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New Day

Notorious Mexican Drug Lord on the Run; Historic Nuclear Deal Reached with Iran; EU Chief Negotiator Speaks. Aired 6:30-7a ET

Aired July 14, 2015 - 06:30   ET

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

[06:30:00] MICHAEL VIGIL, FORMER DEA CHIEF OF INTL. OPERATIONS: So he's not easily recognized.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: In 2014, the White House asked Mexico, once they captured him, to transfer Guzman to the United States because they were afraid of this very thing happening. They thought he might be able to pay off prison officials. He's obviously wildly wealthy, or that he might just be able to escape.

So, why wouldn't Mexico transfer him to the U.S.?

VIGIL: Well, when Chapo Guzman was captured by the U.S., Mexico looked at Chapo Guzman as the crown Jewel of their counter drug efforts. So, they wanted to keep him in Mexico, but we wanted him here in the United States because obviously, it's very important to remove these types of criminals from their infrastructure so they can control things in that country.

But, we were not really shocked that Chapo Guzman escaped, given the fact he has enormous wealth and he is the head of the most powerful, most violent drug cartel currently operating on Mexican soil.

CAMEROTA: Yes. Michael Vigil, thanks so much for your expertise. We will see if this time takes 13 years. We appreciate you being on NEW DAY.

VIGIL: Thank you.

CAMEROTA: Chris?

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: All right. The news about this big deal with Iran, now we are waiting for what it actually is. What's in these 100 pages? There's going to be a presser from Iranian and U.N. officials. We're going to take it live.

And then, don't forget -- President Obama is going to answer the question of why this is historic at 7:00 a.m. Eastern Time here in the States. We will cover that as well.

The big question, are we safe, all of us, after today? We'll find out.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) [06:35:46] CUOMO: All right. To our viewers in the U.S. and around the world, this is your NEW DAY.

We are waiting right now, to hear from leaders from around the world about why this deal is historic. In just moments, the Iranian foreign minister and the E.U. leader who led the talks are going to take the podium. This is live picture of that.

Now, we've also set you up with the smaller picture there, that's the podium for the president of the United States. He's going to follow them and he is going to give his own address, President Obama, about why he thinks this deal will make his people safer. That's what we are going to look forward to.

But to tee it up, what do we expect from the leaders? Why is it important for them to address now.

We have Christiane Amanpour, CNN's chief international correspondent.

What are we expecting to hear? What will be the high points?

CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Chris, very simply, we are going to expect to get the very first public confirmation of this deal because, yes, we have been reporting for hours that it's happened. We've been reporting tweets, including Mrs. Mogherini's, that the Iran talks are over and there is a deal. But we have not seen or heard anybody say it publicly.

So, Mrs. Mogherini, the E.U. foreign policy chief, and also, the Iranian chief negotiator, foreign minister Javad Zarif, they are the ones who will announce it. But it's an Iran with or rather against, however you want to put it. It was Iran versus the E.U. plus Russia and China, plus the United States. So, that's the formality of how it's going to be presented to the world.

And then we also know, and you've been reporting, that President Obama will address the American people of the top of the hour, which is 7:00 a.m. on the East Coast. At the same time, the president of Iran, Hassan Rouhani, will address the Iranian people on state television there.

So, this is now the rollout and they will probably say all of them, that this is a historic deal, that this is a good day, this is a win- win situation and they will all put their best face forward on what inevitably has been a compromise by all sides.

And they all know that no matter how this deal was achieved, no matter that it's taken not just the last two years of almost constant negotiation, but just the last 17 days of literally people going practically stir crazy, not leaving the building behind me as they hammer out every single word on this 100-page document. But it's been going on the last ten years.

I remember covering it in 2003 under the Bush administration, coming to the capital and seeing how the negotiations will go on. And remember, back in 2003, there was actually a freeze on Iran's

nuclear program, and that all collapsed in 2005 when Ahmadinejad was elected president. And it is considered, the fact that Rouhani was elected a few years ago, that is why these negotiations happened at all. He led to country with the negotiations with the backing of the Iranian leader and by empowering the long-time diplomat Zarif to conduct these negotiations.

So, that is what we're going to hear. And we're also going to hear some of the details, then we will see the pages released and the description of all the details released, then we'll know a lot more of what is in it. The chief and the key things are, the number of years and the amount of restriction of Iran's nuclear program, the amount of time it will take to lift the sanctions, the details around the lifting or the easing or the phased outmoding of the arms embargo, the access to former military sites or current military sites in Iran and the details of the -- what is expected to be intrusive inspections by the IAEA going forward -- Chris.

CUOMO: Although, of course, Iran calls them managed. So, is this just about verbiage or the impact? We're going to have to wait and see when we get these 100 pages where you will enjoy it with some coffee and some Austrian fare. We'll be reading it back here as well.

Christiane, we'll check back with you as soon as they take to the podium and we hear their message.

Let's get some sense about what will make this a done deal. Remember, the Iranian parliament has to approve this and just as important, back here in the U.S., Congress has 60 days to go through this and there are a lot of doubters.

So, let's bring in CNN global affairs correspondent Elise Labott, joining us from Washington. She's been covering these negotiations for months.

[06:40:00] And we also have former ambassador Nicholas Burns, he was the chief negotiator on Iran's nuclear program until 2008. So, some really important perspective here.

Elise, this 60-day review period that's coming back here, if -- if our lawmakers in the U.S. could put aside just the toxic partisan environment they have there, how does it set up in terms of the must meet demands of those who are skeptical?

ELISE LABOTT, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Well, Chris, I think the things that have been seeing over the last couple of days, those last sticking points that Christiane was talking about, the intrusiveness of inspections, the pace of the lifting in arms embargo, these are the things I think that Congress is going to be drilling down upon.

And if you are inclined to support the deal, then there's enough there in the deal to support but a lot of those in Congress will clearly say that these inspections are not, quote, "anytime, anywhere." They are going to be a long lead time. It could be as long as 24 days for Iran to get notice of these inspections. It will be in consultations with the Iranians. There will not be an edict that the international community hands down to the Iranians for these inspections, and there will be some limits on the military sites. I think certainly, that's something Congress will be concerned about, those opponents of the deal and also on the arms embargo.

The U.S. will say that the arms embargo is going to be kept in place for five years and then the ballistic missiles in eight years. For Congress, that won't be long enough.

Now, Congress can, you know, reject the deal. They can support the deal. What they really -- the power that they have is to ultimately do what President Obama will try to do in terms of waving the sanctions is lifting a lot of these sanctions.

There were certain sanctions that President Obama can lift. He can wave them, actually, but those more secondary sanctions. They will affect other countries. So, for instance, the French will be able to do business with Iran. But U.S. companies still cannot because of restrictions put in place for Iran's terrorism activity, for its human rights activity. That is where the Congress will be key.

CUOMO: Elise, all right, we see people taking the podium here now.

Let's get one quick question to the ambassador as we wait for them to set up for the press conference.

So, if this is the mode of reference that we're hearing from Elise, what is the best sell to the resistant members of Congress about why this deal is worth moving forward with versus the alternatives?

AMB. NICHOLAS BURNS, FORMER U.S. UNDER SECRETARY FOR POLITICAL AFFAIRS: I think the best seller, Chris, that this is the best alternative of all available. The use of military force does not make sense right now. Walking away, the United States from the negotiations, all the leverage, all the sanctions will dissolve overnight. The international unity behind us will dissolve as well.

And so, I think the administration will say, of all the alternatives, we can freeze their program for 10 years, we can monitor the program. We can work on maintaining international unity and we can do this peacefully and not get into a third war in the Middle East. I think that will be where the administration comes from. And they are right to say that. But there are limitations that Elise has pointed out.

CUOMO: The main pushback will be, if the U.S. just tightened sanctions and got international partners to do that as well and tighten down on them, well, then, through attrition, Iran would have to come back to the table, and then we would have more leverage to get what the rest of the world wants, who is sitting across from them right now. Is that a fair analysis?

BURNS: That option is not available, because our international partners, the Russians, the Chinese, the Indians, the South Koreans, they think that Iran has made the necessary compromises. Iran is freezing its nuclear program. So, we don't have the option of keeping that big sanctions regime together of walking away from negotiations.

I would have liked that, Chris. If we could have had that, that's what I would have chosen. But it wasn't available and President Obama has to live in the real world. This is a real world option that he's chosen.

CUOMO: So, that's interesting. What we are hearing from a lot of candidates for president is, what I would do is, I would tighten those sanctions and bring them to their knees, and then they would come back to me. And I would say, well, then here's the deal.

You are saying that's huff and puff, it doesn't affect the environment at play?

BURNS: I am, because the United States has had sanctions on Iran for 35 years in some cases. We needed the sanctions of the European Union, of the Russians, the Chinese, all the big industrial economies, which we got, President Obama got over the last three or four years. It's the combined sanctions of the entire world that gave us the leverage to intimidate the Iranians to come to the negotiating table. They are desperate to get these sanctions relief.

But if we the United States just walks away and maintains its own sanctions. And we don't have the rest of the world follow us, that's a very weak hand, and our national interest isn't served. I think that was the equation that the administration had to deal with.

CUOMO: OK, is he there?

All right, Ambassador, thank you very much.

Elise, I saw you shaking your head. I know you've been hearing from so many people in D.C., this is what I would do. It's all about more sanctions. So, let's see how this plays out.

Thanks to both of you. Please stand by.

BURNS: Thank you.

CUOMO: Let's go back to the live picture of the conference that we are getting to monitor. Again, officials from Iran, the head negotiator for them, and the European Union, set to address the Iranian nuclear agreement.

[06:45:06] We are getting ready to have that start right now.

Secretary Kerry, of course, the major player for the U.S., he will not be heard at this conference, why? Because the United States has decided that the secretary will speak after President Obama.

Now, we are timing that out as well. It's supposed to happen about 7:00 a.m. Eastern Time. President Obama will address the nation. We will take that live and see how he makes the case for this deal.

Remember, it's not just a congratulatory speech. He has to worry about his Congress. They have 60 days. Their leverage, if they don't like this deal, they can refuse to remove their sanctions.

You see Secretary Kerry. But remember, we do not expect him to give big remarks here. He is waiting for his president.

Are we ready to dip in live, now?

CAMEROTA: We have a few more seconds then we will hear from the Iranian foreign minister and the E.U. leaders. And they will, theoretically, give us the details of what's rumored to be in this deal.

And, of course, as you know, the sticking points were sanctions. Will they will lifted? Over what period of time? Will they be lifted as far as the arms embargo?

And, you know, one of the things -- one of the sticking points with the sanctions was that Iran didn't want their military sites -- a, didn't want inspectors to have access to military sites. So, we hear they have come up with an agreement to how they will get access in military sites, but it's very complicated.

CUOMO: It is. Words matter. The difference between unfettered inspections, which is what was demanded on one side and managed inspections, which is what Iran wants to call them. That's a key distinction.

We see Secretary Kerry there. You'll remember, he was injured in a biking accident, that's why he's on crutches. They're again approaching the podium here.

When the president goes to Congress with this and asks them to remove their sanctions, they are going to be saying, wait a minute. This only works if you can go and do whatever you want when you want.

So, Christiane, you know that's the leverage back here in the U.S. is that a reasonable, is that a reasonable basis for resistance? That if this only works if you can go in whenever you want, however you want?

AMANPOUR: Well, here's the thing, Chris. There are two issues here. One is the issue of the, quote/unquote, "military sites". That is something that Iran said today that no country would allow anybody to go in and check out their military secrets.

However, they said today, if, indeed, we need to do to allay people's suspicions about what might have happened in the past or in the present, then, yes, we will have managed access. This is military sites, not to the nuclear installations. This is a very different situation, two different situations.

So, the idea of the semantics and the language is around military sites. And they said they will allow managed access. This is a term of art, according to diplomats that will allow the IAEA, under what's known as the additional protocol, which is a step higher than the usual inspections, to allow to see what went on. And that is what the U.N. IAEA chief signed off on today with the Iranian nuclear chief. Now, on the other thing going forward, that's all Iran's nuclear site, Fordow, Natanz, all these names, Arak, that we have been hearing for the last 10, 12 years. That should be and it is enshrined unfettered access and anytime the IAEA wants to go in, they should be able to do that. That, we are told, is what they signed up to.

That's we're going to ask, of course, the chief whether he's confident that happened. That is a crucial part of the deal. Again, two issues of inspection, military sites, former military site that is have, you know, nothing to do with nuclear activity or maybe have and that's why they want to check them out.

And what we know on nuclear installations and nuclear sites, which is covered under the formal IAEA regulations. So, that's where some of the --

CUOMO: All right, Christiane. They are starting the presser right now.

We have the E.U. chief and the Iranian negotiator. Let's hear what they have to say.

FEDERICA MOGHERINI, HIGH REP., EU FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS & SECURITY POLICY: -- the media that have been following our endless, but successful negotiations for all these days and nights, weeks and months.

Today is an historic day. There's a great honor for us to announce that we have reached an agreement on the Iranian nuclear issue. With courage, political will, mutual respect and leadership, we delivered on what the world was hoping for, a shared commitment to peace and to join hands in order to make our world safer.

This is an historic day also because we are creating the conditions for building trust and opening a new chapter in our relationship.

[06:50:01] This achievement is the result of a collective effort. No one ever thought it would be easy. Historic decisions never are.

But, despite all twists and turns in the talks and the number of extensions, hope and determination enabled us to overcome all the difficult moments. We have always been aware, we had the responsibility to our generation and the future ones.

Thanks to the constructive engagement of all parties and the dedication and ability of our teams, we have successfully concluded negotiations and resolved dispute that is lasted more than ten years. Many people broke this difficult negotiations forward in the last decades and we would like to thank them all as we would like to thank the international atomic energy agency for its critical contribution and close cooperation, as well as the Austrian government for the support and hospitality. Thank you.

We, the European Union High Representative for Foreign and Security Policy, and the foreign minister of the Islamic Republic of Iran, together, with the foreign ministers of the People's Republic of China, France, Germany, the Russian Federation, the United Kingdom and the United States of America, met here in Vienna following several months of intensive work at various levels and in different formats to negotiate the text of the joint comprehensive plan of action based on the key parameters agreed in Lausanne on the 2nd of April.

We have, today, agreed on the final text of this joint comprehensive plan of action. The E3, EU-plus-3 and the Islamic Republican of Iran, welcome this historic joint comprehensive plan of action that will ensure Iran's program will be exclusively peaceful and mark fundamental shift in their approach to this issue.

They anticipate that full implementation of this joint comprehensive plan of action will positively contribute to regional and international peace and security. Iran reaffirms that under no circumstances will Iran ever seek, develop or acquire any nuclear weapons.

The joint comprehensive plan of action includes Iran's own long-term plan with agreed limitations on Iran's nuclear program and would produce the comprehensive lifting of all U.N. Security Council sanctions, as well as multilateral and national sanctions related to Iran's nuclear program, including steps on access in areas of trade, technology, finance and energy.

The joint comprehensive plan of action compromises of a main text and five technical annexes on nuclear sanctions, seven nuclear energy cooperation, joint commission and implementation.

These documents are detailed and specific. That is important because all sides wanted clarity, so as to ensure the full and effective implementation of the agreement. The joint comprehensive plan of action is a balanced deal that respects the interest of all sites. It is also complex, detailed and technical.

We cannot fully summarize the agreement now but the full main text and all its annexes will be made public today and will be presented within the next few days by the E3 plus 3 to the Security Council for endorsement.

We know that this agreement will be subject to intense scrutiny. But what we are announcing today is not only a deal, it's a good deal. And a good deal for all sides and the international community.

This agreement opens new possibilities and the way forward to end a crisis that has lasted more than ten years. We are committed to make sure this joint comprehensive plan of action is fully implemented, counting also on the contribution of the International Atomic Energy Agency. We call on the world community to support the implementation of this historic effort.

This is the conclusion of our negotiations. But, this is not the end of our common work. We keep doing this important task together.

Thank you.

(APPLAUSE) [06:55:07] JAVAD ZARIF, IRANIAN FOREIGN MINISTER: Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. Let me join Ms. Mogherini in thanking members of the press for your patience, your perseverance and for keeping us company during these difficult negotiations.

Now, as it has become our customary form of presentation, I will present exactly the same paper that Ms. Mogherini read in English, in Persia. So, don't worry, it's the same thing.

(SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

CUOMO: All right, so as we start hearing from Iran's foreign minister, he's speaking the native tongue of Persian there to communicate with his people and also the international nature of this. You know, the world is listening and everyone wants to represent in their own way.

However, Federica Mogherini, the E.U. foreign chief, has a lot to say.

CAMEROTA: She said all sorts of interesting things and she used almost poetic words. I mean, you could hear her optimism and her enthusiasm about reaching this deal. She said, it seemed endless, but we have successfully negotiated all of these months. She called it historic, she said it took courage and political will. It represented a shared commitment to peace and there was constructive engagement she said in speaking about it.

She said it was -- also, it solved a dispute that lasted ten years. She even called it a crisis.

CUOMO: Yes. And what's interesting is 100 pages, we should bring in Christiane Amanpour, who's been monitoring for us.

A hundred pages of documents but it's all about the five annexes. It's almost always that way. You have all this language that everybody agrees to, but how it gets implemented and what happens if it isn't is always in those details. Did you hear what you wanted to hear, Christiane? Do you think that was the message the world was waiting for?

AMANPOUR: Well, yes. As she said, it was a general statement. She said that these are very, very long documented, with those five annexes, which cover each of the issues that they were discussing, nuclear civilian cooperation and nuclear implementation and all of that kind of stuff.

It is going to be made public. We will all see the fine, fine print. And as we've been reporting all morning, a lot of that has been briefed and we are and have been explaining it.

But the bottom line is, she summarized after a long and marathon and very difficult and excruciating negotiations, Iran has pledged its nuclear program will be exclusively peaceful as she said, and this has represented a comprehensive shift in there and the world's attitude to this program, but also this crisis. She is right. It has been a crisis in the world for the last ten plus

years. And, of course, Javad Zarif, the Iranian foreign minister, is repeating exactly what she said. He also used the word historic.

CUOMO: All right. Christiane, thank you very much.

Right now, the Iranian foreign minister is saying the exact same words that Federica Mogherini, the E.U. foreign policy chief was saying but he's saying them in Persian for his people and the international community.

We'll keep monitoring this as he speaks in Farsi. But there is a lot of news to cover surrounding this historic Iran deal. So, let's get to it.

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

CAMEROTA: And to our viewers in the U.S. and around the world, welcome to your NEW DAY.

This is being billed as a historic deal in Vienna. Iran and six world powers reaching an accord to limit Iran's nuclear activities, in exchange for relief from sanctions.

You just heard Iranian and E.U. officials lauding this deal.

President Obama is minutes away from making a statement about this as well. So is Iran's president, Hassan Rouhani.

CUOMO: And, look, this is still a big part of the selling job because it's not a done deal. Yes, everybody agreed at the table in Vienna, but you still have the parliament in Iran that has to authorize it. Maybe not as big an obstacle, but you will get a sense of where the hard line is there and the religious political majority.

And then back here in the United States, Congress has 60 days to review. You won't believe it will be that long, but it will be intense. There's a lot of political pushback fueled in part by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu who quickly condemned the deal as historic, yes, but historic as a mistake.

Now, how will that reflect on Congress?

We have this story completely covered. We'll do reporting as we wait for President Obama to take the podium.

So, let's begin with senior international correspondent Nic Robertson live in Vienna.

Nic, we have the three minute warning for the president being about to speak.