countries.