What Trump’s Iran sanctions mean for China, and Nevada's battle with wildfires | Global News Podcast

This is the global news podcast from the. BBC World Service. Hi, I'm Ana Desai and. on the 25th of August, these are our. main stories. The US warns of serious. consequences if countries do business. with Iran. But China, the biggest buyer. of Iranian oil, says it's opposed to. illegal unilateral sanctions. There's. mounting concern over Haiti's ability to. stage elections this year after another. mass killing by armed gangs. And experts. warned that a supercharged El Nino could. cause flooding in East Africa and.

displace millions of people. After 6 months of conflict with Iran and. no peace agreement in sight, the US is. attempting to increase economic pressure. on Thran. It's introducing tough new. economic sanctions it hopes will prevent. Iran trading with the rest of the world. US Treasury Secretary Scott Besson says. it's the greatest financial offensive. ever. >> Uh we want to make clear to here today. that no one is above the reach of US.

sanctions that if they facilitate. transactions and are part of the. ecosystem that turns Iranian oil into. money into repression, they will be. targeted. Iran has responded in defiance. and says its trading partners would not. bend to US pressure. Here's our chief. international correspondent Lee Ducet. >> Iran is arguably one of the world's.

leading experts on how to circumvent and. subvert sanctions has lived under one. sanction regime or or another both. American as well as international. sanctions for more than five decades. During President Trump's first term when. he pulled out of the 2015 landmark uh. Iran nuclear deal, he went to what he. called maximum pressure on Iran, which. didn't work. Now during what has been a. six-monthlong on-off war, there has been.

the economic pressure has been described. as economic fury. And now Scott Besson, the secret, the Treasury Secretary has. announced this new plan which he calls. uh economic outcasts and it is largely. targeting uh those countries who do. deals with Iran, what are called. secondary sanctions. Is the United. States going to go after China, which at. least before the naval blockade was. buying up to as much as 90% of Iran's.

oil at a discounted price? Will it go. aggressively go after Chinese banks. after the small oil refineries known as. teapot uh refineries? Even when Scott. Besson was asked about why he hadn't. announced specific me measures and. hadn't even mentioned countries uh he. said I don't want to blow up the. financial system and finally countries. who are very close allies of the United. States including Pakistan and Turkey uh. depend on their relationships with Iran.

and are highly unlikely to do anything. to harm that. Well, China, which as we. heard there is the biggest buyer of. Iranian oil, has said it opposes what it. called illegal unilateral sanctions. Lyn. Jan is the Chinese foreign ministry. spokesperson. >> Economic warfare and extreme pressure. will not help solve the problems, but. will only further intensify conflict, disrupt the global economic financial. order, and harm the legitimate rights.

and interests of other countries. The. top priority now is to cool down the. situation and get back to the track of. dialogue and negotiation as soon as. possible. >> Our Beijing correspondent Steven. McDonald told me more about what we're. hearing from Beijing. Well, the view. from the Chinese government is look, our. commercial dealings with Iran are. completely legal as opposed to the. actions of the Trump administration. which they would say are completely. illegal because according to the Chinese.

government, you know, these um sanctions. on individuals on certain vessels, certain companies, including Chinese. firms, you can't just sanction those. people for having commercial relations. with another country. China would say. this because the Chinese government says. that you you got to put this through the. UN security council which the US. government has not done. So according to. China, this is completely legal in terms. of the actions of the Trump.

administration and it's threatened. unspecified counter measures in. response. >> So Steven, does this put China on a. collision course with the US or are. there any other ways around this? >> Well, to some extent it does. I mean. Scott Bessant, the US Treasury Secretary. was asked that if at some point the. Chinese banks could even be dragged into. this and he's like no one is above our. sanctions. So imagine Chinese banks. being sanctioned by the US. I don't see.

how it's anything other than a collision. course. The problem of course for the. Trump administration, what it's learned. from the tariff war with China is you. can't push Beijing around the way you. can push other countries around. And so. they are, you know, they're going to be. coming up against it. And this is just. months before Xiin Ping and Donald Trump. are supposed to be meeting in the US. >> Uh Stephen, I guess this conflict, how. much is this impacting China already?

Well, of course, it hurts China at one. level because China is the biggest. importer of Iranian oil. And so, obviously, it needs and wants that oil. And if it's being held up, and we know. it is being held up because we've seen. the figures. So, that blockade from the. US is slowing the supply of Iranian oil. into China. However, on another level, China thinks it makes it look good. When. I say China, I'm talking about the. Chinese government. It thinks that the.

Trump administration is causing all this. global chaos, disruption to global. supply chains. It's able to take the. high ground and say we don't do this. sort of thing. So sure, there's economic. pain, but politically when it comes to. international politics, especially the. Chinese government thinks it makes it. look great when you compare its actions. to that of the Trump administration. India is another one of Iran's largest. trade partners and an ally of the US.

Our South Asia correspondent Azade. Masheri has more. >> India will be looking at these sanctions. very closely because it's among Iran's. five largest trade partners. India. exports things like rice, tea, sugar, pharmaceuticals. It also imports fresh. and dry fruit from Iran. So it goes both. ways. But that trade has fallen in. recent years. It was at $3.5 billion in. exports uh in 2019. That's now fallen to.

$1.2 billion in 2026. So, India isn't. expecting a full body blow from this. Uh. what they are uh hoping for are. exemptions as well when it comes to food. and pharmaceuticals because uh some of. the the major exports to Iran are things. like rice. Now what they're really. concerned about uh is is uh energy. security continued disruptions in the. straight of Hormuz and that's because. India imports about 90% of its crude oil.

and it has continued to turn to Russia. uh to fill that gap. Now the United. States has issued waiverss in the past. to allow that to happen. But what India. will be worried about is any followth. through on tariffs for major buyers of. Russian oil. So that is an accumulation. of pressures that that India is thinking. about after 6 months of war rather than. a direct hit uh from these sanctions. >> A brutal attack on a farming community. in Haiti has once again highlighted the.

instability there and increased concerns. over the safety and even the possibility. of democratic elections which are. planned for December. At least 47 people. were killed in a gang raid on a hillside. community close to the capital of Porto. Prince France which is controlled for. the most part by a coalition of armed. gangs. Many of the dead were people. who'd been sheltering in a church in. Kenoff. >> I saw 45 to 50 dead people with my own.

eyes, not counting those they took away. with them and those who are still. missing. Those who died were young. people who were the future of this. country. >> We live in humiliation. The government. have nothing for us. They do nothing. The blood of the population does not. stop flowing in Kenshaw. We can't take. it anymore. >> I had more from our world affairs. correspondent Paul Moss. >> Kenshaw has suffered particularly simply. because it's in a what's considered a. strategic position. It looks down over.

Porto Prance, the the capital. It also. looks down on some of the roads that go. in and out of the cap. So gangs feel. that if they can control Kenchov, they. control a lot of what goes in and out. But yes, sadly what happened there is is. all too typical. I mean, one thing. that's typical, Kenchov has a police. station. And by the accounts of some of. the residents, there were police who. tried to intervene, but in the end, they. proved completely uh ineffectual. And as. you we've been hearing, dozens of people. were killed. But Haiti is a country.

where yeah there are police, there is an. army, there's some semblance of. government, but they actually have. almost no power and the country is. effectively run by gangs. And what's. awful is this is nothing new. I mean, the current wave of violence began when. the last president was assassinated, Jael Moise, in 2021. But, you know, I. don't want to give you a long history. lesson, but Haiti has never really had a. chance. Someone would say this is a. country that when it got independence,

France gave it a huge debt in. compensation which it took most of its. independence years to to pay off. Then. it was ruled by one of the crulest. dictators I think the world has seen a. man called Papa Doc Duvalier. It's a. country which suffers from earthquakes. has had a cholera outbreak. You know it. it is beginning or maybe he has already. started to look like I'm afraid. something I've had a dystopian movie. where there really is no central power. and the place is run by marauding gangs. Now Paul, a new UN gang suppression. force has been building up there, but. previous UN attempts have failed. So is.

there a hope that new one could make a. difference when it is fully assembled? >> I mean gang suppression force has a sort. of optimistic ring about it, but as you. suggest, this is just the latest attempt. to control things. I mean, first of all, this gang suppression force when it gets. its full complement of police and. soldiers in it's supposed to be in. October, it'll be 5 a half thousand. people. Now, just to put that in. perspective, uh we're speaking in. London, a very calm city by. international standards. There are. 50,000 police and support staff to.

control this city. They're talking about. 5,000 to control the whole of Hay Haiti, a country which is in, as you've. described, violent chaos. And there have. been these sort of forces before. We had. the the multinational security force. that was supposed to be built up by. Kenya that was supposed to control the. violence. In fact, they never reached. the compliment of people. They never had. the the staff that they needed. And. before that, there was a UN. stabilization mission in in Haiti. From. 2004, I think, yes, until 2017, the.

legacy of that is all around. So, I I. don't want to be pessimistic, but you. can understand why people in Haiti are. very skeptical about whether this is. going to achieve any more than previous. ones have. I I saw an awful quote of the. writer PJ Rock. He said, "Haiti is a. country where everyone has hope. They. hope that they can leave." And that's. where I think we are today. >> Still to come in this podcast, we go to. China, where the robot revolution is. gathering speed. But are they coming for. our jobs?

Fire crews in the US state of Nevada are. still battling fires that seem to. threaten the city of Reno. A North. America correspondent, Sham Khalil, gave. us the latest. >> Whoa. >> Walls of flame racing across the hills. towards family homes. >> You can feel the heat. The hog fire. spread with extraordinary speed, forcing. tens of thousands of people to flee. communities on the outskirts of Reno. >> Many escaped with little more than the. clothes they were wearing. >> The flames were pretty close to my.

house. Um, and the smoke was really. thick, but we have no idea of our house. or not. So, >> evacuation centers are providing. shelter, food, and donated clothing. Some families have been away since. Saturday, uncertain what they'll find. when they return. >> We all got an alert on our phone and all. of the neighbors came out all at once. Boom. And we were like, "Okay, well, we've got to get out of here." And it. was just really smoky and chaotic. >> The National Guard is controlling access.

to evacuated neighborhoods. Helicopters have been dropping water. from above while firefighters reinforce. containment lines below. It's exhausting. and relentless work fighting the fires. and the unforgiving weather conditions. Despite that, the operation is making. progress. Crews have contained more than. a quarter of the blaze, but officials. warned that gusts of wind could still. drive the flames towards more homes. >> On the closed areas, please do not.

venture into those areas, especially on. North Virginia um or up North Virginia. Stay out of those areas. Let fire get. their equipment in. Let them contain. let them put that fire out so we can get. you back into those communities. >> Some residents have now been allowed. back to their properties, but they must. remain ready to leave again if. conditions change. Around 40,000 others. remain under evacuation warnings. Firefighters have gained ground, but. almost 3/4 of the perimeter remains. uncontained. The hills are critically dry, the winds.

remain unpredictable, and for thousands. of families, the danger is not over yet. We've heard lots in recent weeks about. the extreme weather forecast to take. place around the world this year due to. a super El Nino, a climate pattern in. the tropical Pacific caused by warm. ocean temperatures. Now, it's being. predicted that East Africa will be hit. by extreme rainfall and flooding later. this year, which could leave up to 3. million people displaced. I got more on.

this from our Africa correspondent. Thomas Mcuana. The report is a warning. from the Danish refuge refugee council. here in East Africa says that a number. of countries including Kenya, Somalia. and Uganda could be facing higher than. usual rainfall and that falls in line. with what global alerts have been that. we might be facing an Elino that is the. worst in human memory. The last time. this happened in Kenya at a massive. scale was in 1998 when rain across 10. months uh broke the health systems. It.

broke infrastructure led to around. 100,000 km of road being destroyed and. up to 2,000 deaths. And the last time. this happened also in the region in 2024. much much less severe here in Kenya but. severe in Tanzania around 155 people. died and 45 people here in Kenya. Usually when higher than usual rainfall. happens across the country, most in the. central part of this country, it causes. a lot of disruption. Here in Nairobi, you often see roads flooding and many.

times people drowning in their homes and. in their cars in the most severe cases. >> So you mentioned some of the countries. there, Somalia, Kenya, South Sudan, you. mentioned Uganda as well, but just how. prepared are some of these countries for. an event like this? The Kenyan Disaster. Authority says that it's preparing for. the worst case scenario and the same is. happening in DRC and DRC is known to to. be facing Ebola right now but they might. be they might be facing this problem as. well because this sweeps across the. entire region not not as severe as Kenya.

and Somalia where the government and the. Danish refugee council are estimating. that around 60 to 30% of the 3 million. people in the worst case scenario if. they're displaced will will live in but. um the Kenyan government says that it's. prepared heavily. Um historically it's. not known to prepare effectively for. such disasters. Nairobi has a horrible. drainage system. It's its county. government is saying that it's trying to. repair that. The Kenyan government is. saying that it's trying to make people. stock up especially in the northeastern.

region and buy things that you need. before this happens. But again, this is. something that might happen. And if it. does happen, it could mean that these. economies suffer greatly because higher. than usual rainfall means that the crops. that are in these um farm fields that. are meant to feed these countries. Bread. baskets, those places might face a. disruption. Destroyed crops means that. households are going to have to spend. more. And after that, then comes maybe a. cycle of drought and farming. So, Mali.

is already facing its worst farming in. years. This could be devastating on the. drier front when it farming hits after. this rainfall and uh more immediately in. October when higher than usual rainfall. happens. The most these governments say. that they're prepared but the previous. times that they've been tested it's. they've proven not to be as prepared as. it should have been. >> China's robots sing, they dance and they. run marathons, but the real robot. revolution is taking place in the. country's industrial heartlands. China. has more robots working in its factories.

than the rest of the world combined. The. country has spent hundreds of billions. of dollars to transform its workforce. And President Xi has made it an economic. priority. But what impact will this. have? And are these robots coming for. our jobs? Our China correspondent Laura. Bicker reports. >> There are two faces to China's robotic. revolution. This is the public one.

But some of the most important robots in. this country don't look human, nor do. they leap. Industrial robots are much less. glamorous. But China has more and makes. more than any other country. For now, human hands are needed to. assemble the robots of today. But alongside them, young engineers are. building these, the robots of tomorrow.

Even if it can only do simple tasks for. now. >> Two or three years later, the robot can. do anything. We think. >> is this the workforce of the future? >> I think this is the work force. In the. future, we can use robot to make robot. >> Parts of this car factory have barely a. human in sight. Facing an aging. workforce, a declining population, China. is turning to automation. But millions.

rely on these factory jobs. So this. shift comes with risks. Here at the final part of the assembly. line is where they really do need. humans. But there are more robots. working in Chinese factories than. anywhere else in the world. 2 million at. the last count. That's three times more. than in the United States. So, does that. mean workers here could eventually be. replaced? >> Fewer workers does mean this car costs.

less to make. Some of our workstations are already. fully automated and require no human. involvement. I think the day that all. cars in China are made by robots will. come very quickly. As well as a robot workforce, China's. educating a new generation to work. alongside them. Their skills are in. demand. Even with youth unemployment at. a record high.

>> I have always been fascinated with. robots since I was a kid. There's a. saying, the tide of the times will not. change according to individual will. I. think we should maintain an open. attitude and integrate with future. technologies. Robots are coming. Whether we like it or. not, China's betting they'll drive its. next economic transformation. What's still unclear is whether they'll.

create prosperity for its people. rather than simply replacing them. And. that's all for this edition of the. Global News podcast. If you'd like to. get in touch, our contact details are. below. I'm Ana Desai for now. Goodbye.