Iran has threatened to slash imports it takes from Brazil unless it allows the refuelling of at least two Iranian ships stranded off the Brazilian coast as a result of US sanctions, Bloomberg reported on July 24.

Iran’s ambassador to Brazil, Seyed Ali Saghaeyan, said in an interview with the news agency that he had told Brazilian officials that his country could easily find new suppliers of corn, soybeans and meat if the South American nation refused to permit the refuelling. Brazilian exports to Iran, which also include sugar and around one-third of all Brazil’s corn exports, are worth around $2bn a year.

“I told the Brazilians that they should solve the issue, not the Iranians,” Saghaeyan was reported as saying at the Iranian Embassy in federal capital Brasilia. “If it’s not solved, maybe the authorities in Tehran may want to take some decision because this is a free market and other countries are available.”

State-controlled oil company Petroleo Brasileiro has declined to supply the ships with fuel. For more than a month they have been anchored off the port of Paranagua. Petroleo Brasileiro has cited the risk of getting hit by secondary US sanctions if it goes ahead with the refuelling.

Far-right Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro is a strong supporter of his US counterpart Donald Trump. He has warned Brazilian exporters of the risk of trading with Iran.

“We are aligned with their [US] policies [on the Middle East]. So we do what we have to,” Bolsonaro told journalists.

To resolve the stand-off, Iran is considering sending fuel to the stranded ships. However, this option would take longer and would prove costly, Saghaeyan was cited as saying, adding: “Independent large countries like Brazil and Iran should work together without interference from any third party or country.”