of Pakistani rice and ship Pakistan iron ore and fertilizer in exchange.
Barter deals are complicated and a pain to administer, so the Iranian proposal suggests the pain that banking sanctions are imposing.
Pakistani Water and Power Minister Syed Naveed Qamar described the proposal to the state news agency but did not say if the Pakistani government was interested.
Reuters quoted an unnamed Pakistani Commerce Ministry official as saying no deal had yet been reached although Pakistan was trying to work out the details.
Reuters said Iran bought 500,000 tons of Russian wheat and 300,000 tons of Australian wheat last week. It said the purchases were made by the government, although for many years Iran has relied on the private sector to import needed grains.
Reuters said Iran bought another 1.1 million tons of wheat in the middle of last month, bringing the total bought and planned to be bought to a staggering 2.9 million tons in little more than a month.
Drought conditions have lowered crop expectations and sent Iran back into the international market after telling the public that it would be exporting wheat this year. Iran generally needs 10 million to 15 million tons of wheat a year, depending on how much is left in stock from previous years.
