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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin

Iran Nuclear Deal is Done. Aired 4:30-5a ET

Aired July 14, 2015 - 04:30   ET

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

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[04:31:11] ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: Our breaking news this morning, a nuclear deal with Iran has been reached. Negotiations going late into the night. This deal is happening.

Live team coverage breaking down the very latest ahead.

Welcome back to EARLY START. I'm Christine Romans. It is 31 minutes past the hour.

We welcome all of our viewers in the U.S. and around the world.

The breaking news right now: officials at the Iran nuclear talks in Vienna, they say they have made a deal. They have a deal after weeks of difficult negotiations with Iran and six western powers.

Standing by live for us in Vienna, senior international correspondent Nic Robertson with the very latest.

And, Nic, this final plenary session, this final meeting of these leaders getting underway right now.

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: It is. That's what we are expecting. Soon after that, we should begin to hear the announcements literally just a couple of seconds ago, Federica Mogherini, the sort of moderator here, if you will, she's the E.U.'s foreign policy chief, she just left the hotel here where the talks have been going on. It's been 20 minutes away to where the plenary session will begin. No doubt, there will be a couple others arrive and it will get underway.

When she is expected to speak afterwards at a press conference, that's when we should get some of the details of the deal. Of course, we have ideas of what may be contained in it, because both sides have been saying it will broadly follow the lines of the Lausanne statement earlier this year in Switzerland earlier this year. It talks about the reductions of the low and enriched uranium and cutting of the centrifuges, the lengthening of the pathway, if you will, for Iran to make a nuclear weapon.

Bu one of the significant, significant stumbling blocks, one of them has been Iran wanted a lifting of the U.N. arms embargo. Another was a question about Iran's past possible military use of nuclear technology, so-called PMD. We heard from the director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency a few minutes ago. It is his organization that is the or world's nuclear watch dog, it will be their job to oversee Iran's verification of what it says it's going to be doing in terms of this agreement.

He spoke about how they overcome one of those key stumbling blocks, the PMD issue. This is what he said.

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YUKIO AMANO, DIRECTOR GENERAL, IAEA: I have just signed the road map between the Islamic Republic of Iran and the IAEA for the clarification of the 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. Ali Akbar Salehi. This is a significant step forward towards clarifying outstanding issues regarding Iran's nuclear program.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERTSON: Now, he went on to say that he should he believes have all of these questions answered and have his report ready for the negotiations here or the countries at least by the 15th of December of this year. So, it's clear what he is undertaking here may take time. He is all along said there were 12 significant questions that Iran needed to answer. It partially answered one in the past few years and refused to answer them. Now, he's saying that Iran will answer those questions and he expects to get a report on that towards the end of this year -- Christine.

ROMANS: All right, Nic Robertson for us in Vienna. We'll let you get back to your sources and getting close to that meeting and that press conference coming soon. Thank you for that, Nic.

[04:35:01] Now, let's try to get a read on the Iranian perspective on this deal. Turning now to CNN's Frederik Pleitgen.

Now, Frederik, you spent a lot of time in Iran in the past several weeks after nearly a decade of these economic sanctions over Iran's nuclear program. They've got to be celebrating this morning in Tehran.

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Oh, they certainly will be and it's interesting, because even the mayor of Tehran said that the country is getting ready to celebrate and they are putting in place preparations for celebrations that no doubt are due to happen there in the streets, once we get official word that the agreement has been signed. And we find out the details.

Of course, the big question is: is everybody in Iran going to be happy with those details? It's interesting because this morning, it seems as though the excitement is not only mounting there in Vienna, but also in Tehran as well. Rouhani just a couple of minutes ago tweeted himself about the agreement that Iran has just signed with the international atomic agency where he says, just now, Iran and the IAEA agree to accelerate cooperation with the aim to fully resolve all prior issues. That, of course, is a lot of the things that Nic was just talking about, possible previous military dimensions of Iran's nuclear program, but also how much access the inspectors will get to the nuclear facilities.

One of the big sticking points was, of course, are they going to be able to get into military facilities and it seems as though some sort of agreement was reached there.

One of the big keys, especially for Iranian hard liners, is they want the sanction relief as quickly as possible, and they want full sanctions relief. They say, listen, if we are going to start taking down our nuclear installations, it is one thing to put centrifuges on hold, but to hold on other things, to take down a complete reactor, like for instance, the Arak reactor, then they want full sanctions relief. So, it's going to be very, very interesting to see how the hard liners are going to react to all this, but there's no doubt that the majority of Iranians are going to be very, very happy because they, of course, want sanctions relief and economic development and, of course, international investment, Christine .

ROMANS: Well, Fred, it will be interesting to see what snapback provisions they have on this deal if there's a violation on the Iranian side, how quickly can the sanctions go back into place to put pressure back on the regime to make sure that they are not developing, you know, nuclear energy for weapon systems.

PLEITGEN: Yes, absolutely. And that was also one of the key things the Iranians were saying. They didn't want any snapback provision. So, that is something that will be absolutely key to see. They said, listen, if we're going to sign on to this, we want the fact that these sanctions against us are going to be lifted, that this whole sanctions regime is going to be lifted, to be a U.N. resolution that kills out all the U.N. resolutions pertaining to Iran's nuclear program, that was there before.

Of course, that would seem to indicate that something like snapback functions might not be in the cards. But, of course, the diplomats have been dealing with the difficult issues over the past more than two weeks. Presumably, there will be some sort of language to regulate that.

So, there is or there was a lot of discrepancy between these sides, snapback was a very difficult word for conservatives for Iran to swallow. So, it's going to be interesting to see what the contract says there, Christine.

ROMANS: I know. And there are others who wanted an outright ban, Fred, eight or 10 years on missile technology to Iran. And, of course, the Chinese and the Russians want to be able to sell military technology and arms to the country.

All right. So, we'll be looking for all of those details. Fred, thank you for that. Let's get more perspective on this nuclear deal with Iran. Flynt

Leverett, who is also in Vienna for us this morning, following these talks. He's now a professor of international affairs at Penn State. He served before that as a Middle East expert at the CIA, the State Department, and the National Security Council. He has been inside the bubble on the American view about the relationship with Iran.

So, let me ask you this -- we have the Iranians who long called the U.S. the great Satan, the United States, along with its major ally in the Middle East, Israel, who had long called Iran the axis of evil, rather. And now, after two long hard years of negotiations, a deal.

Talk to me a little bit about the history of this.

FLYNNT LEVERETT, FORMER SENIOR ANALYST, CIA: This has been very long in the making, for my perspective, too long in the making. You know, just the process that produced this comprehensive agreement goes back more than two years. But, in fact, Iran has been dealing with international powers on the nuclear issue going back all the way to 2003.

I think that at this point, this agreement, this nuclear agreement, could potentially be a major turning point in Iran's relations with the United States, in particular. But I think at this point, it will be a challenge for the United States to sort out how it wants to move on from this agreement. Is it as some Obama administration officials say, just a narrow nuclear deal focused on the nuclear issue?

[04:40:05] We're still going to think that Iran is this bad actor in the region or are we going to think, as I believe would be in U.S. interests, that Iran is the indispensable player in the Middle East and the United States for its own interests, needs a much better relationship with this important country and it needs to reformulate its relation was Iran. Not just on the nuclear issue, but on a comprehensive basis. That's going to be the challenge for the United States moving forward.

ROMANS: Well, the challenge for this administration is selling it at home, but also walking and talking through it with the Israelis who are furious. Israel is our major ally, Americans' major ally in the region, along with Saudi Arabia. This would potentially change the dynamic considerably.

LEVERETT: Yes, it would. And that's why both Israel and Saudi Arabia are opposed to any improvement in relations with the United States and Iran. They see that as a loser for them. They are entitled to make their calculations, but in terms of U.S. interests, you know, the United States is not going to abandon its ties to Israel and Saudi Arabia, but it is very much in U.S. interests to balance those ties and in fact, those relationships are at times very, very dysfunctional for U.S. interests. It's important to balance those relations with Israel and Saudi Arabia with much better positive productive relations with the Islamic Republic of Iran.

ROMANS: All right. Flynt Leverett, thank you so much. We'll talk to you again very soon. You are there where the meetings are underway and where we're expecting the announcement very, very soon. Thank you, sir, in Vienna.

A nuclear deal with Iran, it's not cause for celebration everywhere. Harsh words -- harsh words this morning out of Israel on breaking news of this deal. We are live in Jerusalem right after the break.

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[04:45:32] ROMANS: Breaking news this morning, there is now a nuclear deal with Iran. Officials say the U.S. plus five world powers have agreed to a deal to limit Iran's nuclear program in exchange for lifting Western sanctions already underway at the talks in Vienna at any minute, the final plenary session. That will be followed by a news conference of which an official announcement is expected.

Now, Iranian and Western diplomats are putting the finishing touches on this, there is fury in at least one world capital, Jerusalem. The Iran nuclear deal realizes Prime Minister Netanyahu's darkest fears, an accord he says will pave the way to a nuclear-armed Iran.

Joining us now, CNN's Erin McLaughlin in Jerusalem.

And, Erin, this is a country that Iran is a country that Israel has said is the axis of evil. You know, the United States is an enemy of Iran since basically 1979 when revolutionaries stormed the U.S. embassy in Tehran. It's a very big deal to do this deal and the Israeli officials are furious.

ERIN MCLAUGHLIN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: That's right. And they are already speaking out, Christine.

This morning, we heard from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the beginning of his meeting with the Dutch foreign minister saying, quote, "When you are ready to make a deal no matter what the cost, this is the result. He went on to call the agreement quote historic mistake. We are also hearing from hard line coalition partners, Naftali Bennett, issuing a statement from his office that reads as follows, "This day will be remembered as a black day in the history of the free world. History books are rewritten today with the most dangerous and severe chapter."

Also, hearing about next steps for Israeli government ministers, from Danny Danon, minister. He released a statement, I'll read you part of it saying quote, "Now that the talks are over, it is time for action. I call upon our friends and allies in the relevant parliaments tasked with reviewing the agreement to reject the bad deal." So, there you hear Israeli ministers already signaling their next steps.

They're going to continue to be vocal against the agreement in the hopes of persuading lawmakers specifically one would presume lawmakers in Congress. You remember back in March, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addressing Congress, a controversial address, very vocal about a potential agreement back then and here you are hearing from his ministers saying they're going to continue with that diplomatic push.

ROMANS: Yes, basically, the Israeli prime minister saying that this administration was naive in its negotiations with Iran and that naivety was quite dangerous. Thank you so much for that, Erin.

Let's go back to Vienna and the Iran nuclear talks, where they have completed a nuclear deal. Our chief international correspondent Christiane Amanpour is there.

Christiane, what are diplomats telling you this hour?

CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, first and foremost, you can imagine that selling this and implementing it is going to be incredibly difficult, precisely given what Erin has been reporting from Jerusalem. There is fierce opposition there, and also in some parts of the U.S. Congress. But here amongst the European leaders, the U.S. leaders, the Chinese and Russian leaders and, of course, the Iranian leaders, there is a different feeling. Because they feel that after two years of very, very hard bargaining and particularly in the last 17 days with one deadline after the next rolled over, they have crossed every "T" and dotted every "I" to make sure in their words that this is a good deal for all sides.

We already see the Iranian president has tweeted, because one of the first public acts today was the statement by the IAEA chief. Now, he is the head of the nuclear watchdog agency and his agency is in charge of the inspections and most crucially not just going forward, but going back to the past. And today, they signed agreement here.

And this took a long time to hammer out on what he called a road map to try to figure out what, if anything, Iran did in the past that may have had a nuclear military component. So, they say they are looking at that. Iran says we never did and we never will. But, of course, that is the basis of all the suspicion. So, that's the one thing.

There was meant to be a plenary meeting of all of the leaders here taking place right now.

[04:50:00] It may have been slightly delayed, but that is what they are meant to be doing, followed by public statements and announcements of what is happening. A key Iranian official said this morning that this is a historic day. This is a good day for world peace.

Separately, an Iranian source tells me that no matter what happened, once they've announced this and once this all in the open and all public, nothing actually will be implemented for another 90 days. Part of that is because, of course, U.S. Congress has 60 days to review this.

So, all of this is going step by step by step. But in general, all sides believe that the culmination of not just two years of negotiating, Christine, but this has been more than ten years. It started under the Bush administration when the idea of sanctions relief for limiting Iran's nuclear program was first raised. And it has taken all this time through the bad days of the Ahmadinejad regime in Iran, when nothing positive happened to the election of President Hassan Rouhani in Iran and the empowerment by the Iran supreme leader to allow these negotiations to take place.

It's been a vey, very long process, one that I started covering more than ten years ago --Christine.

ROMANS: So, interesting.

All right. Christiane, we're going to get the guts of that agreement any moment really and be able to look at all the 180 pages, with all the appendices there. Thank you so much for that, Christiane.

This nuclear deal with Iran, it will have a huge, huge effect on the price of oil. It's already happening. We are breaking it down, next.

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[04:55:11] ROMANS: Breaking news this morning. Breaking news: oil prices diving on news of the deal with Iran. U.S. crude oil down 2 percent right now, $51 a barrel, after inching at the beginning of the year, oil prices have been falling for a month now, as a deal gets closer.

Iran has the fourth biggest oil reserves in the world. That oil has been blocked from world markets by sanctions. This deal will change that and let Iran increase its oil exports. It may take months, it may take years for Iran to fully ramp up production, but eventually a deal could add 1 million barrels of crude oil per day to global markets. They would be added to a huge surplus, by the way, almost 2 million barrels a day above demand.

Adding more oil to the market will push prices lower. Oil expert Tom Kloza tells us oil could soon drop back into the $40 range. That means gas prices could return to $2 a gallon.

We are following the breaking news of the morning. Fast moving developments. A nuclear deal with Iran now reached. Our live team coverage breaking down the very latest ahead.

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ROMANS: conference there, negotiations late into the night on this deal. Live team coverage breaking it down. This is happening as we speak. We are watching Iran speak at the moment.

Let's listen to the press conference announcing the deal.

MOHAMMAD JAVAD ZARIF, IRANIAN FOREIGN MINISTER: -- throughout this process.

I should thank those who helped the process, other governments, the former -- the two former high representatives, Javier Solana and Cathy Ashton, and also particularly, Federica Mogherini, and other colleagues for their leadership.