Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

Iran Deal Near?; Greece Brings New Debt Deal to Parliament; Mexican Drug Kingpin Escapes from Prison; Malala Yousafzai to Continue Fight for Chidlren's Rights. Aired 3-4a ET

Aired July 13, 2015 - 03:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


[03:00:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ERROL BARNETT, CNN ANCHOR: We could be barreling closer to a deal over Iran's nuclear program. A final meeting set to begin next hour.

ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN ANCHOR: Plus just one day after hammering out a deal with Eurozone leaders, Greece's prime minister tries selling that agreement to his country's parliament.

BARNETT: And U.S. authorities release a photograph of a wanted drug kingpin who broke out of prison over the weekend.

CHURCH: Hello, and welcome to our viewers here in the United States and all around the world, I'm Rosemary Church.

BARNETT: And I'm Errol Barnett. This is "CNN Newsroom."

CHURCH: It is 9:00 A.M. in Vienna right now and negotiators trying to broker a deal on Iran's nuclear weapons program are meeting in about 90 minutes.

BARNETT: An EU spokeswoman says this is expected to be their final plenary session after holiday - holding marathon talks for weeks. This indicates the nuclear talks between Iran and the P5+1 appear to be ending.

Senior International Correspondent Nic Robertson has been following this for us in Vienna and joins us now live with the latest information.

Nic, you get the sense, you get the feeling that we are moving toward the announcement of a final deal. We don't have that confirmed yet. So just tell us what the new information is at this hour.

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: A final plenary session to be followed by a press conference. The writing, if you like, is on the wall. The meetings going on until the early morning this morning. No one that we are aware of have walked away from the talks. So this announcement by the spokesman of the Eu foreign policy chief Federico Malgarini does seem to set the stage for what everyone has been hoping would be achieved, a deal.

We will have to wait for that final plenary session and - and the press conference afterwards to find out precisely what we're going to be told about the - the culmination of the last 18 days of the - of the meetings between U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and his Iranian counterpart, Mohamed Javad Zarif. But this does appear to be us - here in Vienna moving towards an end game as organized by the Eu at the moment.

BARNETT: And - and, Nic, we should mention that a framework agreement was reached back in April. That in and of itself also had a similar characterization, delays, extensions to talks and really results in the final few hours. So almost like history repeating itself again but more of the finer details have been hammered out in the months since. What have been the last few hurdles, the last few obstacles that Iranian and U.S. diplomats have been struggling with here, in - in the final few days and weeks?

ROBERTSON: Well, Errol, what you're talking about that was hammered out there and - and agreed in a statement on the 2nd of April in Lozan, Switzerland was a statement that essentially provided the contours for what would be discussed here and some of the problems seem to arise because both parties felt that the other side, the U.S. felt the Iranians were moving out of that and the Iranians felt the U.S. was moving out of that. But what was discussed there was an agreement to reduce the number of centrifuges and reduce the amount of low enriched uranium that Iran would be allowed to keep. The agreement back in Lozan was to reduce that to 300 kilograms.

What we have been heard over the past couple of days, the last few days of the talks here is that everyone is agreeing that, that Lozan statement was what they would be sticking to for the talks here, reduce the number of centrifuges that Iran has, essentially cut the pathway to a breakout to make a nuclear weapon. The threshold for the United States was to see that the fastest breakout possible would be for a year there was a lot of talk about how long different elements of the agreement would be held in place, how long Iran would be held off from involving itself in nuclear research and development.

[03:05:00] That was a contentious issue. But what really came down to the wire that appears to be the language that would be used in a U.N. resolution that would follow and encapsulate this agreement with regards to an arms embargo that was placed on Iran in and of U.N. encapsulate resolution that was designed at the time to bring Iran to the negotiating table here. It appeared as if what they were asking for was too much for Secretary Kerry to give.

But the wording - was going to be framed within that U.N. security council was where perhaps the details could be, if you will, massaged so that everyone could walk away with what they wanted. The Chinese foreign minister yesterday says no deal is perfect. And perhaps that will provide some light about what we may hear later today.

But one of the other sticking points was possible military dimensions, PMD, has become know, that is, has Iran uses nuclear technology to try to make a weapon? The IAEA, the International Nuclear Watchdog felt that Iran had 12 questions on that which over the previous years it only have answered one of them and even then not to their entire satisfaction. So that was an issue as well how much Iran was prepared to be forthcoming about what PMF it might have been engaged in in the past, Errol.

BARNETT: Nic Robertson, is live in Vienna, Austria for us as we hope to see the fruits of the labor of these diplomats who have been working for months on a potential final deal. And now this announcement that the final meeting will take place next hour. It will be followed by a press conference as Nic is there.

The writing is on the wall, so we will just wait and see. Nic, we'll see you again shortly. Thanks.

CHURCH: Well, it's coming out, Eurozone leaders are expected to meet in Brussels to work on a short-term plan to help Greece make some immediate debt payments. Meanwhile another deadline looms in Greece. The prime minister is trying to get lawmakers there to accept a third bailout from European creditors, one that is harsher than the one they rejected for months.

BARNETT: That's right, Alexis Tsipras agreed Monday to tough new reforms including pension cuts and higher taxes in exchange for a bailout of as much as $96 billion. Now he has to convince parliament to put those reforms into law and pass them by Wednesday.

CHURCH: Elinda Labropoulou joins us now live now from Athens with the latest developments and Elinda, of course as we said, the Greek prime minister has to convince parliament to approve the deal made with the Eurozone by Wednesday. Can he do it given this deal is worse than the one lawmakers have rejected for weeks now?

ELINDA LABROPOULOU, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We expect that he can do it simply because Mr. Tsipras is popular very popular within his parliamentarians and also the referendum that we sought last week have shown that he does have the support of the people overall and I think the general's consensus in Greece is a bad deal is better to no deal.

And this is exactly what he is for. He came back from Brussels admitting that this is not the deal that he was hoping for but it is a deal that at least gives Greece some hope for a better future. And this is what he is saying to his parliamentarians right now. There's a meeting between his parliaments every single party that the Greek parliament holding their separate political meetings to see how they are going to respond to this vote most likely to take place tomorrow in the Greek parliament.

And all of them agree that although this may not be what Greece was hoping for at least it keeps it in the Eurozone and gives Greece hope that things could get better in the future. At the same time, Mr. Tsipras is expected to lose some of the political support within his own party. We understand that even up to 40 of his own MPs could potentially not support the measures but with the help of the opposition he will certainly be able to get the measures through although there might be political implications for him right after that. CHURCH: So he is pretty convinced that he can do this. And of course is it a very long way from that referendum that saw a 60 percent support for a no vote to austerity measures. Now, of course, as we mentioned the people in Greece are confronting more austere measures aren't they, and the reaction on the streets has not been good. What, what's being said there?

LABROPOULOU: The reaction on the street has not been good. Greece - Greeks are expecting more and not necessarily more money or anything along these lines but just more breathing space to enable the economy to grow before starting to pay back its debts. And this is something we'll see whether it's something that the country will be able to get. If it starts pushing through these reforms.

So in the long run it might turn out to be better than many of the Greek people think but it's certainly it watched the reason why there is support for the prime minister to get these measures across overall is partly because the banks are closed and the financial system is really on the verge of collapse.

[03:10:00] And the banks have been closed for over two weeks now. People have been queuing up at ATMs to get their 60 euros daily allowances and businesses have not been able to, to function probably as a result. So I think what the Greek people want more than anything else to see an end to that crisis and a chance to stability and this is what this deal is growing to provide.

Rosemary.

CHURCH: Yes. And only hours away from the Greek parliament having to approve this deal. We will watch this very carefully. Elinda Labropoulou joining us there live from Athens. Many thanks to you.

And we will have more from Greece later this hour, including a look at how the country's economic problems are leading to a sharp spike in homelessness.

BARNETT: All right. Let's get you to Mexico now where the government is offering a $3.8 million reward for information leading to the capture of Joaquin Guzman of his elaborate prison escape on Saturday. Officials released this more recent image of notorious drug lord known as El Chapo with a shaved head and face.

CHURCH: Mexico's interior minister says that prison officials must have conspired with El Chapo to help him breakout. 49 people are being questioned and the director of prison where El Chapo escaped has been fired.

BARNETT: Now, CNN's Gary Tuchman, spent time there in Sinaloa that's home to the drug cartel Guzman runs, Nazi reports the residents in the area know of El Chapo and the legend but don't talk about it.

CHURCH: Yes. And we do want to warn you, some of these images are graphic and may be disturbing to some of you.

GARY TUCHMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: This is one of the most dangerous spots in Mexico, a place where few outsiders go.

We're driving through the heart of the Mexican state of Sinaloa which is the home of a certain multinational business known as the Sinaloa cartel one of the most powerful, wealthy, brutal, ruthless drug cartels that ever was. It's leader is a man by the name of Joaquin Guzman, better known as El Chapo and this is his home.

This is El Chapo back in 1993 after he had been arrested the first time. But in 2001 he escaped from prison in a laundry cart and this is him last year after he was captured again while sleeping in his beachside hide away in Sinaloa. His assault weapon by his side as well as his wife, his two-year-old twin daughters were also in the condo. He was been the most-wanted man in Mexico.

Marijuana, cocaine, meth, heroin and murder are all part of his business. Violent scenes like these, bodies stuffed in garbage bags, police executed and journalists assassinated are directly connected to the wrath of the Sinaloa cartel. Much of the blood is spilled here in (Konica) the largest city of Sinaloa and the violent nerve center of the cartel.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Around here he is the legend of Sinaloa.

TUCHMAN: And that mystique is part of the reason people are protective of him. El Chapo was seen as a modern day Robin Hood helping churning the Sinaloa economy with drug money. A common feeling? Leave El Chapo and his cartel alone and he will leave us alone.

At the Sinaloa Cathedral one of the priest says, it's commonly understood that people mind their manners when it comes to El Chapo and his bloody exploits.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And people from around here know not to speak about El Chapo. We don't talk about him.

TUCHMAN: Just drive around here and you'll see how the drug kingpin and members of carteler idolized. Store fronts bear the name of the cartel leader and it's not uncommon to see El Chapo printed on the top of license plate frames. But nothing idolizes the traffic trade than more than here. Money lines the walls and ceiling of a business in a place of prayer that celebrates the drug

culture and the life of a man who many compare to El Chapo.

This is a site you never expect to see in a law abiding society. This is literally a chapel dedicated to a man by the name of Jesus Maverde who was born in 1870, died in the early 20th century. He is considered a patron saint for drug dealers and those who sympathize with drug dealers. He was considered a Robin Hood back in his time.

Drug dealers come here, families and drug dealers come here to pray for people who died and also to pray for good transport of their drugs up north. Here's a sign for example, this is a chapel, right inside here, there's a sign says thank you to God, thank you to St. Jude and to Jesus Maverde for the favor of protecting our family. And it's signed by a family here Sinaloa. But the most bizarre scene in Sinaloa maybe this. Driving down this street in (Konica) it first looks like you are entering a neighborhood but this is a cemetery where cartel members are buried. This looks like a house but it's not there is a body buried in here. It's a tomb. There are scores of similar mausoleums in the cemetery.

With the faces of the drug kingpin posted outside the crypts traffickers who likely grew up in poverty and homes much smaller than their final resting places. When the drug trade is glorified like this it's easy to see how someone like El Chapo could repeatedly elude justice.

[03:15:00] Gary Tuchman, CNN, (Konica) Mexico.

BARNETT: And we want to bring you breaking news coming in to CNN at this moment. Negotiators have reached a deal on Iran's nuclear weapons program after weeks of talks. That's according to our Christiane Amanpour who's been speaking with diplomats there in Vienna after what had been described as marathon talks and discussions that continued and are continuing up until this very moment.

We found out just in this past hour that a final plenary session will take place in about - let's see, an hour and 15 minutes from now and at that point, after the final language of this nuclear agreement will be hammered out and the top negotiating officials, we expect, will address the media and fill in the blanks and all the details and all the big questions we've had in these past few days, what will come of the arms embargo, the U.N. security council has placed on Iran, what will happen to its ability to do many of aspects as well and of course how much of the original framework agreement will appear in this final nuclear deal.

So a major breaking story coming into CNN right now. Western diplomats telling our Christiane Amanpour that a final nuclear deal has been reached. We will get in contact are our correspondents in Vienna on what is a huge, huge development and bring that you to that as soon as we can. But as expected, Rosemary the signs were there, Nic Robertson said the writing has been on the wall and now it is official.

CHURCH: It has been a long and tortured path but it appears that they have made it to the end. We will hear the details of course in just over an hour from now.

BARNETT: Now, still to come on CNN Newsroom, Noble Peace Prize winner Malala Yousafzai is celebrating her 18th birthday this week with some great news in her fight for girls education rights.

CHURCH: And the author of the classic novel, "To kill a Mockingbird" releases a long awaited sequel and putting it's putting a favorite character in a whole new light. We're back in a moment.

[03:20:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHURCH: Welcome back, everyone. New York City has settled a multimillion dollar claim with the estate of a man who died after a scuffle with a police officer. Hours later relatives and supporters of Eric Garner held a vigil at the location where he died during an argument with the officer last July. Eric Garner was wrestled to the ground.

BARNETT: Now, while held in what was described as choke hold, Garner yelled repeatedly, "I can't breathe." He died a short time later. Cellphone video that captured the confrontation, it went viral. New York's controller announced that the city will pay the estate $5.9 million for damages related to his death.

CHURCH: The U.S. President Barack Obama is making criminal justice reform a priority for his final months in office.

BARNETT: He took a big step on Monday by commuting the prison sentences of 46 drug offenders. The president also plans to review sentence laws and reduce punishments for non-violent crimes. The president explained the reason behind his move.

PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: I believe that at its heart America's a nation of second chances and I believe these folks deserve their second chance.

CHURCH: Mr. Obama plans to discuss his reform plans during his travels later in the week and on Thursday he will become the first president to visit a federal prison.

Nobel Peace Prize winner Malala Yousafzai says she will never stop fighting for the rights of children though she is now officially now an adult. The young activist celebrated her 18th birthday at a Syrian refugee camp in Lebanon calling out leaders there and around the world for failing the Syrian people.

BARNETT: And her words are not going unnoticed. (Joana Karatze), has more.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Happy birthday to you.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: A special day for Malala, the world's youngest Nobel Peace Prizee laureate turned 18 on Sunday and she chose to celebrate it with Syrian refugees here in Lebanon where she opened an all-girls school. The project by the Lebanese NGO (Kiani) financed by the Malala Funds will provide secondary education and skills training for 200 Syrian girls.

The female education activist dedicated the day to the plight of a people she feels have been ignored.

MALALA YOUSAFZAI, NOBEL PEACE PRIZE WINNER: I have a message for the leaders of Lebanon, this region and the whole world. You are failing Syrian people especially Syrian children. This is a heart-breaking tragedy. The world's worst refugee crisis in decades.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Malala's visit comes as the United Nations marked yet another great milestone. 4 million Syrian refugees are now in neighboring countries. At least two million of them are children and more than 700,000 are out of school, according to UNICEF.

YOUSAFZAI: So it's tragic that most of these children do not get education and the result is they become a generation lost which is what we want to protect these children from. We believe that education is the only way in which we can protect these children from the - from the negative sides.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: On Monday, Malala visited a refugee camp to which her fund has just donated $250,000 to the girl school programming. Malala says, she spoke on girl's education to fight the rising phenomenon of child bribe of the Syrian refugees.

[03:25:00] YOUSAFZAI: We want to protect girls from getting married at a very early age and school is a very good opportunity in that case because when there is school you can tell the parents to send their daughters to school to get education. So I want education for every child, not just girls. But right now, I thought that it would be very good if we can help girls because there is child marriage happening at very early age.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Malala found a partner in this campaign. A 16- year-old, Mazoun who describes Malala as her role model. After the girls met last year, Mazoun now known as Syrian Malala spends her days going door to door at the camp convincing parents to send their children to school.

MAZOUN ALMEILEHAN, SYRIAN REFUGEE & ACTIVIST: After meeting someone like Malala I felt more empowered to encourage girls to learn.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Mazoun says. The two girls share a childhood touched by war and violence and now both in their own way try to help save what could be a generation lost.

Joana Katraze, CNN, Oman.

CHURCH: Let's return to our breaking news, negotiators have reached a deal on Iran's nuclear weapons program after weeks of talks. That is according to western diplomats.

BARNETT: Yes. That information just coming into CNN. Iran and the European Union are expected to issue an official statement on the deal after a final meeting of negotiators in Vienna. That's when we'll all learn the precise details of this deal. That meeting, in fact, happens in the next hour.

You're going to see this play out on here on CNN shortly. We're going to continue to follow this breaking story and bring you more after this short break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHURCH: Back to our breaking news, negotiators have reached a deal on Iran's nuclear weapons program. Senior International Correspondent Nic Robertson joins us live now with more.

[03:30:00] And Nic, this has been a very difficult journey but it does appear that all the parties have reached an agreement.

ROBERTSON: Rosemary, as it seem to appear so -- the EU foreign policy chief has said that there will be a final plenary session in about an hour's time following which there will be a press conference. The stage certainly seems set but it's as we have seen at these talks before, deadlines have come and gone and expectations at the last minute have been dashed.

So there certainly is a huge expectation now that there will be a deal announced in about an hour's time. However, it would be prudent to say, let's wait an hour just to make sure that everyone's expectations are reached here. There's been a huge amount of effort that's gone into getting to this point.

Secretary Kerry has now been on the road himself for 19 days. This is the longest of any foreign policy deployment where he has been in one location. No one has wanted to walk away from these talks. There have been problems right down to the wire. What is happening behind the scenes in the moment and what appears to be the final hour is anyone's guess but the impression that is being created is certainly one that is driving to that point that in an hour we may begin to hear the details of a new agreement.

Rosemary?

CHURCH: Yes. You are right to be cautious indeed given history on these talks but let's look at the lifting of the arms embargo. Because that was a real sticking point. Let's, let's look at the main problems there, with that particular issue.

ROBERTSON: Iran said just last week and this is where the talks where the deadline of the 7th of July appeared to collapse that it wanted an arms embargo that was put in place by a U.N. security council resolution that it wanted that arms embargo lifted before it would sign the broader nuclear agreement. It said this for two separate issues.

Now, that arms embargo was put in place by the U.N. security council to bring Iran to the negotiating table. The expectation here has been that once there is an agreement it very quickly goes to the U.N. security council for a new resolution to be drawn up and it would be that wording within that resolution that Iran could look for this relief on an arms embargo but try to make that direct arms embargo being lifted language was something that was a red line for Secretary Kerry and the United States.

There was support from Russia and China for Iran's demand that the arms embargo o be lifted. What the final wording of that U.N. security council resolution may look like, how the sanctions relief which is so key to Iran here saying that you know, they feel that, United States is talking about sanction relief over a faith period talking about snap back on sanctions. If Iran doesn't meet the commitments that it appears to be making, that from Iran's position they thought the United States was never going to let them out from underneath sanctions. And they sort of wanted to get those clear and start again and certainly that would be important for domestic consumption in Iran to show hardliners that negotiators here had got what they were asking for. So this has been one of the big issues. How precisely that's been tackled we may learn in the next few hours, Rosemary.

CHURCH: And they then as you pint out, this final plenary meeting will take place in an hour from now and then of course this press conference and perhaps and hopefully we will hear them say that a deal is done and we'll hear the details. But we hear you with your caution. Let's wait until we hear it has happened.

Nic Robertson, reporting there live from Vienna, many thanks to you.

Errol.

BARNETT: For more insight on the Iranian nuclear talks I want to bring in Fawaz Gerges, he is the author of the "New Middle East Protests and Revolution in the Arab World" and a chairman of contemporary Middle East studies at the London School of Economics.

So Fawaz, a deal has been reached. We're awaiting now the important details but first what's your reaction to what will be a historic day?

FAWAZ GERGES, LONDON SCHOOL OF ECONOMICS: Well, I'm not surprised that a deal is reached, even though we have to be a bit cautious. Both sides the United States of America and Iran have invested Major political capital. They have interests in reaching a deal.

[03:35:00] This is really and I might be exaggerating a - probably a historical day for both the United States and Iran. Probably not as big as Nixon's opening to China in the 1970s but this would be Barack Obama's highest foreign policy legacy, ending the institutionalized hostilities between the United States and Iran since the 1980s more than three decades of hostilities, freezing Iran's nuclear arms.

At least Iran won't have the capacity to build a nuclear bomb in either one or two or three years. Deep engagement between the United States and Iran not just on the nuclear portfolio but in regional affairs as well whether you're talking about Iraq or Yemen and one would hope, Syria and Lebanon and other places.

So all in all you're going to have a lot of critics in the United States and in the Middle East. The voices now of gloom and doom as saying Barack Obama is bringing the temple on everyone's head I would argue that history would look very kindly on this particular deal because diplomacy requires give and take.

It's a compromise. This is what diplomacy is all about. We can criticize certain aspects of the deal today midday when and if the deal is basically publicly announced but overall I think it's a good day for diplomacy. It's a good day for compromise. It's a good day for a new beginning between Iran, a pivotal state in the Middle East and the United States.

BARNETT: And - and you can argue so long as there are complaints from the west and from the Middle East. That's really an early indication that you have a fair deal, right because each side has need to compromise this entire time. I just want to make clear to our viewers that we do know that a deal has been reach we just don't know the details yet. We're expecting him more on that in the next few hours we don't know how quickly sanctions will be lifted. We don't know what the terms for nuclear inspections will be. And there's a whole long list you know, a long list of this agreement? We are not sure yet but it's the arms embargo has been the most recent sticking point at the last phase. What do you expect the compromise to be there?

GERGES: It's not just the arms Embargo. It's also the inspection - international inspections of Iranian military sites, in fact, it's the inspection, the question of the inspection that is the U.N. should have the capacity and the ability to go anywhere in Iran and inspect conventional military sites. This was the last sticking point and the last few days.

My take on it, you're going to have a compromise. A compromise, let me give you an idea what we, we think we know. The overall nature, I mean, nature of the compromise that U.N. inspectors will basically request to go into Iranian nuclear sites and inspect these sites. They would not have the automatic capacity - ability to go anywhere they want.

They will ask for these inspections. So this is a compromise where the United Nations and the international community would be able to go and inspect Iranian military site yet Iran would say, look, the international community does not have an automatic right to go anywhere they want inside Iran.

For both sides, I think there is a compromise. I think on Iranian - on the lifting the of arms embargo, this is a very difficult question. But my take on it is that when the security council - it's a security council question and they probably in the next when Eurozone so you will see a new security council - the wording of the of council would automatically say that if Iran behaves, if Iran respects its obligations under this particular agreement I think I see a gradual lifting of the arms embargo and keep in mind that both Russia and China would like to see the arms embargo lifted because they have an interest in selling weapons to Iran.

So that we do not know yet the exact nature of the compromise on how and if and when the arms embargo imposed by the security council would be lifted either soon or in the near future.

BARNETT: Well, Fawaz Gerges, thank you, giving us our first reaction to this Iranian nuclear deal, calling it nothing short of historic. Thanks for joining us this morning from London.

Much more to come on CNN on this throughout the day.

CHURCH: And make sure you stay with us here on CNN. We'll have much more on our breaking news right after this short break. Stay with us.

[03:40:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK) CHURCH: Welcome back, everyone. More on our breaking news. Western

diplomats say a deal has been reached on Iran's nuclear program after weeks of talks.

BARNETT: Iran and the European Union are expected to issue an official statement on this deal after a final meeting of negotiator in Vienna. That plenary session takes place next hour. The main sticking point in the last round of the negotiations anyway was a conventional arms embargo against Iran that had been a red line for the U.S.

CHURCH: Certainly keep an eye on this. But also in the coming hours, Eurozone leaders are expected to meet in Brussels to work on a short- term plan to help Greece make immediate debt payments.

Meanwhile, another deadline looms in Greece. The prime minister is trying to get lawmakers to accept a third bailout from European creditors, one that is harsher than the one they are rejected for months.

BARNETT: Alexis Tsipras agreed Monday to tough new reforms including pension cuts and higher taxes in exchange of a bailout of as much as $96 billion. Now, he has to convince parliament to put those reform into law and pass them by Wednesday.

And just how bad have things got finance for the Greek people to start Greece has now the highest poverty rate in the European Union. The number of people living on the streets has risen by 40 percent in just three months.

CHURCH: 20,000 people are homeless in Athens alone. And the latest figures put Greece's unemployment rate is over 25 percent. For more on the poverty situation in Greece let's bring in Maria Karra, she is a founding member of Emphasis Foundation a charity for the homeless and she joins us live from Athens. Thank you so much for talking with us.

As we mentioned, Greece now has the highest poverty rate in the European Union and the crisis on the street is only intensifying for the homeless. You are out there on the streets every single day. What are you seeing?

MARIA KARRA, FOUNDING MEMBER, EMPHASIS FOUNDATION: Thank you, Rosemary. Yes, we are out on the streets every single day. And what we can say and what we experience is that we are facing a situation where an already decimated society that is dealing with a paralyzed social state and with absolutely insignificant relief mechanisms is experiencing everyday this issue more and more.

[03:45:00] In the last few weeks, by itself, we have seen the number of homeless people, and all of those people who are what we call live in a street situation increase by a staggering 40 percent. And we are actually saying that we are overwhelmed by the amount of relief that is required at this moment in the streets of the big city.

CHURCH: Is it just hard to grasp, isn't it? So how is your organization trying to help those people who have been hit hardest by the Greek debt crisis?

KARRA: Emphasis Foundation is actually working from the bottom and is actually going back to the basics first thing we make sure is that we - through our street work, our methodology of street work, with our about hundred strong body of volunteers, we give a daily presence on the streets of Athens three or four times a day.

It is us who go to the people in need and it is us who approach the people who are in need of immediate support and instead of applying ways and mechanisms that put their dignity into further low levels we are asking them what is it they want? We have in our groups of volunteers we have sociologist, social workers and psychologists.

We listen to their story. We do not go there at the streets. We ask them what is their immediate need? They need to determine and they need to work with us on a two-way plan on how they can get mobilized, what would their next steps be? How we can support them all the way and how we can bring their dignity and their morale back to the normal levels.

We are dealing with depression. We are dealing with suicidal thoughts. We are dealing with people who have lost everything overnight. And the first thing that we need to do is tell them they are not alone. We also have now an emergency relief unit that we operate on a daily basis in the late hours between 11:00 p.m. to 3:00 a.m.

Where through giving food and basic survival kit items we try to build a relationship with these people and make them trust us and together try to find the best way out of this crisis.

CHURCH: And Maria, while you are dealing with the reality of what's happening on the streets there, of course we're waiting to hear from the Greek parliament. They're going to need to gather together and approve this bailout measure, this third attempt to, to help Greece.

From, from what the prime minister says, it's likely they will go ahead and do it but there's going to be a bit of a struggle. And in the meantime how much worse do you expect things to get while the homeless wait for the money to eventually trickle down to them?

KARRA: Well, Rosemary, this is something that has been building up for a while where I think I wish I could be more optimistic but I think we are just seeing the, the, the first side effects of what is happening right now. I think there should be a long-term policy about how to deal with the homeless people or all the

people that are vulnerable, all the people that have found themselves in this new situation.

And we need to immediately find answers for questions like a social program for housing. It is impossible to bring these people back on their feet if they do not have a roof above their head. It is not possible to make these people regain their confidence if they do not have the basic rights to health care, to a roof, to basic education. We see more and more children being on the streets, quitting school. We see families that face survival problems. So whatever the solution, the political solution is, the human cost is something that everyone should consider. And everyone should keep in mind because this cost will take a lot more than a simple financial transaction to pay off.

CHURCH: And we certainly salute your incredible work. You and your organization, Emphasis, Maria Karra, many thanks to you for talking with us. We appreciate it.

KARRA: Thank you.

BARNETT: And we do have breaking news out of Vienna. An agreement on Iran's nuclear program has been reached. We'll bring you details in a live report after this break. Stay with CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHURCH: More now on our breaking news. After months of sometimes tense talks, Western diplomats say a deal has been reached on Iran's nuclear program.

BARNETT: Right. This is a huge development. Our Senior International Correspondent Nic Robertson joins us from Vienna with more. And Nic, I understand you have new information here as details come out quickly.

ROBERTSON: They are. And parts of this puzzle are beginning to fall into place Errol. Just a few minutes ago, one of the issues that we were talking about that had been a stumbling block, the PMD possible military dimensions, the questions that Iran hadn't answered about it's possible military use of its nuclear technology.

We've just heard from the director general at the IAEA here, the International Atomic Energy Agency, here say that the nuclear watchdog this - it is his organization that will be tasked with overseeing Iran's compliance to whatever it agrees to in the deal we are expected to be announced.

Now, what he said was very, very significant. He said that he believe that he had agreement and commitments from Iran now to answer those possible military dimension questions. There have been 12 questions in recent years, Iran had only partially answered one of those questions. He now feels that he would be able to issue a report by the 15th of December this year that will allow the world to see that Iran is and has answered those PMD questions. This is what he just said a few moments ago.

[03:55:00] YUKIYA AMANO, DIRECTOR GENERAL INTERNATIONAL ATOMIC ENERGY AGENCY: I have just signed the road map between the Islamic Republic of Iran and the IAEA for the clarification for past and present outstanding issues regarding Iran's nuclear program.

The text has been signed on behalf of Iran by the country's Vice President, Mr. Eshaq Jahangiri. This is a significant step forward towards clarifying outstanding issues regarding Iran's nuclear program.

ROBERTSON: Now just in the last few weeks while these talks have been going on, Yukiya Amano, the director general of the IAEA went to Tehran and he meet with the President there and he met with the head of the National Security Council. He had significant meetings. We were told we didn't know the substance of those meetings but it does appear now as if his work has bridged one of those critical issues that have been holding back the talks and as he said there he just signed that.

It does seem to now, we are on a very fast pathway to hearing more details about the agreement that everyone is expecting. Everyone now seems to believe that this deal is done and we'll get more details shortly

BARNETT: All right. Nic Robertson live in Vienna for us with that Information. The IAEA will oversee compliance in this major development. Nick, thank you in Iran - in Iran's nuclear programs in reach.

CHURCH: A historic day for sure. And you are watching "CNN Newsroom." I'm Rosemary Church.

BARNETT: And I'm Errol Barnett. Stay with CNN, "Early Start" is next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)