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. 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. 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. 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”.
