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US Sanctions on Iran Lifted; Five American Prisoners in Iran Released; Donald Trump Booed; 6-7p ET

Aired January 16, 2016 - 18:00   ET

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


(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:00:40] POPPY HARLOW, CNN HOST: 6:00 p.m. eastern. You are in the CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Poppy Harlow in New York.

We begin this hour with breaking news on a historic day that is for sure. The United States, U.S. sanctions against Iran, are over, a number of them. That means in the eyes of international nuclear observers, Iran has completed quote "all necessary steps to limit the nuclear program."

President Obama signing an executive order lifting sanctions against Iran. Iran has now joined a special group of quote "peaceful users of nuclear energy" that included the United States, the UK, France, Germany, China, and Russia.

The relationship between the U.S. and Iran is now verging on significant changes. The United States implemented sanctions in Iran back in 1979, in the wake of the Iranian hostage crisis. Those sanctions were toughened in 1995. And now, some of those sanctions are gone. I do want to caution, though, this does not lift all of the sanctions. There's an important differentiation there. We'll talk about all of it in the next hour. We did just hear from U.S. secretary of state John Kerry. He praised Iran's progress.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN KERRY, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: The fact is that today marks the first day of a safer world, one where we believe it is possible to remain safer for years to come, and particularly, with the compliance of this agreement. I think we have also proven, once again, why diplomacy has to always be our first choice and war our last resort. And that is a very important lesson to reinforce. We have approached this challenge that the -- with the firm belief that exhausting diplomacy before choosing war is an imperative and we believe that today marks the benefits of that choice.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: Also today, five American prisoners in Iran set free. They are "the Washington Post" reporter Jason Rezaian, American Christian pastor, Saeed Abedini, marine veteran Amir Hekmati, and Nosratollah Khosravi-Roosari. A fifth American also being released is a student, his name is Matthew Trevithick. U.S. officials do note his release is not part of this negotiated prisoner in swap. He will, though, fly home with those four other Americans.

Fourteen months of secret intense negotiations happened on the sidelines of the nuclear negotiations leading up to these prisoners swap announced and finalized today. The United States agreed to drop sanctions-related charges against seven Iranians. At this point, the names of those seven Iranians are still not released by either government.

I want to bring in my colleague Wolf Blitzer in Washington with more -- Wolf.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST: Thanks very much, Poppy. We have team coverage of the stunning deal that has clearly covers the world.

I want to go to international diplomatic editor, Nic Robertson, first.

Nic, we are just getting word that the director general of the international atomic energy agency, Amano. He is getting ready to travel to Tehran as early as tomorrow to meet with the Iranian president, the Iranian foreign minister, others to make sure compliance continues. What are you hearing?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SENIOR DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Well, he described the compliance that Iran has put into place. This begins the joint comprehensive plan of action. He is now going to Tehran on Sunday. But he said this, Tehran now enters a new phase with the IAEA, the International Atomic Energy Agency. He said that there would be a monitoring system in place, that Iran would now have to sign up the additional protocols which will give inspectors greater powers than they have had in the past, powers to say that they would like to inspect a particular site because they have suspicions about that site, and Iran would then have to comply with that request or give reasons why it wouldn't. And then it would go into a series of sort of cut-outs that would not allow Iran to continue to stall on those inspections. So that's something is clearly key.

Secretary Kerry, we've heard him outline in detail where it clearly how the sort of three pathways to a bomb have now been shut down. The enriched uranium that Iran have, massive stockpile 10,000 kilograms, that now cuts to just two percent of that, 300 kilograms. The rest, he says, shipped out to Russia. He talked about reduction in centrifuges that have used to enrich uranium, two thirds of centrifuges shut down, 6,041 left. The Iraq heavy water production plant that could have been used to make plutonium that also a route to making a weapon, that of the core of that reactor taken out, filled with cement. The four-door research facility all fissile material removed from there. And one of the key, third part as secretary Kerry said then that would now be covered by this new inspection system that the IAEA will put in place will cover the extraction of the uranium from the ground, the mills where it's milled to refine it down, to the enrichment process so there could be no covert way in which Iran could divert or secretly dig up uranium, divert into covert mills, and then secretly enrich.

So Secretary Kerry laying out what they've done and precisely what's going to be overseen in the future. So the director general of the IAEA going to Tehran to kick start the new phase of the rip between his organization and the Iranian nuclear scientists there, Wolf.

[18:00:00] BLITZER: Nic Robertson, stand by.

Our global affairs correspondent Elise Labott is getting more information specifically on the prisoner exchange that accompanied the separate Iran nuclear deal. The implementation of the nuclear deal today.

What are you hearing about that, Elise?

ELISE LABOTT, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: We're still waiting for the majority of those four Americans to be flown out, get out of Iranian airspace, so the U.S. and families know that they are safe. But we have been talking about these four Americans, "the Washington Post" reporter Jason Rezaian, pastor Saeed Abedini, former marine Amir Hekmati, and a fourth we didn't know much, Nosratoliah Khoshawi. This fourth person we didn't know that much about. And then, Wolf, those were the four that were part of this 14 months of intense diplomacy between the U.S. and Iran.

There was a fifth American named Matthew Trevithick, and he was also released, not as part of the larger negotiations but the Iranian released him. He was a student detained in the last 40 days as a goodwill gesture. And the White House just wrapped up a call with reporters. Senior administration officials do say that Matthew Trevithick has left Iran. So now we are waiting for those four Americans to get safely out of U.S. airspace so they can be reunited with their families.

BLITZER: Standby, Elise.

Jim Sciutto, our chief national security correspondent is getting more information. I what would have thought four Americans were already out of there. But apparently something is delaying their departure.

What you hearing, Jim?

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: White House officials say the plane is still on the ground. But they say it's just a logistical issue at this point, and I've been speaking to families as well. They are waiting for confirmation of wheels up from the plane. They don't have it yet. The White House saying it will happen, but they just have to work through what sounds in effect like red tape. I would know it's already Sunday in Tehran, so by Iran time they will not be released until tomorrow in effect, but we may get word before that U.S. time.

The other point I want to make speaking to White House officials they, saying that, you know, why are these two things happening today? You have the prisoners swap today, you have or at least the announcement of this prisoner swap today and you have the implementation of the nuclear deal. They confirmed that there was still two separate negotiating tracks, but in the last two or three weeks it became clear that both of those tracks were coming to fruition and around the same time. And it was only the last two or three days, Wolf, they say that they made a decision that let's make both of these announcements on the same day.

They weren't tied necessarily to separate negotiating tracks, but as they realized that they were coming to a head at the same time, they decided to make the announcement on the same day. So no direct tie. But in the last two, three days they decided that they would announce them on the same day, because they have reached that point where they can make this happen. And that's truly remarkable since they were two very difficult things to come about in terms of these negotiations.

One more note, I would say, just to come off what Nic was saying with IAEA director going there tomorrow. White House officials describing this as unprecedented inspector access to Iran's nuclear facilities. And they make the point that Iran has, with this agreement sign on to what is called the additional protocol under the IAEA which gives the greatest access in the White House officials' words, to Iran nuclear facilities and it a whole host of things. Its things like electronic seals on Iranian nuclear commitment. It is video cameras in particular places, as well as, and this is most important perhaps, regular visits by IAEA inspectors. And, of course, you have the head of IAEA going to Iran tomorrow to begin that process.

[18:10:09] BLITZER: Are they saying anything - one of the critic criticism that have been levelled, as you know, Jim Sciutto, about the IAEA inspectors' ability to go anywhere, anytime, they have to give, what, two or three or four weeks' notice before they go ahead and get access to sensitive sites, is that still on the table?

SCIUTTO: The White House didn't specify any advanced warning. But the fact is, with the IAEA inspection process, the Iranians will know when they are coming. But the White House will say, that under these additional protocols, this is the greatest access possible under IAEA monitoring. And the fact is, it is much more than was the case in the past. But, you know, does that allow for some meddling in the future? What I'm told by the White House. And I'm also told this frankly by intelligence officials, Wolf, that there are a lot of eyes watching Iranian nuclear activity. That includes not only IAEA inspectors, but think about it. U.S. satellites that have capability to detect these sort of things. That's the administration's position, that they have more ways than just those IAEA inspections to monitor Iranian compliance with this deal.

BLITZER: Jim Sciutto, Elise Labott, Nic Robertson, everyone, stand by. We heard the secretary of state, John Kerry, say the president of the United States, President Obama, would be speaking about the prisoner exchange later. We are standing by to hear from the president. We don't know yet when he will make the statement that secretary Kerry spoke about. Of course, CNN will have live coverage of that. Much more on breaking news right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:14:49] HARLOW: Within just the last few hours, a number of international sanctions have been lifted against Iran. This came almost immediately after the U.N. nuclear watchdog, the IAEA, confirmed that Iran was, indeed, dismantling its nuclear program, meeting requirements of the nuclear agreement with the United States. Also, Iran has released four Americans, in a prisoner swap with the United States, and freed a fifth American held there for roughly a month. In return, the U.S. will commute sentences of seven Iranians.

Florida Democratic senator Bill Nelson voted to back the Iran deal. He joins me now from Washington.

Thank you for being with me, sir.

[18:15:27] SEN. BILL NELSON (D), FLORIDA: Thanks, Poppy.

HARLOW: You were a supporter of this. Not all Democrats were. We have one of your fellow Democrats on later this hour to talk about it. How optimistic are you, though, that Iran stays in compliance? We did hear that warning from Secretary Kerry tonight in Vienna.

NELSON: It's clearly in Iran's interests to stay in compliance. And I think they will, just by virtue of what has happened. They have put concrete in the plutonium reactor. They have shipped 24,000 pounds of enriched uranium out of the country. They can't do a bomb in three months like they used to could. Now the minimum time will be 12 months, and we would easily catch that. So it's clearly in Iran's interests to stay in compliance.

HARLOW: What do you say this those who argue, and we are hearing this from a number of Republicans tonight, that you still have two Americans being held over there, Bob Levinson and also U.S. businessman, (INAUDIBLE). You also, they would argue, just made Iran wait eight to ten more months than they would have had for their breakout time to get a nuclear weapon. They argue that is not enough, senator. What do you say?

NELSON: I'm happy for the five that will be released. I am distressed that we did not get any information about Bob Levinson, which I have been involved in from the get-go. I know this is devastating to the Levinson family, a wife and seven children. The last proof of life was a couple of years ago in a photograph. But notice that a government, administration official said today that they -- the Iranians have promised to continue to help and help try to find any evidence of where bob is. They claim they don't know where he is. Well, of course, I have great suspicions about that. But that is on the table. It's been on the table from day one. We'll see what happens.

HARLOW: You agree with making this deal even though the United States does not believe, you do not believe Iran is being honest about Bob Levinson.

NELSON: Well, the nuclear deals a separate thing.

HARLOW: I mean the prisoner swap today.

NELSON: Five for seven? Yes. And if you're part of the families of the five you certainly agree with it. I just want to see us find out what happened to Bob eight years ago on the Iranian island of Kish.

HARLOW: When you talk about lifting the sanctions, what it will mean is that Iran is going to be able to sell its oil on the global market. And that's going to bring in money. Also, billions of dollars in frozen Iranian assets is now being unfrozen, whether that's $150 billion as a lot of Republicans are saying, whether that's closer to $50 billion, it's still billions. Are you concerned about what that's going to do in terms of bolstering Iran's economy, in terms of being a sponsor of terrorism?

NELSON: Of course, I'm concerned. But it is $56 billion. It's Iranians' money that was frozen in foreign banks, not U.S. banks, and they are going to make money on oil, sure. But thank goodness oil is below $30 right now. So you have to look separately as whether or not this was a good deal for the United States and our allies and especially Israel with regard to them not being able to make a nuclear weapon in three months.

HARLOW: I want to get your reaction to something that senator Marco Rubio said today. Let's play that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. MARCO RUBIO (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Shouldn't be involved in swaps. They should never have happened is my point. I'm glad -- if these reports are true, of course, we're happy for them and their families. But they should have never been there. And the fact of the matter is, this tells us all we need to know about the Iranian regime. That they take people hostage in order to gain concessions.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: So the key part of that is when he said, you know, while we celebrate their return, the deal serves as a piece of propaganda. That was Ted Cruz. But Marco Rubio said they, as in Iran, take people hostage in order to take concessions. Do you believe that?

[18:20:01] NELSON: I would have suspicions about the fifth person, which was a student that was scooped up a while ago. But with regard to the others, I don't believe that the case. And if you said that the United States should not be involved in swaps, my goodness, that's been going on since the beginning of humankind.

HARLOW: What do you think this means, north, for diplomatic relations, big picture between Iran and the United States? You've got parliamentary elections coming up next month in Iran. You've got the fact that the president, Rouhani, and also Zarif the foreign ministers quote-unquote "moderates" compared to the hardliners and the ayatollah or the Iranian revolutionary guard. It seems like the moderates won out here. They were able to convince the ayatollah to do this.

NELSON: I believe so. I think is a victory for the moderates in Iran. And I think the fact that now the deal is working, it's being implemented, I think is going to give extra political strength to Rouhani and Zarif. And as a result, I think they are going to have a chance of trying to tamp down the right-wing crazies that all they want is confrontation. A diplomatic peaceful dialogue between the two of us that can start to turn Iran into the family of nations, albeit ever so slowly and so painfully slowly, if we have them to did that turn over the years, that's clearly in our interests' and our allies' interests.

HARLOW: Sen. Bill Nelson, I do appreciate your time this evening. Sir, thank you very much.

NELSON: Thanks, Poppy.

HARLOW: Coming up next, we will bring you reaction from the White House and you will also hear directly from a friend about "the Washington Post" journalist Jason Rezaian who will shortly be a free man.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:25:51] HARLOW: Breaking news, we continue to follow the historic day and agreement between the United States and Iran. A number of U.S. and European economic sanctions against Iran have just been lifted in the past few hours. This is after the international nuclear watchdog, the IAEA, declared that Iran is in full compliance with the nuclear agreement reached last year. Also today, five Americans jailed in Iran for various reasons are free.

Let's get straight to CNN's Chris Frates. Reaction from the White House.

And Chris, we keep waiting to hear from the president. First off, any indication when he may speak?

CHRIS FRATES, CNN INVESTIGATION CORRESPONDENT: You know, we are still waiting to see. A lot of people think he may come out tonight to take a bit of a victory lap. But we haven't heard yet from the White House. What we have heard, Poppy, from senior administration officials is that Matthew Trevithick, the student who was in Iran, has left Iran. But we've learned now that the four other Americans who have been released are still in Iran. And the White House is not talking much about where they are going, when they will be reunited with family members. But we do know that they are going to look after their medical needs, if there are any, and they hope that they'll be leaving Iran soon.

The other question that we asked of senior administration officials is what happens to these seven Iranians who had been pardoned. And that's going to take presidential action. President Obama's going to need to pardon Iranians or he is going to need to commute those sentences. But again, the White House being rather mum on the details about who those Iranians are, and what actions has to be taken. They are waiting for our Americans to leave Iran before they get into that. However, all day long they have told us that these Iranians didn't do anything violent here. They weren't convicted of violent crimes and they weren't part of terrorism in any way. These are folks who broke economic sanctions and the trade embargo.

And the third thing we heard was a bit of a pushback, Poppy, from White House officials who said there's been a lot of criticisms about whether or not the U.S. should deal with Iran. But they are saying that opening up this diplomatic channels with the nuclear agreement allowed them to fast track the discussions. They were parallel and separate discussions from the nuclear deal, but allowed them to really make progress on getting these five Americans out of Iran. And they think they have a victory here, Poppy.

So some news and reaction from the White House tonight as we wait to see whether or not the president himself is going to make a statement or come out and talk on camera.

HARLOW: ne interesting thing, though, about the timing here, correct me if I'm wrong, but you are saying the U.S. likely isn't going to release the names of the Iranian who will be pardoned or sentences commuted until those five Americans are on a plane headed back to the us?

FRATES: That's exactly right. That's what we are hearing. And they want the Americans to clear the Iranian airspace, and then we will maybe get more details about who the Iranians that we are swapping, who they are, and what they did.

HARLOW: Chris Frates, live at the White House this evening, thank you. We'll keep you posted when we might hear from President Obama.

In the meantime, I want to bring in Reza Marashi. He is a research director at national Iranian American council. Thank you for being with me.

REZA MARASHI, RESEARCH DIRECTOR AT NATIONAL IRANIAN AMERICAN COUNCIL: Thanks for having me.

HARLOW: Before we get to your reaction on the broader agreement, the sanctions lifted, you are a friend of "the Washington Post" reporter Jason Rezaian. When I saw this headline cross this afternoon, I was stunned. When he was convicted last year, many peep didn't know what his future would hold. What are your thoughts?

MARASHI: My thoughts are of happiness and my thoughts are with his family because, above all else, this is a day where we should be happy that somebody who was unjustly imprisoned inside Iran finally gets to reunite with his family. And I can't think of a more important and a more poignant thing to think about. And anybody that's questioning this prisoner swap, imagine if you were in Jason's position, imagine in you were in Jason's family's position, what would be the priority? The priority would be bringing our people home, and that's exactly what the Obama administration achieved today.

HARLOW: And his wife, who we are seeing in some of these photos, also a journalist, she was not imprisoned, she was temporarily, but she was not allowed to leave Iran. You see them with our Anthony Bourdain. She was not allowed to leave Iran at all. So we're hearing she will fly back with Jason. Can you tell us a little bit him?

[18:30:12] MARASHI: Jason is one of the nicest guys I ever met, and I'm not just saying that because he just released from prison. I mean, this is one of the reasons why we became friends. But it's also one of the reasons so many people can call Jason a friend. He went back to Iran because he wanted to get in touch with his roots, because he wanted to show the world that while Iran has a side oftentimes reported in the media that is about human rights abuses and doing things that are in conflict with the United States, it also had another side to it, that represented the Iranian people and a great country and a great civilization which makes it all the more tragic that somebody like him would get caught up in political in-fighting amongst Iranian political officials.

HARLOW: We heard Secretary Kerry make brief remarks tonight in Vienna before getting on his plane back. And he said the world is a safer place now. And he talked specifically about the timeline saying that the timeline breakout, if you will, to build a nuclear weapon in Iran has gone from, as he put it two to three months to a year. Talk to me about the bigger picture here, diplomatic relations going forward between the U.S. and Iran. What now?

MARASHI: Poppy, there's two things that stand out above all else. One, this is the most robust and intrusive nonproliferation agreement negotiated in the history of the world. And it will be the model that will be used for all (INAUDIBLE) agreements going forward.

Because we have been able to negotiate it, because we have a direct channel of communication with the Iranian government, that hasn't existed in over three decades, we are able to get ten U.S. sailors released in 16 hours. We are able to bring American citizens home that were rotting in Iranian prison cells.

This is the value of diplomacy. This is great triumph of diplomacy. And there is no guarantee it continues forward in the future, but it provides the greatest hope that we have had in 37 years.

HARLOW: Are you worried at all, though, as you've seen a number of Republicans pointing out in the campaign trail today, that billions of dollars that will flow back into the Iranian economy, the oil from Iran that will hit the market, this will make them a richer, more prosperous country. Any concern?

MARASHI: No. I think the Obama administration was the first to outline these concerns. So the GOP candidates aren't saying anything different than the Obama administration. But they're not giving the full picture, which is that Iran is considered a state sponsor of terrorism. But the amount of money that you can spend on asymmetric warfare, terrorist activities around the world have a point of diminishing returns. When Iran was under the most back breaking sanctions in the history of the world they didn't reduce the amount of money that they were dedicating to these efforts and issues. So to think that the money that they need to rebuild the economy, which is broken and they are going to dedicate it towards other stuff, that they are already doing relatively well in air own eyes, it kind of stretches the limits of believability.

HARLOW: Reza Marashi, thank you very much. And no doubt you're looking forward to seeing your friend Jason.

MARASHI: Thanks very much.

HARLOW: Thank you.

Coming up next, five families desperately waiting for those five men to come home to the United States. We know one of them is on his way.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: My kids, just running around, and asking me every other second when they get to hug daddy.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: Coming up, you will hear from the wife of the Christian pastor who has held in Iran for three years and will now finally come home. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:37:12] BLITZER: Back with breaking news coverage of this historic day.

The relationship between Iran and the United States vastly different right now. The U.S. has lifted many economic sanctions in place against Iran after the country officially completed steps to limit its nuclear program. Those sanctions were put in place back in 1979, some of them at least. And right now a freed American prisoner named Matthew Trevithick has left Iran. His release was negotiated in secret. It is not part of the more complex prisoner swap.

Four other prisoners, American prisoners, including "the Washington Post" reporter Jason Rezaian, they will soon be on a plane. It has not yet departed Iran we are told. They are still in Tehran. This was swap negotiated in secret over the course of more than a year. In exchange, the U.S. will set to commute sentences of seven Iranian prisoners in the United States, Saeed Abedini was captured by Iran back in September of 2012. And now his wife Naghmeh is waiting to see him again. She spoke earlier to me by phone from Boise, Idaho.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NAGHMEH ABADINI, WIFE OF FREED PASTOR SAEED ABADINI (on the phone): It's a great, joyful day. My kids cannot stop just running around and asking me every other second when they get to hug daddy. So it's just three-and-a-half years in waiting. This morning I got messages through my Iranian friends that there was news out in Iranian media that four Americans were released, and soon after that I got a call from the state department probably 6:30, 7:00 in the morning mountain time, and they said it is confirmed that they were at the Swiss embassy at that time in the morning, this morning, and that they were being transferred over for -- to another country for medical evaluation.

And once I got that confirmation, I told my kids, I woke them up and I said, daddy is coming home. And they just been really excited. We are waiting to hear from Saeed any time now. He is supposed to be able to call me anytime.

BLITZER: That will be so exciting. But Naghmeh, as far as you know he's at the Swiss embassy in Tehran?

ABADINI: Actually, I believe they are out.

BLITZER: They're out?

ABADINI: Supposed to land, what I've heard is they're supposed to land to safe country, I believe in Germany, at a U.S. base there for medical attention. And once they go through certain process with our government, then they are allowed to call family members. And that process should have been over by now. So anytime in the next few minutes to few hours there should be a call from Saeed and other American family.

BLITZER: Because we were told they would go through some medical attention at a U.S. military facility in Germany before coming back to the United States. You plan on going over to Germany to be reunited or are going to wait until your husband comes back to the United States?

[18:40:13] ABADINI: You know, I would love to go there. I'm trying to get the green light from state department and from talking to my husband and seeing what is the best, how long it will take, if he's being brought over to the U.S. immediately or what's going on? So I will have more information once I speak with him of where we would meet. But I would fly in an hour, I would fly now to Germany if I had more information and confirmation that I could meet him.

BLITZER: That's what I've heard from family members. Jason Rezaian, Amir Hekmati, your husband, the pastor, Saeed Abedini. Do you know, by the way, this fourth American, Nosratoliah Khoshawi who was freed? We don't know much about him.

ABADINI: There was -- there was not much information in the media about him but there was some coverage a few months ago, he was picked up. He was a businessman in Dubai, dual Iranian-American citizen. But there was not media about his situation. But I was aware of it. And I'm glad he's being freed too. He has only been there a few months. He's only been in their custody a few months.

BLITZER: I assume you and (INAUDIBLE), your attorney who has been really helpful in trying to get your husband Saeed Abadini freed, you have been in close touch with officials at state department. How have they treated you?

ABADINI: Sorry. It's been wonderful. The last especially year, constant communication, constant updates by, of course, last year this time we met with President Obama. He was in Boise, Idaho. We had a private meeting with the kids. Just the last year has been the most, the best support. They were continually updating us on the site, the talks that they were having with Iran and the side negotiations. And I had a feeling in the last few months that it was coming to a close but I wasn't really sure and I wasn't trying to get my hopes up. But they were constantly updating us that they were working on it and the talks that they were having. So our family was constantly updated.

And again, of course, President Obama meeting with my kids and with me. And reassuring me last year at this time that he would get my husband and other Americans out, that I would have to be a little more patient. But that's going to work out, like he did with the Cuban prisoner.

And it was reassuring when the president made that comment last year. And they have done a great job, especially last year, communication has gotten much better, and they have reached out, made sure our family's OK, from his cabinet, from the president's cabinet members, meeting privately, calling up, checking up on our family and reassuring us it's a high priority.

BLITZER: Naghmeh, as you know, for a long time U.S. officials were insisting there was no collection between the negotiations to try to free your husband, the other Americans and the Iran nuclear deal. But the fact that your husband, the others are being freed on the same day as implementation agreement goes into effect, it looks like there was a connection. Are you surprised?

ABADINI: No. We didn't -- we didn't believe there should have been a connection. But we never know what the Iranians are -- what the intentions and all of the behind the scenes. But we knew that during the negotiations Saeed and other Americans were being discussed on the sidelines. And it was parallel with the nuclear talks. And so I'm not surprised that it's happening on a crucial day with the nuclear milestone.

BLITZER: Remind our viewers, Naghmeh, because (INAUDIBLE), your attorney was telling us earlier, Saeed Abedini, the pastor, your husband, he was in Iran, wanted to open up an orphanage, is that right?

ABADINI: Yes. He was in Iran working on an orphanage when he was arrested. And the charges, they gave him eight years in prison. He served three years of that, over three-and-a-half years of that. And the charges they gave him was his Christian faith.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: Naghmeh Abedini, wife of Saeed Abedini, the Christian pastor, who has been freed. Unfortunately the four Americans who have been freed still in Tehran, we're told. They haven't taken off yet. Supposed to take off on a Swiss plane heading to Switzerland first and making their way to Germany, Landstuhl air base, they will get medical attention, maybe reunited with families.

There's some sort of delay there in Tehran. I suspect they were supposed to be in the air by now but something's going on, maybe a technical problem. Hopefully it is. We're staying on top of the story. We hope four Americans are out of there ASAP, as quickly as possible.

Up next, more on breaking news coverage coming out of Iran. How the frosty relationship between Iran and the United States may be changing even as we speak. The two countries were at odds mow for more than 35 years, going back to 1979 when American diplomats were held hostage for 444 days in Tehran. Our experts discuss the pace of change for a relationship filled with darkness for decades.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) [18:49:18] HARLOW: Secret talks over 14 months led to the release of five Americans held prisoner in Ian. These talks started on the sidelines of the nuclear negotiations all culminating today. Five Americans should be on their way home soon.

CNN global affair analyst Kimberly Dozier is live with me this evening.

What a day. Will certainly go down in history. There is no question. There is also no question about the timing here. This was, although Christiane Amapour said, 100 percent connected to implementation day. Your thoughts?

KIMBERLY DOZIER, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: Absolutely. And yet senior administration officials are at pains to say these were two separate tracks. They are being very careful about this trying not to link the two. So they, I suppose, don't get accused of trading nukes for American citizens. But you know how this is going to play on the streets of Iran. As a victory for the moderate president there. And in a sense, it might help the Obama administration.

You have parliamentary elections coming up in February in Iran. This administration is hoping for a moderate victory. So it's as if they don't want to do anything to -- they want to hand this victory to the Iranians.

[18:50:32] HARLOW: right. Because you would agree that this makes the moderates in Iran look stronger. This makes agree (ph) in Rouhani looks stronger, not as a stronger than the ayatollah but they were able to convince the ayatollah, the Iranian revolutionary guard to agree to this.

DOZIER: Yes. They are able to now say look, not only do we have billions of dollars flowing back into the country but we have this international prestige. We have conducted this trade with the Americans. And now in other senses we can take part on the world stage in things like, well, they have been invited to be in the background of the Syrian peace talks. Those are going to kick off brokered by the U.N. at the end of January.

Now, they will only have the Syrians, rebels, and the Assad government at the table. But in the background, you have the Iranians as major backers of the Assad government. And now they are going to have a bigger voice in those talks in the background.

HARLOW: At the same time, you have the incredibly complex geopolitical dynamic at play here in terms of the United States and Iran being on opposite sides of the fight in Syria in terms of Yemen, for example, the houthi rebels. How does this play in the big picture in terms of those fights?

DOZIER: Well, in a positive accepts, what it could do is give the U.S. an ally, at least someone who is not fighting their efforts on the ground against ISIS. The Iranians are, of course, working with the Iraqi government. Iranian troops are fighting alongside Iraqi troops against ISIS inside that country. And neighboring Syria, Iranian troops working with the Assad government. U.S. officials tell me have been the major reason the Assad government has been able to take back territory. So there is someone that you have to have on side to work with the Assad government but also because they are formidable force that could be very useful in defeating ISIS.

HARLOW: All right. A lot more to talk about. Kimberly Dozier including Bob Levinson and the other Americans still held not part of this prisoner swap deal. We will talk about that more in the next hour.

Thank you very much, Kimberly Dozier.

Coming up next, to politics, Donald Trump versus Ted Cruz. New attacks today that had one of them getting boos from the audience.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:56:16] HARLOW: Now to South Carolina where the leading Republican presidential candidates are duking it out in the key early voting state. Donald Trump and Ted Cruz really going after one another today.

Our M.J. Lee joins me now from Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.

You had Trump speaking there. Cruz is speaking at his event for the South Carolina tea party coalition. One of them got booed.

M.J. LEE, CNN POLITICS REPORTER: That's right, Poppy. I think it's fair to say that Donald Trump and Ted Cruz are finally in an open war with one another after months of really having been on pretty friendly terms, Cruz and Trump. Now because they are neck and neck in Iowa and because the Iowa caucuses are now only about two weeks away. It really goes to show why they are fighting, why they are ratcheting things up.

Ted Cruz today kick off his campaign day by going after Trump to a group of reporters. Let's take a listen to what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. TED CRUZ (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Well, you know, it seems Donald has a lot of nervous energy. And for whatever reason, Donald doesn't react well when he is going down in the polls. I imagine he is very dismayed by the latest Wall Street Journal/NBC poll that shows in a head-to-head matchup not only does it lose to me but he loses by eight points, 51-43.

Now listen. Knowing Donald, that has got to drive him nuts. And I imagine it pulled him out of bed this morning and sent him tweeting and tweeting and tweeting. You know, I think in terms of a commander in-chief, we ought to have someone who isn't springing out of bed to tweet in a frantic response to the latest polls. I think the American people are looking for a commander and chief who is stable and steady and a calm hand to keep the country safe.

(END VIDEO CLIP) LEE: So Cruz, as you heard, going after Trump for tweeting and tweeting and tweeting all the time. Well, here's how Trump responded by tweeting and tweeting and tweeting. I actually went back and counted the number of anti-Cruz tweets Trump today. I counted 14. I will read one of them to you.

Quote "Ted Cruz is the ultimate hypocrite. Says one thing for money, does another for votes."

So the two are really going after one another on twitter, to reporters. But it was interesting the two candidates just finished up speaking at the South Carolina tea party convention just behind me. And you wouldn't have necessarily known unless you were really paying attention today that they were really openly feuding. Cruz didn't even mention Trump by name. And Trump, at the end of his speech, when he did go after Cruz. It backfired a little bit. Let's take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I mean, you give a campaign contribution to Ted Cruz, you get whatever the hell you want, OK. Whatever you want. And he's a very nice guy. But you have to get -- right? Excuse me. Bank loans. Excuse me. Didn't report his bank loans. Say whatever you want. He didn't report bank loans. It's OK. He didn't report his bank loans. He has bank loans from Goldman Sachs. He has got bank loans from Citi bank folks. And then, and then he acts like Robin Hood. You can say whatever you want, but it doesn't work that way.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEE: Poppy, be I don't know if you can hear. But there were definitely some people in the crowd who were starting to boo at Trump. They didn't like that he was going after Cruz. And obviously this is a risk you are on when you are talking to a crowd that is just your supporters.

HARLOW: Absolutely. It is getting real as we get two weeks away from Iowa and very close to New Hampshire and South Carolina.

M.J., thank you. Appreciate that.

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

HARLOW: Top of the hour. I'm Poppy Harlow in New York.

We begin with breaking news on what is a historic day that will no doubt be talked about for years and years. A number of --