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Hello and welcome to Newsav, coming to you live from London with James Kamara Sami.

And later on in the program, after almost 100 years in operation, CBS News Radio signs off for good.

They came up with this idea that you could have a guy broadcasting from Vienna, from London, from Paris, put one behind the other, put it all together, and you have what is today global news coverage.

Reflections there from a veteran of the network. You can have more on that later on.

But first, it's been more than a month since the United States began its blockade of Iranian ports

in response to Tehran asserting its control over the Strait of Hormuz,

an impasse that's had a huge impact on the global economy.

But are we possibly approaching some sort of deal that could end the

standoff? Amid a flurry of diplomatic activity from Pakistani mediators today, President Trump

has said the two sides were getting a lot closer to reaching an agreement, although he added

that one would only be signed once we get everything we want. On a visit to India, the U.S. Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, sounded cautiously optimistic. There's been some progress done, some progress made. Even as I speak to you now, there's some work being done. There is a chance that whether it's later today, tomorrow, in a couple days, we may have something to say. But this issue needs to be solved, as the President has said one way or the other. Iran can never have a nuclear weapon. The straits need to be open without tolls. They need to turn over. They're enriched uranium. They need to turn over. They're highly enriched uranium. We need to address that issue. We need to address the issue of enrichment. These are the president's points consistently. And his preference is always to deal with it in a diplomatic way.

For his part, the Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Bakai gave this assessment of where things stand.

Our initial intention was to draft a memorandum of understanding, a kind of framework agreements

comprised of 14 clauses. This memorandum of understanding will address the essential points

for ending the imposed war, as well as the fundamental issues for us. Within a reasonable

period, the details will be discussed and a final agreement will ultimately be concluded.

We are currently in the final stages of finalising these memoranda of understanding.

The BBC State Department correspondent Tom Bateman is travelling with Marco Rubio.

Earlier, he gave me his assessment of where things stand from Delhi.

Today was the furthest he has gone and suggesting that from his

perspective there appears to be diplomatic progress. You know, we know that Asam Munir, the field

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