Could Trump’s Iran trade war threaten Spain’s saffron-infused paella?

US threats to punish Iran’s trading partners could disrupt Spain’s saffron supply, putting pressure on paella chefs and exporters.

Paella, a famous Spanish rice dish that is infused with saffron, originated in Valencia. The key reddish spice is often imported from Iran [File: Heino Kalis/Reuters]

Madrid, Spain – Fields of purple flowers contain crimson stigmas that make saffron, an essential spice in Spain’s national dish, paella.

Saffron gives the rice-based dish its distinctive yellow colour and earthy aroma.

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Though the central Spanish region of Castilla-La Mancha grows its own crop, Spain depends largely on Iran for its supply.

This could now be under threat after the United States said in late August that it would launch an “economic onslaught” against Tehran’s trade partners around the globe to cripple Iran financially. The United Arab Emirates also said it would suspend trade relations with Iran.

Exactly how Washington would take measures against all of Iran’s trade partners remains unclear, although on September 4 the US Treasury Department announced sanctions on Turkiye’s Golden Global Bank, which the US accuses of facilitating funds for Iran, CNBC reported.

“This threat from the United States could be a problem for us. Our biggest supplier by far is Iran. Then we sell it to markets all over the world,” Jose Luis Guerrero, of CEAE, a Spanish saffron export company that began in 1904, told Al Jazeera. “We will have to worry about it when the US says what action it will actually take.”

Maria Naranjo, director for agrifoods at ICEX, Spain’s state trade and investment body, said Spain was a “particularly important” gateway of saffron into Europe. Two years ago, Spain accounted for three-quarters of EU imports of saffron from Iran.

“This highlights the role played by Spanish companies not only as importers but also in processing, packaging, branding and distributing saffron to international markets,” she told Al Jazeera.

“Against this background, any potential disruption to trade flows with Iran would not necessarily result in a shortage of saffron for Spanish consumers or for its use in Spanish cuisine. The impact could be more significant for Spanish companies involved in importing, processing, packaging and internationally distributing the product.”

Until the full details of US sanctions are known, it will not be possible to work out the impact on the Spanish saffron trade, Naranjo said.

“We still have saffron from Castilla-La Mancha. Paella is not in danger,” she joked.

About 150 Crocus sativus flowers are needed to produce a gram of dry saffron. [File: Sergio Perez/Reuters]

Analysts say the success of the US strategy largely depends on China, the main buyer of Iranian oil and its leading trading partner.

“Those who stand with the United States will reap the rewards of our partnership,” US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has said. “Those who tether themselves to the Iranian regime should expect to share in the isolation.”

Washington’s threats against Iran’s trading partners have sent alarm bells ringing.

Spain’s commercial links with Iran are minor compared with countries like Turkiye and Pakistan.

In 2025, Spanish companies exported products worth $143m to Iran and imported Iranian goods worth $141m – a total of almost 245 million euros ($285m) in the bilateral trade of goods, according to Spanish government figures.

Imports of saffron were worth $61m, more than 40 percent of all imports from Iran.

A paella Valenciana, made with rabbit, chicken, snails and vegetables, is served at La Matandeta restaurant in Valencia, Spain, on January 4, 2026. [Maria Martinez/Reuters]

US-Spain relations, meanwhile, have been strained .

President Donald Trump and Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez have previously clashed over defence spending among NATO member states.

In July, Trump threatened to cut off trade relations with Spain, saying Madrid had been a “terrible partner in NATO”.

However, the threat was not followed through.

The US and Spain have also been at odds over Sanchez’s condemnation of the US-Israel war on Iran , which he said was “illegal”.

And while the Spanish prime minister condemned Hamas’s attack on southern Israel in 2023, he has also criticised Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza.

But Vicente Roja, a paella chef from Valencia, the home of Spain’s signature dish, is unfazed.

“No one can touch our paella. It is the essence of Spain. Whatever happens, we will get by.”

Spanish people are famously proud of paella, and new takes in the past been followed by light-hearted rebukes.

In 2022, the British supermarket Tesco touched a nerve when it dreamed up a paella sandwich. In response, Spain’s Civil Guard, which is normally busy catching criminals, marked World Paella Day.

“The paella sandwich for some is heresy, for others it slaughters good taste and could even threaten health,” it said on social media, with smiley emojis.

In 2016, Jamie Oliver, the British television chef, committed a similar gastronomic offence when he suggested adding chorizo to the dish. The seemingly harmless suggestion prompted claims that he was a “culinary terrorist”.

美国威胁要惩罚伊朗的贸易伙伴，这可能会扰乱西班牙的藏红花供应，给西班牙海鲜饭厨师和出口商带来压力。

西班牙海鲜饭（Paella）是一道著名的西班牙米饭料理，以藏红花为主要香料，起源于瓦伦西亚。这种主要的红色香料通常从伊朗进口。[图片：Heino Kalis/路透社]

西班牙马德里——紫色的花田里长着鲜红的柱头，这些柱头可以制成藏红花，藏红花是西班牙国菜海鲜饭中必不可少的香料。

藏红花赋予这道米饭菜肴独特的黄色和泥土般的香气。

（共3条）受伊朗战争影响，美国柴油价格创历史新高

伊朗吹嘘其军事回应，美国维持封锁并袭击油轮（共3条，此为第2条）

特朗普政府官员称“可能不会与伊朗达成核协议”（共3份名单，此为第3份）。

虽然西班牙中部的卡斯蒂利亚-拉曼查地区种植自己的粮食，但西班牙的粮食供应很大程度上依赖于伊朗。

如今，这种情况可能面临威胁。此前，美国在8月下旬表示，将对伊朗在全球的贸易伙伴发起“经济攻势”，以削弱伊朗的经济实力。阿联酋也表示将暂停与伊朗的贸易关系。

据 CNBC 报道，华盛顿究竟会如何对伊朗的所有贸易伙伴采取措施仍不清楚，尽管美国财政部于 9 月 4 日宣布对土耳其的黄金环球银行实施制裁，美国指责该银行向伊朗提供资金。

“美国的这种威胁可能会给我们带来麻烦。我们最大的供应商是伊朗。然后我们把藏红花销往世界各地，”西班牙藏红花出口公司CEAE的何塞·路易斯·格雷罗（Jose Luis Guerrero）告诉半岛电视台。CEAE成立于1904年。“美国究竟会采取什么行动，我们才能真正为此担忧。”

西班牙国家贸易投资机构ICEX的农产品食品主管玛丽亚·纳兰霍表示，西班牙是藏红花进入欧洲的“极其重要”的门户。两年前，西班牙占欧盟从伊朗进口藏红花总量的四分之三。

她告诉半岛电视台：“这凸显了西班牙公司在藏红花的加工、包装、品牌推广和分销到国际市场方面所发挥的作用。”

“在此背景下，与伊朗贸易往来的任何潜在中断未必会导致西班牙消费者或西班牙菜肴中藏红花短缺。但对参与藏红花进口、加工、包装和国际分销的西班牙公司而言，影响可能更为显著。”

纳兰霍表示，在了解美国制裁的全部细节之前，无法确定其对西班牙藏红花贸易的影响。

“我们还有来自卡斯蒂利亚-拉曼恰的藏红花。西班牙海鲜饭不会有危险，”她开玩笑说。

大约需要150朵番红花才能生产1克干番红花。[图片：Sergio Perez/路透社]

分析人士表示，美国战略的成功在很大程度上取决于中国，中国是伊朗石油的主要买家和主要贸易伙伴。

美国财政部长斯科特·贝森特曾表示：“与美国站在一起的国家将收获我们伙伴关系的成果。而那些与伊朗政权沆瀣一气的国家，则应该预料到会遭受同样的孤立。”

华盛顿对伊朗贸易伙伴的威胁已经敲响了警钟。

与土耳其和巴基斯坦等国相比，西班牙与伊朗的商业联系微不足道。

根据西班牙政府的数据，2025年，西班牙公司向伊朗出口了价值1.43亿美元的产品，从伊朗进口了价值1.41亿美元的商品——双边货物贸易总额接近2.45亿欧元（2.85亿美元）。

进口藏红花价值 6100 万美元，占伊朗全部进口额的 40% 以上。

2026年1月4日，在西班牙瓦伦西亚的La Matandeta餐厅，人们正在享用瓦伦西亚海鲜饭，这道菜是用兔肉、鸡肉、蜗牛和蔬菜烹制而成。[Maria Martinez/路透社]

与此同时，美西关系一直很紧张。

美国总统唐纳德·特朗普和西班牙首相佩德罗·桑切斯此前曾就北约成员国的国防开支问题发生冲突。

7 月，特朗普威胁要切断与西班牙的贸易关系，称马德里一直是“北约中糟糕的伙伴”。

然而，这一威胁并未付诸行动。

美国和西班牙也因桑切斯谴责美国和以色列对伊朗发动的战争而产生分歧，桑切斯称这场战争是“非法的”。

尽管西班牙首相谴责了哈马斯在2023年对以色列南部的袭击，但他同时也批评了以色列对加沙发动的种族灭绝战争。

但来自西班牙招牌菜——海鲜饭的故​​乡瓦伦西亚的海鲜饭厨师维森特·罗哈却毫不慌张。

“没人能撼动我们的海鲜饭。它是西班牙的精髓。无论发生什么，我们都能挺过去。”

西班牙人以海鲜饭为傲，过去任何新的做法都会遭到轻松的批评。

2022年，英国超市乐购（Tesco）推出了一款西班牙海鲜饭三明治，引发争议。作为回应，西班牙国民警卫队（一支通常忙于抓捕罪犯的部队）特意庆祝了世界海鲜饭日。

“对一些人来说，西班牙海鲜饭三明治是异端邪说；对另一些人来说，它糟蹋了美味，甚至可能危害健康，”该帖子在社交媒体上写道，并配上了笑脸表情符号。

2016年，英国电视名厨杰米·奥利弗也犯过类似的“美食罪过”，他建议在菜肴中加入西班牙香肠。这个看似无害的建议却引发了“美食恐怖分子”的指责。