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Iran Nuclear Deal Needs Congressional Aprroval; Mexican Drug Lord Prison Escape Video; 16-Year-Old Plabe Crash Survivor Describes Ordeal; Israeli Ongoing Opposition on Nuclear Deal Strains U.S. Relations; Obama Calls for Major Prison Reforms; NASA Sends Spacecraft to Pluto. Aired 1-2a ET
Aired July 14, 2015 - 01:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[01:00:25] MAX FOSTER, CNNI HOST: An historic nuclear deal with Iran. Now it is time to convince American lawmaker and regional leaders to get on board.
ZAIN ASHER, CNNI HOST: Also ahead, new prison break images from Mexico. The moments leading up to drug lord El Chapo's rush to his escape tunnel.
FOSTER: And the 16-year-old who walked from a plane crash speaks out about how she survived.
ASHER: We would like to welcome to our viewers in the United States and around the world. Glad to be with you for the next hour. I'm Zain Asher.
FOSTER: I'm Max Foster and this is CNN NEWSROOM.
Well, after nearly two years of grueling negotiations, a landmark deal on Iran's nuclear program is now unveiled. Representatives from Iran and six world powers announced the agreement on Tuesday. It spells out the terms for Tehran to scale back its nuclear production. In return, crippling economic sanctions would be lifted but there are different interpretations as to when.
(VIDEO CLIP PLAYING)
ASHER: These are images in Tehran. You are seeing Iranians celebrating in the streets there, but the deal still does needs to be approved by Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Khamenei and U.S. Congress, as well with. President Barack Obama has told lawmakers that he wants this deal to happen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I will remind Congress you don't make deals like this with your friends. We negotiated arms control agreements with the Soviet Union when that nation was committed to our destruction. And those agreements ultimately made us safer. I'm confident that this deal will meet the national security interests of the United States and our allies. So I will veto any legislation that prevents the successful implementation of this deal.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FOSTER: There was no easy diplomatic fete arriving at this point.
ASHER: And you have a lot of U.S. lawmakers who are opposed to this deal. So its implementation is technically not assured.
Here is Elise Labott with more.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ELISE LABOTT, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A historic moment capping more than a decade of diplomacy after the latest round of 18 days of in tension often fractious negotiations, both sides claiming victory in a deal they hoped would transform the Middle East.
MUHAMMAD JAVAD ZARIF, IRANIAN FOREIGN MINISTER: I believe this is a historic moment. We are reaching an agreement that is not perfect for anybody. But it is what we could accomplish and it is an important achievement for all of us.
LABOTT: Secretary of state John Kerry called the final product proof the U.S. had held out for a good deal.
JOHN KERRY, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: Good for Americans and good for our partners, our friends, our allies. Good for the future of the Middle East and good for the peace of mind of the world. That is what we pursued. And that's what we insisted on for the long months of hard negotiations and that's precisely what we believe we have achieved today.
LABOTT: The deal curbs Iran's enrichment of uranium and reduces the stockpile of nuclear fuel. Converts its underground nuclear site in to a research facility and limits Iran's research of advance nuclear technology for the next 15 years. U.N. inspectors get more access to Iran's nuclear program, but must give 24-days-notice for suspicious sites. A stipulation that will anger critics.
In exchange, a win fall for Iran. Billions of dollars for U.S. and European Union sanctions will be lifted as Iran makes good on the deal. A U.N. embargo will end after five years, eight years for Iran's ballistic missile programs but U.S. sanctions on terrorism and human rights will remain.
On the streets of Tehran, celebrations. Iran's president predicted a quote "new chapter in his nation's relations with the world." But for Israel one of the quote "darkest days in history." Prime Minister Netanyahu calling the deal a stunning historic mistake to which Israel is not bound.
BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER: The world is a much more dangerous place today than it was yesterday.
LABOTT: As expected, three Americans being held in Iran and a fourth who went missing are absent from the deal, their families left waiting.
And the danger is that today's battle of narratives will end up being a battle of interpretation. If all sides are not on the same page about what was agreed upon, it could open a Pandora's Box when it is time to implement the deal.
Elise Labott, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
[01:05:08] FOSTER: Some of Iran's neighbors including Syria, the United Arab Emirates and Turkey support the nuclear deal.
ASHER: But Turkish prime ministers is among those who hope it will help stabilized Middle East. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MEVLUT CAVUSOGLU, TURKISH FOREIGN MINISTER (through translator): I hope the deal will be finalized and its implementation will continue and stability will be achieved in the region, but I have to stress that Iran should reconsider its policies in Iraq, Syria and Yemen. It should take on a positive role. We have to abandon sectarian-based policies.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FOSTER: Saudi Arabia says the kingdom has always favored an agreement that would prevent Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon.
ASHER: In a statement the Saudi government also says quote "under the nuclear deal Iran has to use its resources for domestic development and to improve the living conditions of its people rather than use it to incite turmoil in the region which would only be met with harsh and determined responses from the countries of the region.
FOSTER: Despite the concerns raised in the U.S. and the Middle East region, President Barack Obama is defending the deal. He spoke to the "New York Times" about the opponents' criticism.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
OBAMA: I think criticism is misguided. Let's see exactly what we obtained. We have cut off every pathway for Iran to develop a nuclear weapon. The reason we were able to unify the world community around the most effective sanctions regime we have ever set up, a sanctions regime that crippled the Iranian economy and ultimately brought them to the table was because the world agreed with us it would be a great danger to the region, to our allies, to the world if Iran possessed a nuclear weapon. We did not have that kind of global consensus around the notion that Iran can't enjoy any nuclear power whatsoever. And as a member of the non-proliferation treaty, the NPT, their argument was we are entitled too peaceful nuclear program.
(END VIDEO CLIP) ASHER: Well, Mr. Obama certainly has a lot of work to do to sell Congress and the American people as well on this deal. CNN senior White House correspondent Jim Acosta has more.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JIM ACOSTA, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): When it comes to the fallout over the Iran nuclear deal, it is all on President Obama.
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Because of this deal, the international community will be able to verify that the Islamic Republic of Iran will not develop a nuclear weapon.
ACOSTA: The president's global sale speech has begun with a call list that includes Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, leaders in Europe, Saudi Arabia's king, and Republicans in Congress.
REP. JOHN BOEHNER (R-OH), SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE: The deal that we have out there in my view from what I know thus far is unacceptable.
ACOSTA: The White House strategy, flood the Iran debate zone. But social media all the ways the agreement will block Tehran's path to a nuclear bomb. President's lavish critics say that billions of dollars in sanctions relief coming Iran's way will do just the opposite.
SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: They are going to put in it their war machine. This is a death sentence for the state of Israel if this does not change.
ACOSTA: But if the deal works, it is an Obama legacy show piece right with health care reform, same-sex marriage and Cuba. Congress has 60 days to review and block the deal. But much of that time will be during lawmakers August recess, pushing a likely showdown to September.
OBAMA: I am confident this deal will neat national security interests of the United States and our allies. So I will veto any legislation that prevents the successful implementation of this deal.
ACOSTA: Leaders from both parties already have problems with the deal consider the dispute resolution process which may take 30 days to break through any Iranian opposition to inspections at suspicious sites, 30 more of the U.N. gets involve.
SEN. BOB MENENDEZ (D), NEW JERSEY: The deal doesn't provide for any time anywhere inspections.
ACOSTA: The president phrases it differently.
OBAMA: Simply, the organization responsible for the inspections, the IAEA, will have access where necessary when necessary.
ACOSTA: Others wonder what happened to the president's comments in 2013 when he suggested Iran would give up some of its facilities.
OBAMA: We know that they don't need to have an underground fortified facility in order to have a peaceful nuclear program.
REP. ED ROYCE (R), CHAIRMAN, HOUSE FOREIGN RELATIONS COMMITTEE: The president told us Iran does not need to have an underground fortified facility like forto (ph) in order to have a peaceful nuclear program. Yet this military complex will now stay open.
ACOSTA: But the big question comes down though this. Do the deal's opponents in Congress have the two-thirds vote needed to override a presidential veto? The answer from both ends of Pennsylvania avenue is no, they don't. President likes to say he will live long enough to see whether or not this deal fails. Now it is all but certain he will have that chance.
Jim Acosta, CNN, the White House.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
[01:10:07] FOSTER: We are joined by Josh Rogin, CNN political analyst.
So Josh, when Obama was campaigning for the presidency in the first place, he talked about engaging back then, didn't he with hostile regimes. So this is very much part of a long-term strategy, what he sees as one of his legacies.
JOSH ROGIN, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Exactly. President Obama when campaigning promised to out stretch his hand in the hope that rogue regimes would un-clinch their fists. He was ridiculed at the time by Republicans and also by Hillary Clinton who called him naive. Nevertheless, he set upon this strategy when coming in to office first by pursuing smaller engagements with countries like Myanmar, North Korea and Cuba. North Korea didn't work out but U.S. relations with Myanmar and Cuba have been revolutionized.
This deal, the Iran deal, is bigger in scope and scale than those previous efforts. It's simply the most ambitious, most aggressive and most risky of President Obama's policies in pursuit of that campaign promise. So whereas the down sides of failing with North Korea or Cuba or Myanmar would have little blow back for U.S. security and position the region. The down side, if this deal collapses, would be huge, not just for the president's legacy but also for U.S. foreign policy.
FOSTER: Critics of the Iran deal could point to Myanmar. They couldn't name because it opened it all looked very positive to start with. And it is still positive in many ways according to a lot of analysts. But at the same time, the raging has been back pedaling since and it seems to be regressing. And you could use that as a criticism of how this overall strategy perhaps isn't as perfect as it seems.
ROGIN: Sure, the Obama administration has been very clear this week in not promising that the Iran deal with cause a revolution in Iran's internal politics or its approach to the region of the world. At the same time, they are holding out that hope very explicitly. And it is clear that part of their calculation is that this is at least a possibility.
When you look at Myanmar, it is totally a mixed picture. And in Cuba, there's also been very scant signs of actual political reform or progress. What the administration's response to that has been this week is that they point to the Soviet Union and they say that deals made with the Soviet Union eventually led to an opening of that country.
None of these examples are exactly on point. Iran is a unique situation, because of its regional aspirations, because of its activities in so many other countries and because of its linkage to so many other foreign policies the U.S. is involved in, none of these provide good precedence.
And the truth is, despite the Obama administration's claims that the deal will produce a benefit shall result in the region and Republicans claims that it will not produce a beneficial result in the region.
The bottom line is nobody really knows that future hasn't been written and it really could go either way. And that's the essence of the risk that the Obama administration is taking.
FOSTER: Can he implement the strategy on Iran before his time's up? It is so crucial to him, isn't it?
ROGIN: My analysis is the president will be able to implement the deal and pursue all of the processes for the remainder of his term. And that's based on two with calculations. One, the president has set up the deal so that the sanctions that will be lifted first are not those sanctions that Congress imposed. In other words Congress will not have to lift sanctions during Obama's term as president.
Second, there will be an effort in Congress, led by congressional Republicans to disapprove of the deal if -- effectively halting its implementation. What Obama needs to prevent that effort from being successful is exactly one-third of House Democrats or of one-third of Senate Democrats to back him.
The administration has been working hard with Nancy Pelosi. It believes that she can muster 145 House Democrats needed to prevent this deal from being scuttled by Congress and most analysts will say that will be possible and the deal will be preserved.
FOSTER: Josh Rogin, thank you very much.
ROGIN: Anytime.
FOSTER: Newly released video shows the moment Mexican drug lord Joaquin Guzman escaped from a maximum security prison. This is surveillance video from inside Guzman's prison cell on Saturday. You can see him pacing backwards and forwards several times.
ASHER: And here's what happens next. So about 45 seconds later, he sits down there on his bed. He then begins to take off his shoes and then he walks toward the corner of his cell. Mexican officials say this is the area where Guzman, also known as El Chapo escaped through a tunnel built under the shower in his cell.
Now take a look at this. This is actually surveillance video from outside of the cell. This also shows the moment before El Chapo disappears. If you look at the upper right hand corner of your screen, you can actually see him there in the background.
FOSTER: Off he goes. Authorities say El Chapo then used this motorcycle to move through the tunnel in his elaborate escape. Mexican officials say this is the escape tunnel. Showing the route Guzman took as he made his getaway. The tunnel led to a half built house outside of the prison walls.
And just a short time ago, we spoke to CNN's Nick Valencia about how easily Guzman escaped.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
[01:15:13] NICK VALENCIA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (via phone): That bracelet monitoring his every movement and eventually left that bracelet behind before he slipped down into that tunnel. Part of the problem her, according to (INAUDIBLE), which is the equivalent of the interior minister of Mexico, is that prison guards likely helped El Chapo escape. There's no other way really for him to have done it so easily.
We were actually in that prison. We managed to get in to the prison earlier today. Going past one perimeter to the other. And it was incredibly frustrating and it seemed that it was incredibly embarrassing as well for the incurrent director that our news crew was able to get past some of these checkpoints.
No communication within that prison. Now, if we, as a news organization, CNN, were able to get that sort of access without being really able to or should have been able to you can only imagine what kind of access and the ease of which El Chapo moved, a man with incredible influence, a lot of money. You cannot forget that he was with one time was one of the richest men in the world. That influence seems to still stand today.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FOSTER: Coming out lots of questions.
ASHER: I know. So much corruption and just the fact that he was able to -- they were able to build that tunnel and he cycled through it. It is like something from a movie. Just incredible.
FOSTER: The investigation there just continues. We will see what happens in terms of that.
But the teenager girl who walked away, meanwhile, from a fiery plane in Washington State is now out of hospital.
ASHER: 16-year-old Autumn Veatch was flying with her grandparents in a small private aircraft on Saturday when it went down. She was able to call 911 after hiking through the wilderness to a highway where she was rescued.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
AUTUMN VEATCH, SURVIVED PLANE CRASH: We crashed and I was the only one that made it out.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK. Made it out -- from the collision or --?
VEATCH: From the plane.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Or survived?
VEATCH: Yes, the only one that survived.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ASHER: Just gives you chills. Authorities are calling Veatch a super hero after hearing how she survived.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SHERIFF FRANK ROGERS, OKANOGAN COUNTY SHERIFF'S OFFICE: She said they were flying and they got in to some bad weather, a lot of clouds and she said as she got in to the clouds, she knew that something was wrong. She said they came out of the clouds and she said all she saw was trees. And grandpa tried to pull the plane up. Couldn't and it basically bellied in, hit the trees and then went down. She said it immediately caught on fire. She did try to save them. That's how she got burned. And then she said there was too much fire and she had to get away from the aircraft.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Did she tell you how she tried to save them?
ROGERS: She reached in and tried to grab them and pull them out but said there was so much fire she couldn't and burned her hand. She didn't drink anything. She said she was going to try. She started try a little bit of the water out of the running creeks. But didn't do too much. She was afraid she would get sick. So last night she told us she went basically three days no water or food.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ASHER: Officials say crews are still looking for grandparents and the plane that they were in.
FOSTER: Now, Greek lawmakers are set to vote on new economic reforms in order to (INAUDIBLE).
Coming up here, what the country's prime minister have to say about the deal?
ASHER: Plus, jury's deliberations are set to begin in the Colorado movie theater murder trial. We'll take look back at the case.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) [01:22:32] In a few hours Greek lawmakers are set to vote on new economic reforms in order to get a third bailout from the European creditors. Now, Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras said he doesn't believe in the new measures forced upon his country but will be seeing them through.
FOSTER: The bailout Tsipras agreed to on Monday is worth as much as $96 billion. And much harsher than the one Greek voters and rejected.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ALEXIS TSIPRAS, GREECE PRIME MINISTER (through translator): I'm not going to tell the Greek people that this is a success story. This is a difference between past governments. They were telling us that the bailouts were a blessing. I'm just saying that this is a policy that doesn't help us. And in this framework, this harsh framework we did whatever we could. We arrived to a point where we couldn't go any further.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FOSTER: Well, the reforms include changes, the taxes surround an overhaul of the pension system. Tsipras says he is taking full responsibility for any mistake and oversights.
ASHER: I want to take you to China now where economic growth has beaten expectations. So second quarter data shows the economy grew at an annualized rate of seven percent.
FOSTER: Now investors were (INAUDIBLE) especially since the quarter end with the severe crash. Some even feared the world's second largest economy was stalling to financial crisis levels.
ASHER: Well, the seven percent GDP growth figures certainly did not have that much effect on investor confidence. Take a look here at the shanghai composite, down 2.8 percent.
FOSTER: What's that about? Can you explain that?
ASHER: Yes. So volatile that market.
FOSTER: OK.
ASHER: Prosecution and defense lawyers wrapped up closing arguments in the movie theater murder trial in Colorado. James Holmes is accused of murdering 12 people and wounding 70 others in July of 2012. He jury will begin deliberating on Wednesday.
Ana Cabrera takes us look back on the case.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: At that time did you have any doubt that you would end up killing a lot of people?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No. ANA CABRERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): James Holmes describes a
mission to kill.
JAMES HOLMES, ACCUSED OF BOMBING THEATER: The dead can't be repaired or come back to life or be normal again. So -- it is irreversible.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What I heard you say is that accrues something positive for you.
HOLMES: Right.
[01:25:04] CABRERA: His words likely to linger with jurors.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What about the wounded?
HOLMES: They are likely collateral damage, I guess.
CABRERA: Holmes chose not to take the witness stand. But prosecutors played 22 hours of videotaped interviews with the court appointed psychiatrist. Dr. William Reid, one of two mental health experts who concluded Holmes suffered mental illness but was legally sane when he carried out the attack.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The delusion propelled him to commit this acts.
CABRERA: The defense battled back with its owned experts, Dr. (INAUDIBLE) told jurors those delusions made him believe killing would increase his self-worth.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I do not believe that resulted delusion and without being mentally ill this would have happened.
CABRERA: And the defense showed videos of Holmes in jail acting strangely, falling backwards from his bunk a few months after the shooting before being hospitalized for a psychotic episode. Proof of his insanity, they say. Each side pointed to a notebook Holmes sent hours before the shooting to Dr. (INAUDIBLE), a psychiatrist who treated Holmes at the University of Colorado when he was a grad student.
The defense highlighted ramblings that don't make any sense. While prosecutors argue the notebook provides evidence of Holmes' detailed planning. Holmes writes that he considered bombs, biological warfare and serial murder before settling on mass murder at the movies.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I just remember getting hit in my chest. I remember falling and landing on top of her.
CABRERA: Dozens of victims hold heart -wrenching stories. Ashley Mozer (ph) left paralyzed after the shooting lost a pregnancy and her 6-year-old daughter, Veronica.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Did her hand reach back?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No. I couldn't feel it. It just slipped through my hand. CABRERA: Sure to weigh heavily on the hearts and minds of jurors will
decide whether the man responsible for killing 12 and wounding 70 was sane when he did it.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I was told she had -- she had passed away.
CABRERA: Ana Cabrera, CNN, Denver.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
FOSTER: So hard to listen to, isn't it? Now 20 months of grueling negotiations have led to a nuclear deal between Iran and six world powers. Coming up hear from Iran key negotiator about his country's reaction to the agreement.
ASHER: Still ahead, Donald Trump talks to CNN about his run for president and what he'd do if he were in the oval office. That's coming up.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[01:30:59] MAX FOSTER, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, there. You are watching CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Max Foster.
ZAIN ASHER, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Zain Asher. Let's give you the headlines.
President Obama is promising to veto any measure by Congress that would block the deal with Iran. It will lift sanctions in exchange for Teheran limiting the nuclear program and allowing international inspectors to verify no weapons are being made.
FOSTER: Newly released video from inside of Joaquin Guzman's prison cell shows the moment he escaped on Saturday. Mexican officials said Guzman, known as el Chapo, escaped through this tunnel built under the shower inside of his cell. Authorities say el Chapo used his motorcycle to move through the tunnel in his elaborate escape.
ASHER: In the coming hours, Greek lawmakers are set to vote on economic reforms in order to get a third bailout from European creditors. Greek Prime Minster Alexis Tsipras said he doesn't believe in the new measures but will see them through.
FOSTER: China's economy has grown by an annualized rate of 7 percent in the second quarter, matching the previous quarter and beating expectations. There have been fears the world's second largest economy was falling to financial crisis levels.
ASHER: The Iran nuclear deal has been a strain on relations between Washington and Israel.
FOSTER: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has consistently warned the U.S. about what he feels is a bad deal.
And as our Erin McLaughlin report, the Israeli campaign is far from over. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ERIN MCLAUGHLIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): While there's optimism in Vienna and Washington.
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We have stopped the spread of nuclear weapons in this region.
(SHOUTING)
MCLAUGHLIN: And jubilation in Teheran, in Jerusalem, there's outrage.
BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER: The world is a much more dangerous place today than it was yesterday.
MCLAUGHLIN: The deal reached on Tuesday is meant to stop Iran from becoming a nuclear power. It leaves Israel at odds with the foreign policy of the most important ally, the United States.
NETANYAHU: The leading international powers have bet our collective future on a sponsor of international terrorism. They have gambled that in 10 year's time Iran's terrorist regime will change while removing any incentive for it to do so, in fact, the deal gives Iran every incentive not to change.
MCLAUGHLIN: Israeli officials are critical under the terms of the agreement Iran is allowed to keep the nuclear infrastructure. After a period of five days the arms embargo is lifted and a suspected nuclear sites will not be inspected anywhere, anywhere anytime.
MARK REGEV, ISRAELI GOVERNMENT SPOKESMAN: If the goal was to block Iran's path to nuclear weapons, this deal count it.
MCLAUGHLIN: After the deal was announced, Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu and U.S. President Obama spoke over the phone. According to Israeli officials, he told the president the deal is a threat to Israel and the whole world.
NETANYAHU: Where should a red line be drawn?
MCLAUGHLIN: For years, Prime Minister Netanyahu has campaigned against a bad deal with Iran.
REP. JOHN BOEHNER, (R-OH), SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE: His Excellency, Benjamin Netanyahu.
MCLAUGHLIN: In March, came his controversial address to both chambers of the United States Congress. Though he received multiple standing ovations, the address soured his relationship with the Obama administration. Now that Congress has 60 days to review the deal, Israeli officials show no signs of slowing down. The opposition is reaching out to lawmakers.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I've discussed in recent hours with our friends at APEC and other bodies in the United States and intend to go out there and speak and meet with relevant people and organizations in order to explain the inherent risks entailed in the agreement.
MCLAUGHLIN: The Israeli security cabinet rejected the deal and determined that Israel is not bound by it.
(on camera): Prime Minister Netanyahu says he will not stand for a nuclear Iran. So the question becomes, if he feels the deal will pave the way for Iran to develop nuclear weapons, less than rhetoric and appeals to U.S. lawmakers, what will Israel do next?
Erin McLaughlin, CNN, Jerusalem.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
[01:35:11] FOSTER: CNN's chief international correspondent, Christiane Amanpour, spoke to one of the top negotiators, the Iranian foreign minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, shortly after the deal was done.
ASHER: He called the deal an historic moment, though he said it is certainly not perfect.
Here's more of that conversation.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Foreign Minister Zarif, welcome.
MOHAMMAD JAVAD ZARIF, IRANIAN FOREIGN MINISTER: Thank you.
AMANPOUR: Did you make history today.
ZARIF: I hope so. History is made by good decisions implemented. I think it is good for all. It is now time to implement it. More importantly than that if you want to make history today, this has to be the foundation for building on something that can in fact break a several-year old misperception, unnecessary crisis so we can deal with the real crisis that are affecting all of us.
AMANPOUR: Iran has always called the United States the Great Satan. Now you are making a deal with the United States, the Great Satan. Some are already saying it's a surrender. How will you sell it back home?
ZARIF: Well, first of all, we have an agreement with the P5+1, or the P3+3, as the Europeans like to call it. It's not with the United States but the United States is an important part of this, was an important part of the process and it is in our view a good agreement. Any agreement includes compromise. We have, in fact, accepted some limitations, and reciprocation for our acceptance of those we receive quite a lot of benefit. Neither side was prepared to provide the flexibility that has now led us to this agreement. If you look at the fact that now Iran has a nuclear program, an enrichment program, reactor and R&D program, peaceful because it was always peaceful nuclear program. Two years ago people thought would never be accepted by any of the major powers. Now I'm happy these people have come to the conclusion the old way didn't work. That it has produced nothing. And two years of diplomacy has produced an agreement at least.
AMANPOUR: What do you say to those who will take what a you told me about all you have gained under this agreement and say well, you know what, it is only 10 years and then they can do whatever they want. Sure they will go for this agreement.
ZARIF: Well, the fact is, if people are worried about Iran's nuclear ambitions, those ambitions were always peaceful. Last year it was peaceful. 10 years ago it was peaceful. 10 years from now it will be peaceful. They shouldn't worry about that. Iran's interest in maintaining a nuclear weapons free region is paramount. We believe that nuclear weapons do not augment our security. And that is a very serious sober political analysis, but founded in our religious believes. Don't forget, that we were victims of chemical weapons during the Iran/Iraq war and we had the capability of using them but never did. These are principles, fundamental principles on which we operate. If they want to close four or 40 pathways to a bomb, they can close them all because we do not want the pathway to the bomb.
AMANPOUR: What do you say about this is not trust, this is verify, and the bottom line will be what the IAEA says? How do you swear what President Obama and Secretary Kerry say, which is 24/7, anywhere, anytime inspections and what you say, which is, no, it's not anywhere, anytime.
ZARIF: I just ask them to read the deed.
AMANPOUR: So what is it?
ZARIF: The deal is we accepted an international mechanism that is actually provides 24/7 access to nuclear facilities. We have had in the past -- it's interesting. Over the past 10 years, Iran has been visited more often than any other country probably in some years with the exception of Japan. But in the last three years, Iran even exceeded Japan. In the time of visits that the IAEA made to Iran in order to search Iran to see whether we had any undeclared nuclear program and they didn't find any. For the past 10 years they have looked everywhere in Iran. We are not a member of the international protocol. Two years we were with but eight years we were not but IAEA inspected and inspected and inspected and didn't find any indication of nuclear weapons activity. And we believe another 10 years of inspection by IAEA will produce the same result because we are not interested in nuclear weapons.
[01:40:24] AMANPOUR: What about the military sites?
(END VIDEOTAPE)
FOSTER: We will hear the answer to that last question in our next hour in the second part of our interview here with him on CNN NEWSROOM.
ASHER: Still to come on CNN NEWSROOM, Donald Trump is laying out his plan for America.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) DONALD TRUMP, (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE & CEO, TRUMP GROUP: I want to save the country. Our country is going to hell. We have a problem. I want to make America great again.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
FOSTER: A day after commuting the sentences of 46 nonviolent drug offenders President Barack Obama made a passionate case for overhauling the entire U.S. criminal justice system.
ASHER: That's right. Speaking at the end of the NAACP annual convention in Philadelphia on Tuesday, he called for legislation that would minimize or even eliminate sentences entirely for non-violent drug crimes. He lambasted the poor conditions he often sees in U.S. prisons.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We should not tolerate conditions in prison that have no place in any civilized country.
(APPLAUSE)
OBAMA: We should not be tolerating overcrowding in prison. We should not be tolerating gang activity in prison. We should not be tolerating rape in prison. And we shouldn't be making jokes about it in our popular culture. That's no joke. These things are unacceptable.
(APPLAUSE)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FOSTER: All of these issues are sure to be back on the agenda and in the spotlight on Thursday when President Obama visits a federal prison in Oklahoma. That will be his first such visit as a sitting president or any sitting president actually.
ASHER: He wrote letters to the people he was pardoning, commuting their services. He said listen, I'm giving you a second chance.
OK. Well, now we move to politics in the U.S. Donald Trump is leading a national poll for the first time in the race for the U.S. presidency.
FOSTER: In the "U.S. Today" survey of Republican candidates released on Tuesday, Trump got the support of 17 percent of respondents and former Florida Governor Jeb Bush at 14 percent.
ASHER: So Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker got 8 percent in third, and Texas Senator Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio are slightly behind.
FOSTER: Which is why people shouldn't dismiss Donald Trump, despite his outspoken comments. ASHER: That's right.
(CROSSTALK)
ASHER: Trump spoke one on one with CNN about his run for office.
ASHER: He also discussed his fellow Republican contenders and how he thinks President Obama is doing.
Dana Bash has the story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Overlooking a winery he owns, Donald Trump trashed President Obama's nuclear deal with Iran.
(on camera): The president said it is not built on trust but verification.
TRUMP: It's not true. It's absolutely not true.
BASH: How do you know that?
TRUMP: They can do whatever they want to do? Because I know many involved in the negotiation. The Iranians are good negotiator and the Persians are great negotiators they are laughing at us in Iran.
BASH (voice-over): Trump said he would have made sure Americans held in Iran were released as part of the deal.
(on camera): You are in the Oval Office and Iran and the inspector of them having the nuclear weapon is in front of you. What do you do?
TRUMP: It wouldn't have been that soon and not a deal from desperation, I would have doubled and tripled up the sanctions and made a better deal.
BASH: A new polls says nearly 40 percent of voters believe he's running for publicity. Trump, who with landed here on a helicopter with his name emblazoned on the side, dismissed doing this for the attention.
TRUMP: They think I am doing it for publicity. That's one I was very surprised at. I hope that is right that 40 percent, because a lot of them will vote for Trump but won't in the polls if I'm doing it for publicity. Why would I do this? I'm taking abuse and this isn't fun. I want to make America great again.
BASH (voice-over): Trump's candidacy is turning the field upside- down. His strident criticism is drawing new criticism from Bush.
JEB BUSH, (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE & FORMER FLORIDA GOVERNOR: If he wants to run, that's fine, but I don't want to be associated with the vitriol and all that he says.
BASH (on camera): They are concerned about the way you are taking the conversation within the Republican primary process.
TRUMP: I don't know about that. I'll be honest with you, I want save the country. Our country is going to hell. We have a problem. I want to make America great again. To do that you have to be bold, strong, you have to use the abilities I use. You need a certain ability. We don't have that in office right now. We have people who are incompetent. As far as the Republican Party, they are big people. They can stick up for themselves.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ASHER: That is our Dana Bash reporting.
Donald Trump always speaking his mind. I cannot wait to see what happens in the primaries.
FOSTER: Some entertainment as well. Fascinating.
Half a century after the Mars flyby, NASA sends a space craft to Pluto. It's unbelievable. What scientists are learning about the mysterious corner of our solar system.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[01:52:20] ASHER: Welcome back, everyone. After five billion kilometer journey nine years in the making a U.S. spacecraft completed the first ever mission to Pluto.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED NASA EMPLOYEE: Copy that. We are in telemetry with the spacecraft.
(CHEERING)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ASHER: That is cheering for the new Horizon probe that successfully phoned home after a communications blackout.
FOSTER: The satellite has been taking stunning photos for days of the dwarf planet and its moons. The best close-ups are expected to be released later today, as scientists say this success is an important learning tool for future space missions.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHARLES BOLDEN, NASA ADMINISTRATOR: Today's mission was one more step on the journey of getting humans to mars because it gives us one more piece of the puzzle about our solar system. You know, one more piece to help us understand how it all formed, what's going on here and everything. So an incredible day for everybody.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FOSTER: Really is. The U.S. is now the first country to send a space probe to every planet in our solar system but technically --
ASHER: Pluto is not a planet. It is a dwarf planet.
But our meteorologist, Pedram Javaheri, joins us now. He's been looking in to how our view of the dwarf planet.
Pedram, it's interesting, it takes four and a half hours to get a photo to earth.
PEDRAM JAVAHERI, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Yeah. They are traveling the speed of light and when you consider the distance it takes four and a half hours to get here. 16 months is what they are saying this particular probe out there in space will take for all of the images, thousands of images it has taken hour. Roughly the size and shape of a grand piano, that is out. There we know it was launched in 2006 from Florida, three billion miles traveled. 30,000 miles an hour is the speed the probe is traveling at. So much learned in recent years and days with the sunlight being 900 times weaker than here on earth. You saw what we saw in 1930 when it was discovered and then work toward 1996, and then 2015 in the last couple of days. The incredible depictions coming out of the region. Notice the speck in the center of the screen. We go to June, 22 million miles. It has five moons. July 1st, 10 million miles away as of a few days ago, 4 million miles away and July 12th, 1.5 million and as of the last two days or so, 500,000 miles away. What we know inside the next six and a half hours, NASA will release the images at a distance of 7,07800 miles. The distance from New York City to Mumbai. Expansive when you put it on our planet and bring it to the surface. If it were centered over the United States it would take up 1400 miles. Expansive region of Europe as well. And then go to Asia. It would stretch Beijing to Hong Kong. Australia, it would take the heart of Australia as far as the size and of course the numbers continue. We know there are ice caps on Pluto. We know parts of Pluto in the southern hemisphere see little sunshine, sometimes once every 100 years and methane and nitrogen snowfall occurs. Here's a larger moon in relation to Pluto as well. A lot to be learned and seen in the next few hours.
[01:56:01] FOSTER: I wonder what methane snow looks like.
ASHER: Pedram, you're covering it slightly with your body, but there is a heart shape on there that I find adorable. Some say it is not a heart.
JAVAHERI: They are saying whale's tail is what NASA is calling it.
ASHER: We'll see.
Thank you so much, Pedram
And thank you for watching. I'm Zain Asher.
FOSTER: I'm Max Foster
Errol Barnett and Rosemary Church are up next with more CNN NEWSROOM. Please stay with us.
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