EU wheat slips after Trump comments raise Iran de-escalation hopes

PARIS, March 23 (Reuters) - Euronext wheat fell on Monday, pressured by a plunge in oil prices after U.S. President Donald Trump said he was postponing threatened strikes against Iranian power plants to give time for talks to end the three-week-old Middle East war.

Trump's comments, which referred to productive talks with Iran, also pushed share prices higher and the dollar lower, as investors saw a sign of de-escalation in the U.S.-Israeli conflict with Iran that has disrupted global energy supply. Iran, however, denied that talks were taking place with Washington. MKTS/GLOB

May milling wheat BL2K6, Euronext's most-active position, was down 1% at 201.25 euros ($233.55) a metric ton by 1601 GMT. It earlier dropped to 199.00 euros, its lowest since March 4, as it pulled further back from a seven-month high of 212.50 euros set on March 9.

Chicago wheat Wv1 was down 1.7%. GRA/

"Trump sneezed and the market caught cold," a French trader said.

Grain and oilseed prices have broadly tracked fluctuations in crude oil during the Middle East conflict, partly because crops like corn and soy oil are widely used in biofuels and also since investors have seen the crops as an inflation hedge.

Grain futures had risen earlier on Monday after Trump's weekend threat to "obliterate" Iran's power plants if Tehran did not fully reopen the Strait of Hormuz within 48 hours, before reversing lower after Trump's latest war comments.

A rise in the euro EUR= against the dollar added pressure on Euronext by making European grain more expensive overseas.

Wheat markets were underpinned by firm prices in top exporter Russia and drought in part of the U.S. Plains wheat belt, though ample global supply was still viewed as a bearish backdrop for the market, analysts said.

($1 = 0.8617 euros)