Updated

Updated · The Guardian · Aug 25

US Expands Iran Sanctions, Threatens Dollar Cutoff as China’s August Oil Intake Falls to 534,000 BPD

Updated

Updated · The Guardian · Aug 25

US Expands Iran Sanctions, Threatens Dollar Cutoff as China’s August Oil Intake Falls to 534,000 BPD

Q: With WA's controversial GST deal costing billions, which state will ultimately pay the hidden price for this political promise?

Ultimately, taxpayers in every other state and territory are likely to bear the cost — with Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia, Tasmania, the ACT and the Northern Territory all exposed if the Commonwealth top-up ends and the burden shifts back into the GST pool. That is the warning from the Productivity Commission’s review of the 2018 WA GST deal. It says the arrangement has already cost about A$23 billion, far above the original estimate, and has mainly benefited Western Australia. The Commonwealth has so far masked the impact through “no worse off” payments, which Albanese says he is willing to keep funding. The hidden price is that this is still national money. Even while Canberra covers the top-up, taxpayers across all states fund it through the federal budget. The commission says those payments were about A$6.4 billion in 2024–25 alone and could climb to A$12 billion a year if iron ore prices rise. The sharper risk falls on the eastern and smaller states if those federal compensation payments expire as scheduled in 2029–30. The review says the uncapped cost burden would then shift to the states through the GST system itself. That means states already arguing they are underfunded — especially Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania and NSW — would effectively pay more directly through a reduced relative share. So the political promise protects WA, but the economic cost is spread nationally now and could hit the other states more visibly later.

3 articles · Updated · The Guardian · Aug 25

Washington widened its Iran sanctions and warned countries to end business with Tehran or risk losing access to the dollar-based financial system, extending the pressure campaign launched a day earlier.
China sits at the center of that push: its imports of Iranian crude fell from 1.47 million barrels a day in March to 534,000 so far in August after the US renewed a blockade of Iranian ships and ports in July.
Chinese independent “teapot” refiners remain the main buyers, using discounted cargoes often relabeled as Malaysian or Indonesian and settled in yuan through hard-to-track intermediaries; major state refiners have largely stayed away since 2019.
The US has already sanctioned smaller Chinese refiners, about 40 shipping firms and vessels, and in April targeted Hengli Petrochemical, but it has stopped short of designating major Chinese banks ahead of expected Trump-Xi talks next month.
Beijing said sanctions and pressure would not help and vowed to protect its interests, while Iran said China and Russia had not accepted the measures and predicted broader resistance.