Good evening from the newsroom, topping our CNN global war coverage tonight, signs of progress and talks to end the conflict and no shortage of talk from the president about how close a deal could be.

He puts it at a week, according to Fox's Brett Baer, who spoke by phone with him, a week, he says, for getting everything wrapped up, including, he says, Iran giving up its highly enriched uranium,

and, he said, completely reopening the Strait of Hormuz.

Here's what the president said to reporters on camera.

You're facing a corner right now in Iran that has refused to submit. You seem optimistic now as you may be closer to a deal. What's different about this moment now than in other moments where a deal has seemed close? Well, why do you say they refuse to submit? You don't know that. You don't know what's going on U.S. ships a few days ago. Yeah, a few days ago, it's a long time ago. You know, in the world of war, a few days ago, no, they want to make a deal badly, and we'll see if we get there. No, we have to get what we have to get. If we don't do that, we'll have to go a big step further. But with that being said, they want to make a deal. We've had very good talks over the last 24

hours, and it's very possible that we'll make a deal.

Well, that big step further, he's talking about, appears to refer to a threat contained in

the message he posted earlier this morning. I want to read it in full because it covers a lot.

Quote, assuming Iran agrees to give what has been agreed to, which is perhaps a big

assumption, the already legendary epic fury will be at an end and the highly effective

blockade will allow the Hormuz Strait to be open to wall, including Iran. If they don't agree,

the bombing starts, and it will be sadly at a much higher level and intensity than it was before.

Now, we don't know what, if anything, Iran has agreed to, only that sources tell us it is considering a one-page memo for declaring an end to the war and triggering a 30-day negotiation period for resolving sticking points, including reopening the strait of Hormuz on freezing Iranian

assets and the nuclear question, which is a lot. The president, though, with Fox and separately with

PBS, suggested that two of those three items, the straight and nuclear matter, would be part of this

initial agreement. An Iranian national security spokesman calls the memo, quote, more a list of

American wishes than a reality.

As to the president's threat to resume bombing if no agreement is reached, he gave no deadline for that and said this when asked about it.

Never a deadline. It'll happen. It'll happen, but never a day. Thank you.

Never a deadline, he said, hearing the president who's imposed and extended several deadlines of the course of this war now say never a deadline is something of a departure.

So is how quickly he seems to have moved past his decision just last night to abandon Project Freedom,

the operation which was supposed to protect shipping through

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