Comments by U.S. President Donald Trump and Vice President J.D. Vance about unfreezing blocked Iranian funds to buy food for the public triggered angry reactions inside Iran. Vance said the move would help farmers and put bread on people’s tables, but many Iranians dismissed the idea that their country’s crisis is simply hunger.
One Iranian told Iran International that “everything exists here,” but government policy has made food unaffordable, and that sending grain would not solve the country’s problems. Others argued that years of mismanagement and corruption are behind the worsening economy, not a lack of food.
Many respondents also said any financial relief would not reach ordinary citizens. They claimed the regime in Tehran consistently prioritizes its regional strategy over the welfare of its own people, with some saying the money would go to Hezbollah and Hamas instead. One commenter wrote that the regime would probably try to send the wheat to Lebanon and Iraq, while another told Vance that Iran is wealthy and suggested asking Hezbollah, Hamas and the Houthis.
The article also points to anti-government protests in January 2026 as evidence that the public is demanding political change and democracy. It cites a symbolic scene in the city of Abdanan, where protesters threw rice into the air, a gesture meant to reject the idea that their struggle is about food. One citizen said, “Mr. Vance, you were not there on the January nights in Abdanan when grains of rice fell from the sky like snow.” For protesters, the fight is about dignity, freedom and national culture, not hunger.
