Day 182 brief — the bank-blow deadline lapses under the Sept 24 Xi summit; Iran and Oman open a temporary Hormuz corridor and mine-clearance; Brent slides toward $86

Day 182 closed the week Treasury Secretary Bessent set for himself — and the 'major financial institution' he pledged to sanction 'before the end of this week' went unnamed, the deadline lapsing into the walk-back the market had already priced. Reporting crystallized why: Trump is set to host Xi Jinping at the White House on September 24, and analysts judged he would not hit a major Chinese bank a month before the state visit (Washington Post, South China Morning Post, Newsweek). The day's genuine movement came on the water. Iran and Oman announced a temporary joint maritime corridor through the Strait of Hormuz and a joint mine-clearance project — inbound commercial ships routing through Iranian waters, outbound through both, military vessels barred — with a 30-to-60-day window to negotiate a permanent arrangement (Al Jazeera, Africanews). Per §3.5.3, set the movement against its shape: CNN's read is that an agreement is taking form, but not the one Washington wants, since it entrenches Iranian gating and excludes the US escort convoy. The oil market extended the de-escalation, Brent sliding to a fourth straight session toward $86 on the twin read of calibrated sanctions and Hormuz diplomacy (CNBC, Fox News). Diplomacy warmed at the margins — Oman's foreign minister delivered the corridor in Tehran, Pakistan reported 'significant progress' with Pezeshkian, China pressed all parties to 'implement their commitments' — even as the US-Iran track stayed closed and Pezeshkian spoke 'from a position of strength.' On the connected fronts the picture darkened: after Kushner's departure Israel escalated Gaza strikes toward pre-ceasefire rules of engagement (PBS, Al Jazeera). Direction holds mixed — the energy clock easing, the humanitarian clock worsening; seven-day and spillover risk hold critical; the thirty-day ceasefire probability holds at 5.