Letter
Watch Bessent
Crispin Hull makes good points about any military response. The US is apparently now belatedly seeking UN approval for a method to clean up the mess it has created. On the financial side US treasury secretary Scott Bessent has been busy, imposing sanctions on some Chinese oil refiners, and on international payment structures relating to those countries such as China dealing with Iran, while US Minister for Defence Pete Hegseth has been busy interdicting oil shipments headed to eastern countries’ refineries which supply Australia with fuel. But here is the illogic. Bessent is now calling on China to help clean up the mess the US has created in the Persian Gulf. And for good measure he is holding up payments for oil to Iraq, because the US doesn’t like their choice for their president, which only adds to instability in West Asia.
— Geoff Taylor from Borlu (Perth)