War threats – Iran buys one million metric tons of wheat

Amid threats of attack on the nuclear facilities from Israel, Iran is tapping global market to buy milling wheat for its large population to feed. Over the past two weeks, Iran has bought around one million metric tons from international market, mostly from the European Union. The United States and European countries have slapped economic sanctions on Iran, but despite the strict sanctions, Iran was able to buy wheat from the international market.

Iranian officials claim that the country is faced with bad harvest and therefore wheat is being purchased on a large scale. A number of discerning observers based here in New York City opine that Iran may be purchasing wheat in such a massive amount because of the threat of an attack from Israel on its nuclear facilities.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his defense minister, Ehud Barak, have been planning to attack the nuclear facilities of Iran for some time, but haven’t been able to initiate an attack because of complete lack of support from the Obama administration, which feels that diplomacy and dialogue are still the best ways to resolve the issue.

Iran may be preparing for a long war with Israel and that’s why purchasing wheat in massive quantity from the global market.

The sanctions imposed by the United States and European countries do not bar shipment of food items, but make transaction of bills difficult. It may be pertinent to mention here that the United States has also imposed sanctions on a few banks for dealing with Iranian firms and companies. Following the sanctions on banks, Russia threatened the US of reaction if any of its companies was affected.

To buy wheat, Iran has so far used non-dollar currencies for payment to traders. These currencies include Euro and Japanese Yen. The country has also purchased maize and barley as part of its latest purchase wave to feed animals as well.