losing

SAN JOSÉ — Igor Chernyshov scored his second goal of the game with 1:42 remaining in overtime and the San José Sharks beat the Kings 5-4 on Saturday night for their second straight win to open the season.

The Kings rallied from two goals down in the third to tie the game and controlled play for most of the overtime. But San José came out on top when Chernyshov beat Anton Forsberg on a one-timer off a pass from Macklin Celebrini, who has five assists in two games.

After not getting a win in the first five games the past four seasons, the Sharks have back-to-back overtime wins to begin this season after beating Florida 4-3 in the opener Thursday night.

Tyler Toffoli, Kiefer Sherwood and Nolan Allan also scored for San José. Yaroslav Askarov made 31 saves.

Adrian Kempe, Quinton Byfield, Erik Haula and Artemi Panarin scored but it wasn’t enough to keep the Kings from falling to 0-2 on the season. Forsberg made 20 saves.

Chernyshov gave San José a 4-2 lead early in the third when he scored on a breakaway but the Kings responded. Haula scored to make it a one-goal game and Panarin got the equalizer with 5:01 remaining after a poor clearing attempt by Allan.

The Kings struck first when Kempe scored on a one-timer off a pass from Panarin on the power play in the first. The Sharks took control with three goals in the second starting when Toffoli tapped in a perfect feed from rookie Ivar Stenberg on the power play. It was the first career point for the 19-year-old Stenberg.

The Kings got one back with 1.3 seconds left in the period when Byfield scored on the power play.

Up next for Kings: vs. Florida at Crypto.com Arena on Tuesday night.

Heading into the Birmingham-Cleveland high school football game on Friday night, something had to give in the West Valley League opener. The host Patriots hadn’t lost a league game since 2017 and had beaten Cleveland 13 consecutive times, by an average score of 40-8.

Cleveland, however, was undefeated and looking for its first 6-0 start since 2004.

It wasn’t pretty, but a superlative defensive effort and two impressive first-half drives gave the Cavaliers just enough to defeat the Patriots 14-9. Birmingham fell to 1-5.

Neither team’s most potent offensive weapon was able to take over the game.

Cleveland running back Moyosoreoluwa Odebunmi did most of his damage early, rushing for 40 yards on the Cavaliers’ opening drive, which ended with quarterback Julio Avalos’ one-yard touchdown run.

Odebunmi again carried much of the load on Cleveland’s second drive, contributing 39 yards and scoring on a two-yard run to give the Cavaliers a 14-0 lead.

While Odebunmi was producing for Cleveland, the Cavaliers largely stifled Birmingham’s top offensive threat, wide receiver Paul Turner.

Turner’s biggest play was a 45-yard punt return that set up the Patriots’ lone touchdown, a six-yard pass from quarterback Daniel Kakooza to Aidin Irizary late in the third quarter that cut Cleveland’s lead to 14-9.

“We knew that was one of the keys to getting the win, containing him,” Cleveland coach Mario Guzman said of Turner. “We knew he’d get his catches. That’s inevitable — the kid’s a baller. But we knew if we could contain him, rally and tackle, we’d be in a good position.”

The fourth quarter turned into a comedy of errors. Birmingham blocked a punt to take over at the Cleveland 11, only to have Cleveland block the ensuing field-goal attempt. The Patriots later got another opportunity when Chris Barrera recovered a fumble.

Kakooza then rediscovered Turner, connecting with him six times on the drive as Birmingham drove to the Cleveland three-yard line. But the Patriots again came away empty.

As Iran and the United States work with mediators to end seven months of hostilities, the reality in the Strait of Hormuz is shifting in ways that could prove to be a game-changer in ongoing negotiations.

According to the latest data from tanker-tracker websites, traffic through the key waterway has been steadily increasing, with some estimates putting oil and petroleum flow through the Strait of Hormuz at nearly 80 percent of what it was before the US-Israeli war on Iran began on February 28.

This could dent Iran’s leverage in reaching a favourable deal for itself in its attempts to end the fighting, which has seriously hampered its already heavily sanctioned economy, amid the US blockade of Iranian ships and ports.

Despite that, experts believe it would be a mistake to think normality in the Strait of Hormuz is imminent, or that Iran will fold easily despite growing economic hardship.

“The fact that oil is getting through the Strait of Hormuz is encouraging, but flows are not yet regarded as completely secure or guaranteed, particularly while the wider conflict remains unresolved,” Susannah Streeter, chief investment strategist at Wealth Club, told Al Jazeera.

Moreover, oil prices remain high globally, including in the US, where President Donald Trump faces a crucial midterm election that could see his party swept away in both houses of Congress.

Tanker insurance costs also remain elevated and energy flows through Hormuz are still far from secure, suggesting Iran’s leverage may be weakening rather than disappearing.

Oil flows through Hormuz recovering

The latest data from commodity analytics firm Kpler points to a significant recovery in oil exports from the Middle East.

Crude exports reached an estimated 16.328 million barrels per day (bpd) in September – their highest level since the war began in late February, the firm reported this week.

Flows through the Strait of Hormuz itself were expected to reach about 9.719 million bpd during the month. Saudi Arabia has driven much of the increase, with its exports rebounding from 2.446 million bpd in August to about 5.4 million bpd in September.

Kpler said Middle East crude exports have recovered to just under 80 percent of their pre-war level. But the figures remain about 3.2 million bpd below the 19.513 million bpd exported in February.

The data also does not include ships crossing Hormuz with their tracking systems switched off, meaning actual traffic could be higher.

Prior to the war, an estimated 120-140 vessels crossed through the waterway daily, roughly half of them oil tankers moving approximately 20 million barrels per day. At the height of the fighting, traffic through the waterway collapsed to as few as two tankers a day after Iran in effect closed the strait in retaliation for US-Israeli attacks.

Is Iran losing leverage?

The rebound in oil flow presents a challenge for Tehran. Iran has sought to use its ability to disrupt the Strait of Hormuz – one of the world’s most important energy chokepoints – as leverage against Washington’s military and economic pressure.

But if large volumes of oil can continue moving through the strait while Iran itself remains under a US naval blockade, Tehran’s bargaining power could diminish.

Iran, however, rejects any assessment that its control over the strait is slipping.

Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps spokesperson Hossein Mohebbi on Tuesday said the ability of vessels to transit the waterway with US assistance did not mean Hormuz had returned to normal.

Oil prices are another indication that Iran has not lost all of its leverage.

Brent crude fell 2.6 percent to $102.59 a barrel on Tuesday as traders focused on recovering Middle East exports. But it was still heading for a roughly 13 percent gain in September.

Chris Beauchamp, an analyst at IG, said markets were beginning to incorporate evidence of recovering flows but remained wary about how durable that recovery would be.

“It takes time for evidence to filter through to markets,” Beauchamp said. “Oil prices came off yesterday as the narrative began to take hold, and should continue to fall.”

But he said concerns persisted over whether the US protection system could withstand a renewed barrage of Iranian missiles and drones.

Streeter of Wealth Club said the market still had a geopolitical risk premium built into crude prices, despite the improving flows.

“Insurance costs for tankers also remain elevated because of the perceived risks of operating in the region, adding to the cost of transporting crude even as more ships make it through the waterway,” she said.

Moreover, Streeter warned that crude figures tell only part of the story. Flows of refined fuels, particularly diesel and gasoline, remain constrained, while damage to infrastructure has placed additional pressure on energy supply chains, she added.

There is another vulnerability, the investment strategist pointed out. Countries including the US have relied heavily on strategic oil reserves to cushion the impact of the disruption and help contain prices.

“With those stockpiles now significantly depleted, there is a thinner buffer if there is another disruption, which is helping to keep a floor under crude prices,” Streeter added.

‘Economic war’ on Iran

There is little doubt that economic pressure on Iran is intensifying, potentially increasing Tehran’s incentive to reach an agreement.

Official data from the Statistical Center of Iran earlier this month showed gross domestic product (GDP) contracting 10.1 percent year on year between March 21 and June 20, while the crucial oil and gas sector shrank 26.4 percent.

Iran has also been battling high inflation and a plunging currency as the US blockade constrains oil exports and foreign currency earnings.

Twelve-month average inflation reached 69.9 percent earlier in September, while the rial had fallen beyond 2.2 million to the US dollar in early September.

In August, the US announced a fresh economic pressure campaign against Iran, promising to target Tehran’s financial interests across the world.

Mohammad Eslami, a research fellow at the University of Tehran, told Al Jazeera that Iran was facing an “economic war” alongside the military conflict.

“There is a US blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, which affects Iran’s revenues from oil exports and other products such as petrochemicals, which are important to Iran’s economy,” Eslami said. “As a result, Iran’s dollar revenues have been affected by the blockade.”

But he cautioned against judging Iran’s economy solely through the value of its currency.

“The exchange rate is a very important indicator, but it is not the only measure for explaining what is happening or the difficulties and challenges facing Iran’s economy,” Eslami said, adding that Iran has faced US economic pressure for “five decades”.

Can a deal be reached?

Despite the military and economic pressure, negotiations have not collapsed.

At the United Nations General Assembly last week, Tehran and Washington engaged in three hours of indirect talks, as US special envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner met with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi.

President Trump later described the encounter as “very good” and “very productive.”

Iran also proposed a seven-day roadmap under which the Strait of Hormuz could be reopened and normal maritime traffic restored if Washington meets Tehran’s conditions, a plan Trump categorically rejected.

Those conditions included ending the naval blockade on Iran, easing sanctions and releasing frozen Iranian funds.

However, on Wednesday, Reuters news agency reported that Araghchi had received US feedback on the proposal through Qatari mediators.

An official briefed on the talks said the main disagreement now centred on the sequencing of measures rather than the components of the plan.