Trump Says Iran 'Needs Food', Ghalibaf Fires Back Citing 40 Million Americans on Food Stamps

Iran's Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf has mocked Donald Trump after the US president claimed Tehran 'needs food' and would soon be buying American crops. Ghalibaf's reply, posted on his own X account, pointed to the millions of Americans who rely on food stamps.

The exchange has reignited tension between Washington and Tehran, just weeks after the two countries signed a memorandum aimed at ending their brief war earlier this year. It is also the second time in under two weeks that Ghalibaf has mocked Trump over the same claim: on 25 June, he dismissed an earlier version of the food-exports proposal by saying 'the only crop we're harvesting is what you planted: decades of mistrust.'

What Trump Told CNBC

Trump made the comments in a CNBC interview recorded in the Oval Office on 2 July. Speaking about Iran's economy, he said, 'They have 300% inflation, they're making no money. So we're going to take some of the money, and we're going to buy them. They need food. They need corn, and wheat, and soybeans, and we're going to have exclusively our American farmers provide that.'

Trump was referring to a mechanism under the ceasefire memorandum signed last month that would conditionally release billions of dollars in frozen Iranian funds, though US officials say no such transfer has actually taken place yet. Trump has said any released funds are meant for American food imports rather than Iran's military.

Iran disputes that framing. Central bank governor Abdolnasser Hemmati said: 'Based on the memorandums that have been signed, there is no obligation for us to purchase agricultural inputs from the US.'

Ghalibaf's Reply on X

Ghalibaf responded directly on X on 3 July, writing, 'Imagine having forty-something million of your own citizens on food stamps and calling another nation hungry. This is not a proclamation. This is a projection.'

He added, 'Keep your SNAP advice. Our assets, our choices. Mind your malnutrition rates.' The post has drawn more than 921,000 views, over 5,100 reposts and 23,000 likes.

The SNAP Numbers Behind the Jibe

Ghalibaf did not cite a specific source for his 'forty-something million' figure. It broadly tracks with federal data on America's Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.

According to a USDA press release from 24 June, the programme's national payment error rate hit 10.62 per cent for fiscal year 2025, nearly double the 6 per cent threshold set by Congress. The agency said the errors amount to $10.1 billion (£7.6 billion) in improper payments nationwide, and states with rates above the threshold will have to cover a share of programme costs from October 2027.

Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins said the figures are proof that 'state accountability is severely lacking in SNAP.'

That figure had fallen to 37.4 million by March 2026, according to USDA data analysed by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, a non-partisan research organisation. The drop followed new work requirements introduced under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which Trump signed into law in July 2025.

The dispute sits awkwardly beside Trump's other claims about the state of US-Iran diplomacy. In the same CNBC interview, he said Tehran had 'agreed to just about everything we need' in talks aimed at preventing Iran from developing nuclear weapons.

Talks between the two countries are continuing even as the public exchanges between their leaders remain combative. It remains unclear whether any of Iran's unfrozen assets will ultimately be spent on US farm goods under a future agreement.