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Terrorism Attack on Kenyan College Campus; Al Qaeda Militants Free Prisoners in Yemen; 2 Women Arrested in New York Terror Plot; News Conference on Iran Nuclear Deal. Aired 1:30-2p ET

Aired April 02, 2015 - 13:30   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:31:15] WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back. I'm Wolf Blitzer in Washington.

We're following the breaking news out of Switzerland. There you see live pictures coming in. We're anticipating the official announcement, the announcement that the end on these current negotiations in Switzerland involving Iran's nuclear program, a statement coming in from the European Union high representative, Federica Mogherini, and the Iranian foreign minister, Javad Zarif. They will be making the official statement saying they've reached basically a framework but they have to work out a lot of details. They say they will try to do that by the end of June deadline. The Secretary of State John Kerry, he'll have his own news conference following that. And presumably, we'll hear from President Obama at some point. CNN, of course, will have live coverage of all of that. So stand by. Major developments coming out of Switzerland right now.

But there's other significant breaking news we're following this hour as well, including chaos on a college campus as terrorists carry out a brutal and deadly attack. And dangerous inmates on the loose after al Qaeda fighters storm a prison in Yemen. We're bringing you the latest on both of these breaking stories.

In Kenya, the death toll has dramatically risen. Authorities now say at least, at least 70 people have been killed, more than 70 others injured in the attack at the Garissa University College. Kenyan security forces say more than 500 students have been rescued. The militant group al Shabaab has claimed responsibility for the attack.

In Yemen, meanwhile, al Qaeda militants attacked a prison earlier today. Yemen's defense ministry says the al Qaeda fighters freed at least 270 prisoners. A third of them have direct ties to al Qaeda and other terror groups.

The gunshots started going like fireworks, that's how one witness describes the assault at the Garissa University in Kenya. Gunmen stormed the campus during morning prayers, opening fire, taking hostages. As we mentioned, authorities now say at least 70 people are dead, 70 others wounded. Four terrorists, they say, have been killed.

CNN correspondent, Soni Methu, is joining us from Nairobi.

Soni, bring us up to speed as the operation against the terrorists, as far as we know, still going on right now?

SONI METHU, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Indeed, Wolf, the operation is still going on. The last statement was from the cabinet secretary who put the death toll, as you say, to 79 people injured. According to him, the school had at least 850 students. And so far, 500 people have been rescued and 79 people are still receiving treatment. We are calculating this statistics given and it goes to show about more than 250 people are still unaccounted for. That's not counting the people who are in administration, the cleaners and so on and so forth, the staff members who are there. Just the statistics from the number of students, at least 250 students still unaccounted for. The death toll is 70, as you said, and four of those are among the terror suspects killed during this operation. Also he says most of those killed were students. Two security guards among the dead.

BLITZER: Very quickly, there have been reports that these al Shabaab terrorists were actually separating the Christian students from the Muslim students. Do you know anything about that?

[13:34:48] METHU: Well, initially, no. There were not separating. They shot sporadically at 5:30 when they got in. A few students said they tried to escape running into the fields and the attackers at this point had a vantage point and shot at anyone trying to flee in the field. As soon as the whole situation happened, reports started coming out that they are separating Christians and Muslims according to a Twitter handle carried by al Shabaab, claiming that they've been able to separate the Christians and the Muslims and released at least 15 Muslims.

It's a hugely Muslim populated area. You'd expect more Muslim students in this school. However, this is the only highest school of learning in this area. So there will be other student whose are Christians. But you'd expect the number of Muslims in that school to be a bit higher. We've yet to confirm this, these people saying that they are being separated, Muslims and Christians. Although reports on the ground are quite firm about that. And al Shabaab themselves saying, yes, they have released 15 Muslims from the hostage situation.

BLITZER: Soni Methu, thanks very much. We'll stay on top of this story. Very disturbing development in Kenya right now.

Let's get some analysis what's going on all the breaking news, including the New York plot, terror plot, as well as the terror attack on these students in Kenya.

Joining us now, CNN military analyst, retired Lieutenant General, Mark Hertling; and Bob Baer, CNN security and intelligence analyst.

Let me get your reactions, first, to this plot, these two women arrested in New York, accused of supporting ISIS, plotting what is being described as a major terror operation, maybe going after a shopping area in Manhattan.

Bob Baer, what do you make of this?

BOB BAER, CNN SECURITY AND INTELLIGENCE ANALYST: Well, you know, initially, I'd say that this was not organized from Syria or Iraq. These are two lone wolves. They got an idea and then they set about putting the explosives together using propane tanks, if that's, in fact, what they wanted to do is a very difficult explosive device to use. You have to know how much to fill them and the rest of it. So I think the FBI caught these people no doubt on social media of some sort expressing their ideas, their devotion to jihad and put them under surveillance. Pretty typical operation. They stopped it. The FBI is on these people and has done a good job. I think we're lucky again. But it's the lone Wolf that we should worry about that knows explosives, that doesn't need to reach out looking for expertise.

BLITZER: Looks like they had some potential explosive capabilities, General Hertling. Harold Square, it's pretty well-known in Manhattan. These women, roommates, one of them was heard saying that they weren't necessarily going to go after this Harold Square department store area because too many, quote, "normal people were there." They were seeking for, I guess, you know, more prominent personalities, if you will. What do you make of this?

LT. GEN. MARK HERTLING, CNN MILITARY ANALYST: The early reports, Wolf, are suggesting, as Bob said, this was a very naive approach to an attack. Propane tanks are not a good bomb making material. The early court documents suggested that they tried to learn how to do this through online instructional manuals instead of being taught how to do it. The police have been monitoring this in the counter- terrorism investigation for over a year. All of these things lead me to believe these were very immature approaches to bomb making.

But what is interesting is there are early unconfirmed reports that there are connections between these two individual women with others who have attempted to conduct home-grown attacks in the United States, to include the National Guard soldier attempting to get to Syria just a few weeks ago. All these things are very disturbing. But there's a positive side in this. New York counter-terrorism police have been very good in thwarting these plots and actually gaining intelligence from them before they bring the hammer down and arrest these individuals.

BLITZER: Two New York women arrested today. We'll get more details.

I want both of you to stand by.

Because we're following a lot of break news today. Big story out of Switzerland. Looks like they have a tentative deal as far as Iran's nuclear program is concerned. We just got a tweet from the secretary of state of the United States, John Kerry, "Big day, E.U., P-5-Plus-1 and Iran now have parameters to resolve major issues on nuclear program. Back to work soon on a final deal." That tweet from John Kerry.

We're standing by for the news conferences. Lots of them, beginning with the E.U. representative and the Iranian foreign minister, followed by Kerry and presumably the president of the United States as well. Stand by. We're covering all of this.

In fact, I see now the foreign minister of Iran, Javad Zarif. He is walking in, together with Federica Mogherini, the high representative from the European Union. There's John Kerry. There are other representatives of the P5-Plus-1. They're going to be standing by to make a statement. I assume we'll hear first from Federica Mogherini, the European -- the high representative of the E.U., of the European Union. I believe she will make the statement first, followed by Javad Zarif. They usually take a photo opportunity before these kinds of events. We're told she will speak in English. I believe Javad Zarif will not. We'll have translation for all of that. There they are. These are the foreign ministers. They have come in. The United States, the other permanent members of the United Nations Security Council including Britain and France. Certainly, China and Russia, and as well as Germany, is part of this and the E.U. representative as well. They have now all gathered in Lausanne, Switzerland, and they're going to announce what they call a tentative deal. But the details of course have to be worked out over the next three months. And we'll hear what they have to say momentarily.

Somebody is speaking there.

[13:41:16] UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Thank you very much.

BLITZER: I think this is just a photo opportunity there. I assume she's going to make the statement first, the high representative of the European Union. She's walking over to the microphone together with Javad Zarif, chief Iranian nuclear negotiator.

Here's the high representative of the European Union, Federica Mogherini.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JAVAD ZARIF, IRANIAN FOREIGN MINISTER: Yes.

[13:42:00] FEDERICA MOGHERINI, HIGH REPRESENTATIVE, EUROPEAN UNION: Statements that the Prime Minister Zarif -- (INAUDIBLE).

We, the European Union representatives and the foreign minister of the Islamic Republican of Iran, together with the foreign ministers of China, France, Germany, Russia Federation, the United Kingdom and the United States, from 26 March and 7 April 2015 in Switzerland. (INAUDIBLE) -- met from 26 March to second April 2015 in Switzerland. As agreed in November 2013, we gather here to find solutions towards reaching a comprehensive resolution that will ensure the exclusively peaceful nature of the Iranian nuclear program and the comprehensive lifting of all sanctions.

Today, we have taken a decisive step. We have reached solutions on key parameters of a joint comprehensive plan of action. The political determination, the good will, and the hard work of all parties made it possible. And let us thank all delegations for their tireless dedication.

This is a crucial decision laying the agreed basis for the final text of the joint comprehensive plan of action. We can now restart drafting the text and annexes of the joint comprehensive plan of action guided by the solutions developed in this days. As Iran pursues a peaceful nuclear program, Iran's enrichment capacity

and stockpile will be limited for specific durations and there will be no other enrichment facility. Iran's research and development on centrifuges will be carried out on a scope and schedule that has been mutually agreed. Fordo will be a converted from an enrichment site into a nuclear physics and technology center. International collaboration will be encouraged in agreed areas of research. There will be -- there will not be any fissile material at Fordo. An international joint venture will assist Iran in redesigning and rebuilding a modernized heavy water research reactor that will not produce weapons, weapons-grade plutonium. There will be no repossessing and the dispensed fuel will be exported. A set of measures have been agreed to monitor the provisions of the JCPOA (ph), including implementation of the modified code 3.1 and provisional application of the additional protocol. The International Atomic Energy Agency will be permitted the use of modern technologies and have access through agreed procedures, including to clarify past and present issues. Iran will take part in international cooperation in the field of civilian nuclear energy, which can include supply of power and research reactors. Another important area of cooperation will be in the field of nuclear safety and security.

The European Union will terminate the implementation of all nuclear- related economic and financial sanctions. And the United States will seize the application of all nuclear-related economic and financial sanctions, simultaneously with the IAE verified implementation by Iran of its key nuclear commitments. A new U.N. Security Council resolution will endorse the JCPOA (ph) terminates all previous related -- nuclear-related resolutions and incorporates certain restrictive measures for a mutually agreed period of time. We will now work to write the text of a joint comprehensive plan of action including technical details in the coming weeks and months at the political and experts level. We are committed to complete our efforts by June 30th.

We would like to thank the Swiss government for hosting these negotiations.

And let me personally and on behalf of everybody also, thank you all, journalists and media from around the world, for having followed our work and somehow also having worked with us over this difficult but intense and positive week.

Thank you.

ZARIF: Good evening.

Thank you both the Swiss government and the distinguished members of the press and media for their actually trying to work with us over the last several weeks and trying to help us in getting the world to know what was going on.

As our tradition has been, I would read the statement that Mrs. Mogherini just read out to you in English in Farsi. It will be the same statement. You don't need interpretation.

(SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE) [13:48:10] BLITZER: All right, he says he's reading the exact

statement that the European Union high commissioner, Federica Mogherini, just read in English. He's reading it now. We'll have our Farsi experts make sure it's exactly the same statement.

In the meantime, let's bring in Christiane Amanpour, our chief international correspondent.

Christiane, they were pretty specific, the European Union high representative. She announced some of the specifics, probably more than a lot of people anticipated. They got to work out the text now. They got to put it all down in writing by the end of June. What was your analysis, what did you think?

[13:48:49] CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: These are some of the big issues obviously. Just as you can imagine, we've been speaking about the importance of sanctions to the Iranians. One of the main negotiators from a previous regime, basically, said major break through on sanctions due to nine-hours meeting last night between John Kerry and Javad Zarif. And basically, what they have announced is that the E.U. will lift sanctions, the United States apparently will cease the application of its financial sanctions related to the nuclear system in Iran, that the enrichment capacity of Iran will be restricted. I did not hear what they said about stockpiles. I heard they said there would be no enrichment facility in Iran other than the Natanz (ph). Fordo, the one sort of under the mountain, is going to be converted into a training and technical center for physics and nuclear-related training and technical development. There will be no nuclear material at Fordo. An international association will help to redesign. This is another area of importance, the heavy water reactor at Iraq. And that there will be no reprocessing of any material there and spent fuel will be exported.

Regarding the IAEA and the additional protocols, she mentions that that is going to go into effect. In other words, what people hope is that there will be any time, any place, anyhow inspections. Not quite sure whether that is exactly what they said. But they say IAEA will have the use of inspectors but modern technology to be able to investigate and inspect all past and present and presumably future issues they need to. The past is important because, does that mean they'll get to go to Harchime (ph), which is a military base in Iran, not a nuclear base, a military base, which is why the Iranians have not let the IAEA go there until now. But it's where the world thinks perhaps at some time they experimented with weaponizing nuclear material there. So if IAEA gets to go there, that's also a development.

They say that in coming months, what they've call the positive, constructive, major critical decision will be further investigated, further drafted, and technical and political experts will again draw the specifics. That will happen by June 30th.

So everybody basically saying this is a major break through of both the United States. John Kerry tweeted. The German foreign minister did. Javad Zarif has done. The President or Iran has done. And so have others who have been watching this -- Wolf?

Christiane, stand by.

Because I want to explain what is going on to viewers just tuning in. Javad Zarif, the foreign minister of Iran, the chief nuclear negotiator with the Europeans and the United States, China and Russia. He is delivering the statement that the E.U. high representative, Federica Mogherini, just read in English. He's now reading it in Farsi. That's why we're not translating it right now. So he's going to go on and continue that.

But I want to go to Lausanne, Switzerland. Our global affairs correspondent, Elise Labott, is getting more information.

Elise, what are you learning? They've got to put it all in writing. They've got to work out technical details by June. What else are you learning?

ELISE LABOTT, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, some of the details they haven't released now. Some things we're hearing is more substantial than we thought would come out of the statement. Perhaps that Iran would limit centrifuges to 5,000. They went down to 6,000. Now talking about 5,000. They were also looking for a 15-year duration of a deal. Looks like that deal will be a 10-year deal. Might be extra restrictions in years '11 to '15. That will be a 10- year deal. Iran is going to put two-thirds of stockpile under use. It's unclear if it will be exported or stored in monitors. It will be put beyond use.

The last couple of days, we've been talking about these parties would not have parameters and would be vague. These are parameters we did not expect the international community to put out, because Iranians were nervous about putting anything in writing that they would agree to. They felt hardliners in Iran would take the opportunity to squash that before the final deal was reached.

There's been a happy median here. Clearly, not everything has been agreed to. Looks like Iran will continue the research and development program. We'll have to see what kinds of limits are placed on that when they have the final details hammered out. Again, this is a political frame work. These are political understands. You hear that phrase, "the devil is in the details." The devil is really in the details. We all know these parties can agree to big concepts and theories. When they sit down at the drafting table to negotiate line by line, that's where it gets very murky and everybody has their own interpretations of what the broad political agreements should mean in technical language -- Wolf?

[13:54:44] BLITZER: We just heard they just wrapped up the statement in Farsi. The Iranian foreign minister, Javad Zarif, read the statement in Farsi that the European high representative, Federica Mogherini read in English. They left and did not take questions. I think there will be statements from others, including Secretary of State John Kerry. At some point, I assume we'll hear from Barack Obama at the White House. He has delayed his departure for Kentucky. He's at the White House. I assume he's getting ready to make a statement as well.

Very quickly, Elise, we heard the sanctions would be lifted by the Security Council, European Union and United States. I didn't hear when the sanctions would be eased. Did you?

LABOTT: They're going to be eased, some of them, immediately Wolf. All financial sanctions, bas banking, trade sanctions. They will be lifted immediately. She said there will be a new united nations Security Council resolution that would eliminate the united nations Security Council resolutions we've seen so far on Iran and fold them into that. That's the language they found to get rid of the debate they had. How do you lift U.N. Security Council sanctions when the resolutions specifically call for certain measures? By folding all those resolutions into a new one that's monitored by IAEA you have a phased approach where Iran would see financial benefit and U.N. Security Council sanctions about proliferation, missile technology. Those will have to be eased out at Iran shows compliance with the deal.

We don't know if there's a snap-back provision. What happens if Iran violates the deal? Would sanctions be put back in place? Iran wanted them to just disappear, and so did Russia and China. Once they disappear, it's hard for the U.N. Security Council to put them back because of the Russia and Chinese veto. So there were a lot of other political dynamics in play in that room. Russians were adamant they didn't want the snap-back provision. We'll have to see in the final technical language, technical agreement that's negotiated in June, what happens. We see that some of these larger issues were kind of "kick the can down the road" a little bit for other discussions. These were things that could not be resolved in the room -- Wolf?

[13:59:] BLITZER: Stand by, Elise.

Because we're now being told the president of the United States will make in fact make a statement in 15 minutes or so in the White House Rose Garden. He's going to make a statement to the news media and continue on his travel plans. He was supposed to leave the White House at least two hours ago but he's delayed that because of this deal worked out in Switzerland.

Let me bring in chief national security correspondent -- oh, you know what, we're now being told that -- Jim Sciutto, stand by for a moment. Javad Zarif, the foreign minister of Iran, is still speaking at another location. Let's listen.

ZARIF: This would be one of the few cases where an issue is resolved through diplomatic means and of significance. That would require an approach that would concentrate on a non-zero sum outcome, a win/win outcome. That was my country's approach to this from the beginning.

We appreciate the work that every delegation has put to this. We have done significant work. We have made achievements. We have made progress. We have decided to take steps for a period of time to assure anyone who had concerns, which we thought were misplaced any way, that our program is exclusively peaceful, has always been and will always remain exclusively peaceful. Those -- none of those measures include closing any of our facilities. The proud people of Iran will never accept that. Our facilities will continue. We will continue enriching, continue research and development. Our heavy water reactor will be modernized. And we'll continue the Fordo facility. We will have, as you will hear, centrifuges installed in Fordo but not enriching. We'll remain committed to the agreement and will not enrich in Fordo. We will do other activities keeping our centrifuges at Fordo for a time that we have agreed.