Transcripts For CNNW CNN Newsroom With Brooke Baldwin 20180508

Withdrawal just moments from now from the diplomatic room. We are standing by for the announce men. I want to head over to Michelle Kosinski over at the state department right now. How are u. S. Allies, britain, france, germany, reacting to this pending announcement . Wolf, there has been a growing sense of pessimism over this over the last kefrl weeks as more and more top european leaders and diplomats have come here to washington to try for a lastditch effort to keep the u. S. In the deal. Today, now that the writing is fully on the wall whats going to happen here we dont know every detail but they fully expect that trump is going to only waive some sanctions or not waive any of them or have some sort of plan that is at the very least going to have the u. S. In violation of the Iran Nuclear Deal and start to collapse it. We are hearing words from them like they are frustrated. They are ds appointed. That this is a disaster. Because for months now they have been working with the u. S. To address all of the u. S. s concerns. And they have the same concerns. They just felt like the best way to go here is to keep the existing deal and then work up something separate but alongside the nuclear deal to address irans Ballistic Missile program, to address irans influence throughout the region, but keep the framework of the deal intact. It became clear, especially over the last couple of days in the final conversations they have been having with the white house and the state department that the trumped a nation just doesnt want to Trump Administration just doesnt want to keep the deal. They are not fully understanding exactly why. Tonight european diplomats tell us they see whats going to happen here. And they are waiting to hear why. They are waiting to hear how this plan advances regional and interNational Security, how this will strengthen nonproliferation. Listen to this quote from a senior european diplomat who was talking about dealing with the state Department Today leading up to this decision saying that what they found was the deafening sound of u. S. Diplomats running for cover, unable to explain to allies and partners why this is happening. Still less, what happens next . Thats what weve heard repeatedly from thats europeans who have been involved in the discussions. This dont feel inside a solid plan b that actually advances the goals that the u. S. Wants. Wolf . Michelle kosinski over at the state Department Thanks very much. Christian amanpour is also watching that developments. Moments from now, we expect the president of the United States to announce the first steps for the u. S. To begin withdrawing from this nuclear arrangement. Wolf, just what i have heard our correspond ebts report just now, michelle talking about what will happen next i mean, inside no plan b. Not a Single Person has a plan b in place at all. Not the president. Not his National Security operatives. Not Prime Minister netanyahu. There is no plan b. So the question is what happens when all eyes are off Irans Nuclear program right now . What happens if iran pulls out of the deal . What happens if the hardliners in iran decide to pull out of the whole Nuclear Nonproliferation treaty, the npt. What happens if there is literally no way to see what they are doing . Thats one thing. The other thing is, if what pamela brown read out as part of what sources are telling her is going to be part of the statement, there was apparently President Trump going to say that he believes iran is continuing its Nuclear Weapons program. There is nobody in the constellation that believes that iran is doing that. Not the iaea. Not the europeans, not russians, not the chinese. Most of the United States political experts dont think that either. Iran, as everybody knew, and of course Prime Minister netanyahu who did that famous show and tell, did have some kind of feasibility studies and others about Nuclear Weapons that allegedly ended in 2003. That was the whole show and tell last week. If President Trump actually says that today, thats a dramatic departure even for pulling out of the nuclear deal. And then of course, you know, hes called it an insane deal. He wants all these other things put in it. That was never ever going to happen. Everybody knows that. If the whole world was told that the chief existential threat to Global Security was the iran Nuclear Weapons program, well, the deal made sure that was not a threat any longer. So pulling out of the deal without a plan b, as many have said, puts the United States back on the path towards war, as we saw before this deal was signed. The United States, israel, everybody talking about a military intervention in iran. That is a very, very Troubling Development for the United States and for the rest of the world. You only have to look at the disaster of what happened in iraq in pursuit of a lie about weapons of mass destruction there. So it is very, very important whats about to happen right now. And we dont know. Will iran try to stay in . Will the europeans try to stay in with them . If america reimposes sanctions there isnt much iran can do, or the europeans. Yeah, china and russia are part of the agreement that was signed in 2015 as well. Well see what they do as a result of the president s announce men. We will get back to you immediately following the president s words. We are standing by to hear directly from the president. Jim sciutto, in this excerpt we got the president will add today we got definitive proof that this iranian promise was a lie. But that goes against what dan coats the director of National Intelligence, what mike pompeo, the former cia director, now the secretary of state have both said in recent weeks, that iran is in compliance with the agreement. Its not clear what that definitive proof is. Intelligence officials briefed on the he will intelligence told me as recent as this morning that even the in the net information did not change their assessment that iran was in compliance. That was information that was several months old. It is not clear what the definitive proof is. But as you pointed to you had. Trump appointed officials in the last six weeks have said that based on the terms of this agreement that iran was in compliance. Have a listen to two of them. Is it the judgment of the Intelligence Community that iran has thus far adhered to the deals major provisions . Yes. The judgment is there has been no material breach of the agreement. Do you have any evidence to dispute the iaea assessment that iran is in full compliance with the jcpoa . Senator twrks the information that i have been provided, i have no i have seen no evidence that they are not in compliance today. This actually raises an interesting scenario, which is that if iran is compliant with the agreement under the terms of the agreement you can criticize the agreement, but if iran is in compliance of the agreement, by withdrawing today the noncompliance is going to be done by the u. S. How do you respond to that. He is going to say it is a bad deal, we shouldnt have gotten into it. Now we are getting out of it. That this is im doing more to protect the country from iran. And he is going to continue to say they are not in compliance. I think thats his only and best argument. Maybe he will use b. B. Netanyahus power point presentation that he made the other day. But i think this is a president who was talked to there was an intervention by our european allies made one by one by one, led by macron of france. But then from everyone else, germany, great britain, saying please do not do this. They are in compliance. This will be worse if you get out. And he just he just didnt listen. You know, i think there is a big question now about sanctions, right . We have to see what the president says about what he is going to do about imposing sanctions and whether that would be effective at all. You remember throughout the campaign he said im going to get out of this agreement. This is a horrible agreement. I hate this agreement. Worst agreement ever. It is a disaster. Insane. Insane. Should we really be surprised if he is now going to begin the formal process of withdrawing from the agreement . Not at all. This is a Campaign Promise kept if he does go ahead and effectively withdraw from this agreement. However, if he makes the argument for withdrawal by saying its because iran isnt complying, that really doesnt make sense given what jim just showed us from his own top officials who are supposed to be looking into that. What would make sense for him to argue is that never mind complying with the agreement, its that the agreement itself is bad, dh we have heard from him, and from many other republicans. And lets be honest, some democrats who at the time were furious about the Obama Administration because they thought it was a mistake to do this, for lots of reasons. That it sunsets. That it doesnt deal with irans Ballistic Missile program. And its meddling in other countries. Those are the things that the Trump Administration and the president and even before as a candidate argued david we are only a minute or so away from the president. Go ahead. I think there is big point here beyond Campaign Promises. This is this president signaling to the rest of the world how he intends to position america against some of the big global challenges. And it is a different point of view. It is a more militaristic, a more muscular foreign policy, National Security policy that is about creating distance from allies, being more of a leader and telling them you are going to have to follow whether you like it or not. If the goal is to keep iran nukefree this agreement had at least forestalled that. But they have been a bad and dangerous actor in the region threatening our ally israel today, and there has been a lot of cash thats been pumped into that country because this agreement that iran has used for really bad purposes. I think everybody has to acknowledge, this is a tough issue. And the president is going to break a lot of china here in doing this. But its going he is going to force everyone to reconsider what is the right way to move forward. Its not clear that he see as path to fixing it or that there is any real thinking about what replaces it, what comes next. We are going to have to watch and wait. But now the president would be reimposing sanctions on iran for the one thing they are not doing. They are in compliance. Right. This is the one thing they are getting right. Everything else is a problem. Why he is doing that makes no sense. Look lets be clear about what is about to happen. The president is about to put us on a collision course with iran and our allies. He is going to give the hardliners in iran an excuse to speed towards a Nuclear Weapon and without inspectors to expose them. Or he is going to force us to sanction our own allies to stop them from doing business with iran. Either way, we lose. I agree with dans earlier point. This isnt about the technical terms of the agreement. This is about this was a bad agreement from the getgo. The irgc is not being dealt with. Hezbollah and hamas all over the world, killing 241 marines in lebanon in 1983. They are bad actors. The Missile Program been dealt with. Thank thats whats on the table here. You have unique perspective on all of this. You are our newest cnn global analyst. You are right from the washington post. You spent 18 months in an iranian prison. How do you see this . Thanks for having me on, im happy to be here to discuss this issue. I think that hold on. Jas jason, well get your thoughts right after the president of the United States. My fellow americans, today i want to update the world on our efforts to prevent iran from acquiring a Nuclear Weapon. The Iranian Regime is the leading state sponsor of terror. It exports dangerous rouse missiles, fuels conflicts across the middle east and supports terrorist proxies and militias such as hezbollah, hamas, the taliban, and al qaeda. Over the years, iran and its proxies have bombed american embassies and military installations, murdered hundreds of American Service members, and kidnapped, imprisoned and tortured american citizens. The Iranian Regime has funded its long reign of chaos and terror by plundering the wealth of its own people. No action taken by the regime has been more dangerous that its pursuit of Nuclear Weapons and the means of delivering them. In 2015, the Previous Administration joined with other nations in a deal regarding Irans Nuclear program. This agreement was known as the join comprehensive plan of action, or jcpoa. In theory, the socalled iran deal was supposed to protect the United States and our allies from the lunacy of an Iranian Nuclear bomb, a weapon that will only endanger the survival of the Iranian Regime. In fact, the deal allowed iraq to continue enriching uranium, and over time, reach the brink of a Nuclear Breakout. The deal lifted crippling economic sanctions on iran in exchange for very weak limits on the regimes nuclear activity, and no limits at all on its other maligned behavior, including its sinister activities in syria, yemen, and other places all around the world. In other words, at the point when the United States had maximum leverage, this disastrous deal gave this regime and its a regime of great terror many billions of dollars, some of it in actual cash. A great embarrassment to me as a citizen and to all citizens of the United States. A constructive deal could easily have been struck at the time. But it wasnt. At the heart of the iran deal was a giant fiction that a murderous regime desired only a Peaceful Nuclear energy program. Today we have definitive proof that this iranian promise was a lie. Last week, israel published intelligence documents long concealed by iran conclusively showing the iranians regime and its history of pursuing Nuclear Weapons. The fact is, this is a horrible, onesided deal that should have never ever been made. It didnt bring calm. It didnt bring peace. And it never will. In the years since the deal was reached, irans military budge has grown by almost 40 and its economy is doing very badly. After the sanctions were lifted the dictatorship used its new fund to build nuclearcapable missiles, support terrorism, and cause havoc throughout the middle east and beyond. The agreement was so poorly negotiated that even if iran fully complies, the regime can still be on the verge of a Nuclear Breakout in just a short period of time. The deals sunset provisions are totally unacceptable. If i loud thallowed this deal t there would soon be a Nuclear Arms Deal in the middle east. Everyone would want their weapons ready by the time iran had theirs. Making matters worse, the deals inspection provisions lack adequate mechanisms to prevent, detect, and punish cheating and dont even have the unqualified right to inspect many important locations, including military facilities. Not only does the deal fail to halt Irans Nuclear ambitions, but it also fails to address the regimes development of Ballistic Missiles that could deliver nuclear war heads. Finally, the deal does nothing to constrain irans destabilizing activities, including its support for terrorism. Since the agreement, irans bloody ambitions have grown only more brazen. In light of these glaring flaws, announced last october that the iran deal must either be renegotiated or terminated. Three months later, on january 12th, i repeated these conditions. I made clear that if the deal could not be fixed, the United States would no longer be a party to the agreement. Over the past few months, we have engaged extensively with our allies and partners around the world, including france, germany, and the united kingdom. We have also consulted with our friends from across the middle east. We are unified in our understanding of the threat and in our conviction that iran must never acquire a Nuclear Weapon. After these consultations, it is clear to me that we cannot prevent an Iranian Nuclear bomb under the decaying and rotten structure of the current agreement. The iran deal is defective at its core. If we do nothing, we know exactly what will happen. In just a short period of time, the worlds leading state sponsor of terror will be on the cusp of acquiring the worlds most dangerous weapons. Therefore, i am announcing today that the United States will withdraw from the Iran Nuclear Deal. In a few moments, i will sign a president ial memorandum to begin reinstating u. S. Nuclear sanctions on the Iranian Regime. We will be instituting the highest level of economic sanction. Any nation that helps iran in its quest for Nuclear Weapons could also be strongly sanctioned by the United States. America will not be held hostage to nuclear blackmail. We will not allow American Cities to be threatened with destruction. And we will not allow a regime that chants death to america to gain access to the most Deadly Weapons on earth. Todays action sends a critical message. The United States no longer makes empty threats. When i make promises, i keep them. In fact, at this very moment, secretary pompeo is on his way to north korea in preparation for my upcoming meeting with kim jongun. Plans are being made, relationships are building. Hopefully, a deal will happen. And with the help of china, south korea, and japan, a future of great prosperity and security can be achieved for everyone. As we exit the iran deal, we will be working with our allies to find a real, comprehensive, and lasting solution to the Iranian Nuclear threat. This will include efforts to eliminate the threat of irans Ballistic Missile program, to stop its terrorist activities worldwide, and to block its menacing activity across the middle east. In the meantime, powerful sanction also go into full effect. If the regime continues its nuclear aspirations, it will have bigger problems than it has ever had before. Finally, i want to deliver a message to the longsuffering people of iran. The people of america stand with you. It has now been almost 40 years since this dictatorship seized power and took a proud nation hostage. Most of irans 80 million citizens have sadly never known an iran that prospered in peace with its neighbors and commanded the admiration of the world. But the future of iran belongs to its people. They are the rightful heirs to a rich culture and an ancient land. And they deserve a nation that does justice to their dreams, honor to their history, and glory to god. Irans leaders will naturally say that they refuse to negotiate a new deal. They refuse. And thats fine. Id probably say the same thing if i was in their position. But the fact is, they are going to want to make a new and lasting deal, one that benefits all of iran and the iranian people. When they do, i am ready, willing, and able. Great things can happen for iran. And great things can happen for the peace and stability that we all want in the middle east. There has been enough suffering, death, and destruction. Let it end now. Thank you. God bless you. Thank you. Mr. President , how does this make america safer . How does this make america safer . Thank you very much. This will make america much safer. Thank you very much. Is secretary pompeo bringing the detainees home . Secretary pompeo is right now going to north korea. He will be there in virtually an hour. He has meetings set up. We have our meeting schedule. We have our meeting set. The location is picked. The time and date. Everything is picked. And we look forward to having a very great success. We think relationships are building with north korea. We will see how it all works out. Maybe it will. Maybe it wont. But it can be a great thing for north korea, south korea, japan, and the entire world. We hope it all works out. Thank you very much. Are the americans being freed . We will all soon be finding out. We will soon be finding out. It would be a great thing if they are. We will soon be finding out. Thank you very much. There you have it. Two fronts, north korea and iran on that last front, north korea, the president making some news that mike pompeo, the secretary of state, is on his way to north korea. The president saying he should be there within an hour or so. That is news. The president also saying, we will find out very soon whether the three american prisoners in north korea will be freed. He says everything is set now for his meeting with kim jongun, the north Korean Leader. The time and the place. He hasnt released those details but he says that is that is going forward. On the Iran Nuclear Deal, with that signature that you just saw from the president , the United States is now withdrawing from the 2015 Iran Nuclear Deal, reimposing the toughest sanctions possible, the president says, and if any nation helps iran in its Nuclear Program, sanctions will be imposed by the United States against those nations as well. Jim sciutto, Christian Amanpour, all of our team is here right now. Lets go to christiane first. Your thoughts . I was struck by john bolton standing at the door as you saw President Trump exit. Look, this is the regime change crew. They are back in town. They are ascended. It sounds very much like that is what President Trump is hoping for, they can squeeze and squeeze and squeeze until the regime he described collapsed. They trade it many decades and it hasnt actually worked. I think also he said things like, you know, we will not allow American Cities to be threatened. Thats not irans Missile Program. Thats actually north koreas Missile Program that can reach the United States. And he said things like we are united with our allies. Well, that is clearly not the case around this deal. Of course everybody would rather see a better, bigger, and more comprehensive deal. But the allies had ideas of trying to do add ons or the like. It was never going to be possible at the time that they negotiated that deal. Finally, i think to the questions by the reporters that were hurled at the president as he went out, how does this make america safer, it is incredibly difficult to try to fathom that sitting from here. All those things that he laid out about the danger of iran, about his regional ambitions about supporting terrorism and the like, how does pulling out of one deal that constrains and it does, no matter what the president says the deal constrains Irans Nuclear program. So how does pulling out of it make you safe while you are trying to deal with all the other thing when you have no plan b . Its very important also to remember that it was george w. Bush along with his regime change crew that decided to ditch the clinton administrations deal with north korea in the early 2000s. What did that do . They pulled out of the mpt. They kicked out the iaea inspectors. And now they are conducting nuclear blackmail because they actually do have Nuclear Weapons and intercontinental Ballistic Missiles. That is what the president has opened the door to now. Whether iran decides to stay in the deal, whether europeans can make it work but that is the worst Case Scenario that its back to military confrontation. How else do you work this out. The president warning the iranians if they were to take those steps and begin that Nuclear Program, engage in Ballistic Missiles, they will sufficient like few nations have suffered in the past. He made that direct threat to the iranians. Jim sciutto, you have been covering this for a long time as well. Your thoughts . The president of the remarkable things he said during that tenminute speech he said something about what iran is up to regarding its Nuclear Program right now. He used the present tense to say that iran is pursuing Nuclear Weapons today. To be clear that was not included in the Global Threats assessment as delivered to congress by the director of National Intelligence as per my own reporting speaking with intelligence officials in the last couple of days the Israeli Intelligence he reference there had did not change the u. S. Assessment and in fact existed a number of weeks ago. If the president is privy to new intelligence that contradicts the already public u. S. Threat assessment about Irans Nuclear program then he owes the American People an explanation as to what that information is. And the Senate Armed Services committee need to call back the director of National Intelligence dan coats and say do you stand by what you said in march, or secretary of state pompeo now on his way to north korea does he stand by what he said in april . Because if that is true there is something new that the president knows that the people and the Congress Need to know. The other point i would make is this, the president said that iran will now want to sit down at the table and negotiate a new deal. Makes the case for that. Americas European Partners who are party to this deal, they dont believe thats the case. I met with a senior european diplomat yesterday who said they delivered that same message to the president , that the pressures inside and outside iran are such that its extremely unlikely that they would. They have got domestic political pressures. The idea of going back to the table, our european allies dont see that as a realistic i was texting with a european diplomat watching the president s speech. He called it a disaster. I said what about this notion, could he from your perspective crazy idea that ripping it up and starting over may actually work . The response was, how could it . We have no leverage anymore . This this was the leverage to get to this point. We have seen the socalled madmen theory start to make inroads in a place like north korea. And i thought it was very interesting and noteworthy, and obviously not an accident that he connected iran to north korea. Because a lot of the questioning of the president pulling out of iran was, what is the signal that north korea is going to take from this, that the u. S. Doesnt stand by its deals, why would north korea make a deal with you . And he tried to turn that on its head. I also want to say one more thing. I interviewed then candidate trump the day that this deal was signed in july of 2015. About a month after he announced. From that minute, without even knowing the details, he said bad idea. I should be president. And i should rip it up and do it differently. He also said that the persians are great negotiators at the time. And he stands by that. Jason, can i ask you this question. Sure. Doesnt this give iran a propaganda win . Of course. Two points that i want to make quickly. One, the president mentioned americans, hostages held in iran over the years and also the hostages currently being held in north korea. I dont see a way out for these people now. There is no more no more mechanism to negotiate with the iranians. You are talking about the hostages in iran in iran right now. Not north korea. Not north korea. The five americans currently being held in iran. Bob levenson, who we havent heard about in 11 years, they are going to get lost in the shuffle unfortunately. Secondly, the people of iran were supportive of this nuclear deal when it started in 2015 because of the promise of a better economy, better Economic Situation coming out from under the weight of sanctions. If we reimpose those sanctions right now their situation is going to get much worse. Yesterday the iranian currency hit its lowest rate against the dollar in history. Thats going to get wos. I think the rhetoric coming out of tehran will be very strong and will will be a lot of disappointment from the people. This is a gift to the hard liners. Whatever leverage we had the president destroyed it by blowing up international unity. It took years to put together an International Coalition to exert the kind of pressure to get iran to the table. That is gone. There is going to be profound disunit not just with the europeans, but with the russians, the countries that buy oil from iran. That means our only solution is to go after your allies to sanction them for doing business with them. We are turning on the good guys. To the extent there is a need to put pressure on iran for all the bad things its doing thats goon, too. Tony was involved in the Obama Administration helping put this deal together. I have been friends with tony for a long time, since the senate days. Since this deal was inked not one thing has been done to roll back the irgc and their efforts around the world; is that correct . I mean what are the european allies what has anybody done to halt the proliferation of hezbollah, hamas, sponsoring terrorism, acting as a proxy for iran. Thats where the bigger deal comes in. The president had an opportunity to bring europeans nothing has been done since then. We waited and waited hoping and wishing something ws was going to happen. It didnt. I think now something will happen. Can i make a point about that . I think one of the challenges for the president is exactly on this point, which is why not use what coalition you have to target the bad actions the support for terrorism, the destabilizing of the area . Maybe he loses an opportunity to do that now. And that is a significant challenge. On the other side of this, if the president and his team believe there was an original sin here and that was the deal that you were involved with negotiating, then why not try a different course . I dont think we should accept as fact because there has been a big disruption here that everybody walks away and goes home that the europeans wont do business with us. Come on. The europeans do lots of things that are not on the side of the United States. They did it before the iraq war where they want to do business with these countries. And maybe a tougher line needs to be taken with them and maybe Something Else could be constructed. Or maybe not. Im saying this is hard, and i think inside an establishment reaction to this saying wait a minute, he has broken some china here. And only a disaster follows. I dont know that thats the case or not the case. But i think his supporters, and opponents of this deal who are not all supporters of donald trump, may say maybe we can take a new look at this and do something different. David thats exactly what happens happening. And president macron of france came and said we can do a bigger deal. And we can put more pressure on hezbollah. We can put more pressure on the irgc defense force. We can put more pressure on their missile tests. We will keep the nuclear deal in place and then we will build on it. That was the bigger deal that President Trump actually had a chance to leverage. Thats now gone. My simple point is why hadnt that been happening since the deal started . Why did they come to that conclusion last week. A lot of things were happening including from us, imposing sanctions as we said from the beginning this deal. Sanctions on irans other nefarious activities could and would continue. The Obama Administration imposed them. Strangely, this administration held back on imposing them. Hard to figure out. That opportunity, you are right, david, there was an opportunity. And it was moving in that direct. Now it would seem to be gone. Whats wrong your reporting bears this out that they have not violated the deal. You could believe they are amibling toward a Nuclear Program but they have not made progress under the grip this deal. What is the basis, aside from just being opposed to it in principle to stopping it in its tracks. I think it is original sin, there is never mind meld this was a good deal when it was inked. Jcpoa was super controversial from the getgo. Pull the statements from schumer, so many other democrats, this was not widely accepted as the best solution. Why not fix night i understand the fix it not nix it deal but this perhaps couldnt get there, apparently. He wants a lead. Didnt hop to drop in there that mike pompeo will be and landing in north korea out of happen stance. He said we will do it my way and we are going to get a better deal. On that point. Yeah. This idea that its for the security i asked a european diplomat yesterday the question, as you have these conversations with Trump Administration officials are they making the case to you that its a risk to stay in this deal . Right . That National Security is threatened, et cetera. And the assessment from this european diplomat was its more about politics, radio it. Right. There was a Campaign Promise made. Fair enough. As you said a commitment made. To be clear, give him credit for sticking to that commitment. But from their perspective, again, these are close u. S. Allies. Not folks out in orbit. From their perspective it is a domestic political drive pushing this decision. I would push back on that that our friend in the middle east, whether the israelis or the saudis who are having missiles lobbed at them from yemen think otherwise. This is a question i have. I dont know the answer. What are the hardliners going to do in iran now . Are they going to say okay lets get back to uranium enrichment are there are others in iran who are going to say abide by the deal. Let me ask Christian Amanpour who has been there many times. What do you think the hard liners in the revolutionary guard among others are going to do now that the president has said that the United States is withdrawing from this agreement. I did interview irans ambassador to britain. He laid out a scenario that this would empower the hardliners. There are different political sfreems in iran and it was the moderates who managed to overcome great skepticism and challenge from the hardliners to actually engage with the United States in the first place. They are going to be undermined and diminished. Its possible because the hardliners are getting stronger and the revolutionary guard are getting stronger outside and inside iran that they will want to withdraw from the whole npt. Forget the deal, just get out of the whole npt as well, which would put new a north korea circa 2001, 2002 situation where there was no eyes on, no constraints, no restrictions and as i previously described, north korea is where it is today because of precisely the same kind of hard ball negotiating tactics that a u. S. President thought would be a success. And it wasnt. I would simply also just point out because you know President Trump himself mentioned Prime Minister netanyahu. Lets not forget that it was former Prime Minister netanyahu in 2002 who went to congress and sold them the following, if you sake out saddam, saddams regime i guarantee you it will have an enoormous positive reverberation across the region. I think young people and many others will say the time of such regimes and such despots is gone. How did that work out . Exactly the reverse . So we really do actually have to be careful about what has just happened. Because without a plan b if there was a plan b then all of this would be act democratic and we could think about what was on the menu, on the table going forward. But there isnt a plan b. Thats what i as a journalist are very keen to find out from the United States administration. Hold on. We are getting reaction from the israeli Prime Minister in fact. Prime minister netanyahu says israel fully supports President Trumps announcement to withdraw from the Iran Nuclear Deal. Not a surprise. He was speaking on Live Television in israel immediately following the president s address. We are also getting reaction from the french president , emmanuel macron. He just tweeted that President Trumps decision to leave the iran deal, he says, france, germany, and the uk this corps to macron regret the u. S. Decision to leave the agreement, the Nuclear Nonproliferation regime is at stake. I think its important we can talk about technical aspects of this deal, compliance, sanctions. This is much more simple. When you want to stop a country from doing really bad things, you either fight about it or you negotiate. And we have taken this country has taken a long hard look at fighting iran. So has israel f. Israel thought they could have taken out that Nuclear Program they would have done it years ago. And the United States including some people who now work for President Trump when they worked in the Bush White House they wanted to attack iran as well. In the wake of the iraq war that was not something that the president actually agreed with doing at the time. So i actually think plan b for this administration will ultimately be to deal, if there is ultimately a deal to be had n. North korea, we looked it looked for a long time like this president was so impulsive he was going to fight on the korean peninsula. Maybe he is going to get a deal, maybe he wont. But there is only those two choices. Jason, you spent 18 months in an iranian prison. Let me get your perspective. I think that there is the possibility of a deal down the road. But a lot of bad things can happen in between. I think we have to look to what the rhetoric coming from tehran will be over the next couple of days. I think there will be a lot of bluster and there will be a lot of threats about getting uranium enrich men back on track. But i think we need to take a measured approach to their response and they are going to be wanting to see what the new sanctions look like. When the president says i want to speak directly to the iranian people and he says the United States wants to reach out to you, you have been living under this regime way too long. He says the United States is ready, willing and able to make a new deal with iran if the iranians are willing to negotiate. I think the people cant speak on their behalf, but in their experience they have heard these kinds of messages before from successive president s. And there was a lot of support as i said earlier for president obamas outreach and the engagement that took place. Remember that the sanctions regime during the Obama Administration was very tough. And it succeeded in bringing the iranians to the table. But i dont think that they want to see this movie again. Do they think they benefitted from the deal . Unfortunately not. As they thought they were going to benefit from. Thats because of the internal issues of iran. What jason said is important. The sanctions regime brought the iranians to the table. It was one of the factors that brought them to the table. With an International Coalition. The United States alone cant impose sufficient sanctions to actually bring iran to the table. Getting other countries involved they were involved for one reason they believed at the end of the day the purpose of the sanctions was to get iran to the table to negotiate a deal, in other words diplomacy. Now what they are going to believe is that this administration is out for regime change. One reason iranian people have not felt the benefits they expected from this deal is that many European Companies included have still been reluctant to do business with iran because of concern about what the u. S. Will do, right. Sure. Because, if you are a company, you know it is an enormous investment. If you are worried you are going to Face Department of treasury sanctions as a result of that you are going to pull back even if its not certain. So the idea that niece companies and countries continue to do business with iran after the president makes this announcement unless europe decides to play hard ball. In 1996 we tried to stop the europeans on vesting in irans Energy Sector and imposed sanctions on companies that did that. The european passed legislation preventing companies from complying. We were getting into a fight with our friends instead of focusing on iran. The president has taken the focus off of iran and put this on as a fight with our friend. Everyone here is talking from their own experience and their sources. I want to point out one thing that is tell, the u. S. No longer makes empty threats. I think if you look at this from 10,000 feet, it is the president saying he made this threat. I am going to come out this deal when he was a candidate, and hes doing it. What does it say about north korea then . He has had some empty threats with north korea. I didnt say he was consistent. Oh, okay. Political cycles run on political figures, including president s trying to correct for what they think was missing in their predecessor. So we saw a lot of that covering president bush after the clinton years. And this is about president obama in many ways. It is about the consequences of action see the bush years, and inaction, see the obama years, with regard to syria. And now this is a president who thinks not just his political supporters but other opponents of the iran deal, will see a strong stance like this. No more empty promises as something that could actually force the diplomatic want to point out the president speaking of threats said the United States is now going to reinstate sampgs the most severe sanctions against iran at the highest level. His words. And he also said that any nation that helps iran with its Nuclear Program will be sanctioned by the u. S. , proumbly referring to the closest u. S. Allies in europe as well. Barbara starr is over at the pentagon getting more information. What are you learning, barbara . This situation could be broadening at this hour. I have spoken to several u. S. Military officials who say there is growing concern that iran could be preparing for some sort of attack against israel. This comes amid all of this escalating tension between the u. S. , iran, and israel. They cant say at this point what kind of attack, what the intelligence is particularly showing them. But we already know that israeli authorities, according to news reports, are saying that air raid shelters in the Golan Heights and israel should be made available that they are seeing concerning signs of iranian movements potentially inside syria. What u. S. Military officials are telling me right now, they are looking at intelligence that has tem worried iran could be aiming to take a swing at israel. What they dont know is would it come from Iranian Forces already inside syria . Would it come from iranian Third Party Affiliates if you will, like hezbollah in neb none. Or would it come from inside iran itself, which would of course be a significant military escalation . All of this coming as the president withdraws from the Iranian Nuclear agreement. And of course they have very good intelligence that what iran has been doing is shipping weapons into syria. Israel firing back, bombing some of those weapons sites. And now the escalation amongst all of this may be growing. U. S. Military officials at this hour saying they are worried that iran could be prepared for some sort of strike against israel. Very disturbing developments. Barbara stand by. Orrin liebermann is in jerusalem gettingis rooel rally reaction. New York Times Bureau chief is in tehran for us. Orrin first to you. Whats the laid he is you are hearing there from the israelis . We got a statement from the israeli military. Israel Defense Forces saying bomb shelters have been opened up in the dolan heights. I will read from the statement, they have identification of irregular activity of iranianers r forces in syria. They have opened up bomb shelters and put the military on high alert in the Golan Heights. That exactly echos what we have heard from Barbara Starr about the assess men there may be some sort of a response soon. Its worth pointing out its not just in response to the americans pulling out of the jcpoa the nuclear deal. Its been israels assess men that iran has been planning some sort of a response for some time now because of strikes on Syrian Military bases with Iranian Forces that iran has blamed on israel. Its worth pointing out that israel has not commented in terms of the speech itself. Wolf, you said this, it is exactly what Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu wanted to hear. It almost ounds sounded Like Netanyahu would have written the speech. Right after trump spoke, netanyahu issued this response, essentially a glowing review of what he had heard from trump. Israel fully supports President Trumps Bold Decision today to reject the Disastrous Nuclear Deal with a terrorist regime in tehran. Israel has opposed the nuclear deal from the start because we said that rather than blocking irans path to a bomb, the deal actually paves irans path to an entire arsenal of nuclear bombs, and this within a few years time. President trump did an historic move. And this is why israel thanks President Trump for his courageous leadership, his commitment to confront the terrorist regime in tehran and his commitment to ensure that iran never gets Nuclear Weapons. Not today. Not in a decade. Not ever. Those are responses we heard from israels defense minister as well as israels ambassador to the u. N. From the israeli governments perspective that was exactly what they wanted to hear. Trump hitting all of netanyahus talking points in terms of sunset provisions, warning of a nuclear arms race, warning the deal didnt cover Ballistic Missiles. Those have been all of netanyahus talking points as he has been tried to push the u. S. To nix the iran deal given there was no notion or no real possibility of fixing the deal. I wanted to comment on what jim was talking about a mole ago when he said trump residenced netanyahus a week ago but pointed out there was nothing new there. Netanyahu him had a meeting trying to keep that story out there and keeping it new. We asked whats the most recent document you found . They said most of it is from 2003. Some from 2005. The do you mean in this newu archive are 13 years old and dont speak to what iran is doing. It is a program that others have said was shelved a long time ago. But that doesnt change the perspective. Wolf, i will conclude with this point. Russia is a big player in the region. Netanyahu is on his way to meet the russian president Vladimir Putin tomorrow. It may make a difference how the tensions play out in the next few days. Next monday the u. S. Formally opens up its new embassy in jerusalem, moving from tel aviv to jerusalem. I want to go to thomas. What are you hearing . You can imagine that normal ordinary iranians are devastated by this news. As jason also pointed out, people dont want to see the movie of sanctions played again. People here had been hoping for jobs. They had been hoping to get better education for their kids. They had also been hoping that their own leaders would normalize their policies after the nuclear agreement. And you can debate long and hard about what happened. But for many iranians it is clear that some of the measures irans leaders have taken have not been the right ones. In the economy there is corruption, mismanagement. At the same time from the start the United States has violated in the eyes of the iranians parts of the deal. The fact that from iran you still cannot transfer any money to other countries. The fact that the u. S. Administrations have been discouraging European Companies from doing business in iran, companies that were supposed to bring those jobs here. Sorry. Companies that were supposed to invest here and companies that were supposed to prop up the agreements made in the nuclear deal, they havent come to iran. Those jobs havent materialized. And they have seen the results of this. The Iranian National currency has dropped by 35 compared to a year ago. Many people feel that there is economically no solution. There have been protests here in january and december partly also against the system, about the economy, also about lack of freedoms. Now of course, many iranians find this painful. And they feel as if they are a victim of these powers of the fight between the u. S. And the iranian leadership. Yeah. So it is a serious moment right now in iran. They are going to have to very, very carefully assess what the president of the United States has just announced. Thomas we will get back to you shortly. Jim sciutto, i know you are anxious to weigh in as well. The fear we heard from Barbara Starr from Orrin Liebermann that this could result within days israel is gearing up right now for potentially some sort of Iranian Military action against israel in the Golan Heights. There is a reason that israel is. Wering its people for in a and that officials in the pentagon speaking to barbara are telling that. So they must be seeing some intelligence to that effect. It would be a remarkable outcome to see that in light of the response that iran would certainly spark for an attack on israel under any circumstances, certainly today, and with this administration in israel and this administration in the u. S. If that were to happen you always worry about escalation in these situations. Even if it was a small strike of some sort that would have enormous danger of escalation between israel and iran. You could see the possibility of u. S. Military involvement if that were to take place. Again, it would be an enormous risk for iran to take as well. We have American Forces very close to iranian backed militia in both iraq and syria. One mistake, one miscalculation that could be a problem. Another front here. The president tried to make the turn to north korea. He made his task each more difficult than it is already in north korea. First having thrown out an agreement that the iranians were complying about, why should kim jongun believe a word that he says when they start to negotiate. Second, the president raised the bar on the substance of any agreement with north korea. By decrying the iran deal and saying it is a piece of trash he has to get a better deal with north korea to justify it. Is he going to be able to get the North Koreans up front to virtually dismantle all of their nuclear enterprise. Thats pretty unlikely. Thats the huge thats always been the question. I agree with you. I think now the question gets harder to answer. If he says you couldnt inspect well enough in iran, how are you going to inspect in north korea . I mean, thats you know, and if they say we are denuclearization, how do you prove it. David, go ahead. Again, this is i dont think ripping this up had anything to do with the technical terms this deal. I think it had everything to do with big omissions, things left out, irgc, dealing with the Missile Program. I think those were left out. It was a bad deal. The original sin point that david makes, that was at work here. How much this ripping up this deal was the president made that commitment during the campaign, it was Strong Campaign commitment he made other campaign commitments, move the embassy from tel aviv to jerusalem. He is about to do that. How much of it is he wants to live up to what he promised during the campaign . Its very important. To danas point earlier, he said we are going to keep our word. I think you see this president doing that. The fact that a word of caution. We are getting close to the top of the hour. A lot of talk about regime change and how dangerous that is. Its our job to scrutinize as citizens and journalists what has happened in the past 20 years in the middle east. And there has to be an end game that this administration has to think about. If it is a new better deal with north korea or with iran we will see what happens. But i think the prospect of any kind of military confrontation is one that people should be really wary of. Absolutely. And based on intelligence that at least has raised questions that the American People now deserve what exactly was the intelligence that the president was referring to there. We know that the israeli presentation was based on intelligence from years ago. Does the president have newer information that led him to this action and could also lead to military action. He also has a new secretary of state and a new National Security adviser. His previous ones, tillerson, and mcmaster were against what the president just did today. And they kept delaying it and delaying it and delaying it. As dana and i know we have been reporting this is a very different president from a year ago. He is now saying a i am keeping my promises, b i know how to do this, and c im going to do it. Thats exactly what we saw today. These folks are gone and he has very different people in those jobs right now. What tony was talking about, about north korea, that has been one of the key red flags of course for the president in pulling out. Saying how can you do this on one hand and on the other begging north korea to make a deal. It is strategic in a way that maybe we havent seen from this administration thus far for him to not only mention north korea in the same speech but say that the secretary of state is on his way there because they clearly understand how sensitive it is. I want to go to Michelle Kosinski over at the state department. It was very dramatic the president of the United States announcing in advance, he says that the secretary of state mike pompeo is on his way to pyongyang north korea for another round of tauks talks with the north Korean Leadership. Maybe kim jongun himself. The first one a few weeks ago was all done in secret. Now its out there. The president making the announce men. What are you hearing at the state department . Here at the state department and within the Diplomatic Community this was not the greatest kept secret. We have known about this for days but this is the first we are getting real confirmation of this. We know that pompeo has taken two pool reporters with him on this trip. We are starting to get the first reports of them, of detailed what exactly is going on here. He is now en route to north korea. He doesnt even know at this point according to reports who he will be meeting with there. But we know who the outlines are about, this is about setting up the summit which is supposedly soon to happen between trump and north Korean Leader kim jongun. State Department Officials are saying they are looking for a real change in stance here from north korea. They want to see that they are absolutely ready to sit down and not just talk, but they really are thinking and looking and