Hello and welcome to NewsHour live from the BBC World Service in London.
I'm Rebecca Kesby.
Today we begin with a story that has two completely different narratives.
Late on Saturday night, President Trump issued a threat to obliterate Iran's power plants within 48 hours
if they did n't open the Strait of Hormuz.
That deadline would have expired within the next hour or so,
but early this morning, via a social media post, Mr Trump dramatically changed course,
saying that productive conversations had taken place regarding,
quote, a complete and total resolution.
Of our hostilities in the Middle East.
Well, that one post from the president was enough to see stock markets recover slightly
and the global price of oil to drop almost immediately.
Speaking to reporters later on Monday in Memphis,
Mr Trump gave more details about the talks that he said were taking place.
There's a very good chance we're going to end up in a deal.
And so we're giving it five days, and then we're going to see where that takes us.
And I would say at the end of this period,
I think it could very well end up being a very good deal for everybody,
as good as if we went all the way and just literally annihilated the place,
which if we do n't have to do that would be a good thing.