Ronaldo argued to cut his ban after saying he deserved punishment without mitigation

Md Hatem Ali has run his tea stall for nearly three decades and has spent most of that time on his feet. Now he barely leaves his chair. From a seat behind the counter he turns a wooden handle, and a steel tray swings out along a wire to a customer at the far end of the shop, carrying tea, biscuits, betel leaf and cigarettes. The money comes back the same way.

The rig is a small crane made of wood, wire and a few bearings, and Hatem Ali built it himself. His shop stands at Barha Board Bazar beside the Shyamganj-Birishiri road, next to the Jaria Union Parishad office in Purbadhala upazila, Netrokona. He puts the cost of the parts at about Tk 5,500.

Customers at the stall gave the contraption its name, and the reports describe cups reaching them within seconds of Hatem Ali lifting the handle. On a visit, reporters from Prothom Alo and Jugantor watched between 10 and 12 people sitting on the benches and chairs while the tray travelled between the counter and the seats.

Hatem Ali is a carpenter by trade and lives in Barha Uttarpara village. He studied up to class five at the village primary school. Carpentry alone was not enough, so he opened the tea shop; the two have run side by side ever since.

The machine answers a practical problem. "You cannot find help these days," he said. "Even one employee costs about Tk 20,000 a month in wages and food. So I thought of making my own arrangement, and then I built the crane." Now he can serve people inside the shop and outside it without standing up, he said.

The idea is not his first. About 30 years ago he built a bearing-based cart to move goods along the railway line, and he can carve human figures from wood. Neighbours say the stall has drawn attention before. "Hatem Ali always tries to do something unusual," said Kuddus Mia of Tutirpara village, a regular customer. "Things he made earlier also caused a stir in the area." Another customer, Md Abdul Malek of Barha, said people know him for this kind of work and come to the shop for tea.

Aminul Islam, chairman of Jaria Union Parishad, called him a creative man and said the crane is one of several unusual objects he has put together. Residents say support from the government or a private patron could help him do more.

What is not established is how much the arrangement has changed his business. Neither report gives a daily customer count or the difference the crane has made to his income, and there is no independent estimate of what the rig cost beyond Hatem Ali's own figure. How long the wooden mechanism will hold up, and whether he receives any formal recognition or support, is also unclear.

Iran has tied the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz to the United States lifting its naval blockade of Iranian ports, waiving sanctions and releasing frozen Iranian assets, as Qatar and Pakistan try to revive talks that have stalled over Tehran's nuclear programme.

The condition was restated this week as Pakistan's army chief, Field Marshal Asim Munir, visited Tehran. Iran's security chief, Mohsen Rezaei, told him on Tuesday that "even a particle of enriched uranium will not exit Iran at all", according to comments carried by the semi-official Fars news agency. Rezaei called the material a national asset that would stay in the country for domestic use, and said negotiations with Washington would not begin until it met Tehran's trust-building conditions.

Iran's current terms are the lifting of the US naval blockade, the waiver of sanctions and the release of frozen assets. In return, Tehran says it will reopen the strait, one of the world's most important oil and gas chokepoints. The waterway has been at the centre of a global energy crisis since the war began on 28 February.

Washington's public position is that Iran must accept "zero uranium enrichment". President Donald Trump told a Republican rally this week that US bombing had destroyed Iran's nuclear facilities and that he would not allow Tehran to rebuild them. Vice President JD Vance said the US had "in some ways decisively won" the war and that the focus was now a "long-term" and "verifiable commitment" from Iran not to rebuild its programme. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said any decision to end the war rests with Trump and that Washington would not support a deal that creates a pathway to a nuclear weapon.

There has been some movement. Vance appeared earlier this week to offer concessions on the nuclear doctrine to reach a deal, without giving details. Qatar and Pakistan are both mediating, and Munir met President Masoud Pezeshkian as well as Rezaei in Tehran. Iranian officials have described the effort as a renewed diplomatic push rather than a breakthrough.

The immediate sticking point is what happens to Iran's stockpile of enriched uranium. A memorandum of understanding signed on 17 June made the reopening of Hormuz its focus. It also said Iran "shall not procure or develop nuclear weapons". The memorandum identified downblending under International Atomic Energy Agency supervision as the minimum approach to the uranium question, but left the quantity, the target enrichment level and a timetable to a final deal. That deal was not reached within the 60-day period, and the memorandum expired in mid-August.

On the water, the war has not stopped. The Guardian reported on Wednesday that Iranian forces have repeatedly attacked vessels attempting to cross the strait, with at least 12 attacks on oil, liquefied natural gas and liquefied petroleum gas tankers reported in the first week of October alone. Oil prices went back above $100 a barrel. Tankers remain stranded in the waterway, and residents of Hormuz Island say explosions can still be heard. Iranian government sources say attacks on the southern port of Bandar Abbas have damaged 760 fishing and commercial vessels.

For Bangladesh, the strait matters mainly as the route for Gulf energy. The country buys liquefied natural gas from Qatar and Oman, and refined fuel from Gulf and Asian suppliers. A prolonged disruption raises freight and insurance costs, which feed into the landed price of fuel, power generation and transport. It also adds uncertainty for the Gulf labour markets that support remittances.

Much remains unresolved. It is not clear whether Washington will meet Iran's conditions in full or offer a partial deal, whether Tehran will accept international supervision of its stockpile, or who would guarantee that the strait reopens and stays open. Neither side has published a draft agreement, and the details of the Qatari and Pakistani mediation have not been made public. The reported attacks on shipping have also not been independently confirmed in each case.

The next tests are whether Munir's visit produces a written framework, whether Trump decides to resume strikes before the US midterm elections, and how oil and LNG markets react. For Bangladesh, the practical question is whether freight and insurance keep rising into the winter import season. Iran says the strait will stay shut until its conditions are met, which leaves the timing of any reopening resting as much on Washington as on Tehran.