One way to resolve the ongoing Middle Eastern crisis…send more tomatoes to Iran.
No, not a Red Nose Day attempt to spread global cheer. This it seems, is deadly serious. For Iranians, whose national cuisine is built around the tomato, now find the fruit out of reach.
It seems that in much the same way that Americans talk in reverential tones of the fluctuating price of petrol, the skyrocketing price of tomatoes is now causing consternation within Iranian dinner parties, with much chatter over where to get the best deals.
The rich continue to buy them in places like Tehran's trendy Bejhatabad food bazaar. The price of petrol for Iranians is 35 US cents per gallon.
Thanks to the UN sanctions, Iran has seen foreign assets frozen and, due to US pressure, it's being given the cold shoulder by European banks, leading to an exchange rate crisis that has frozen out foreign tomatoes, according to reports.
