U.S., Iran To Meet For First Time in 34 Years
MAX FOSTER, HOST: Tonight, the end of a stalemate as top diplomats for Iran and the U.S. prepare to meet for the first time in 34 years. I speak to Ambassador John Linbert, former deputy assistant secretary of state for Iran and the only high ranking American diplomat to have met Iran's current supreme leader. Also ahead, we report on documents showcasing al Shabaab's al Qaeda associates in Somalia and how they plan to attack targets beyond African shores. And find out about the amazing story of injured British soldiers preparing to compete in one of the world's toughest off-road races.</s>ANNOUNCER: Live from CNN London, this is Connect the World.</s>FOSTER: We begin, though, with the first high level face to face talks between the United States and Iran in more than three decades. Secretary of State John Kerry and Foreign Minister Jarvad Zarif are expected to meet in about an hour from now on the sidelines of the United Nations general assembly. They are trying to work out a deal on Iran's nuclear program along with their counterparts in Britain, France, Russia, China and Germany. Iranian President Hassan Rouhani says he believes a deal can be reached within six months. He spoke to a UN forum today calling for the total elimination of nuclear weapons. He says only one Middle Eastern country has failed to join a non-proliferation pledge.</s>HASSAN ROUHANI, PRESIDENT OF IRAN (through translator): Almost four decades of international effort to establish a nuclear weapon free zone in the Middle East had regrettably failed. Urgent, practical steps towards the establishment of such a zone are necessary. Israel, the only non-party to the non-proliferation treaty in this region, should join there to without any further delay.</s>FOSTER: We have two live reports on this story for you. CNN's Elise Labott is following developments in New York and Reza Sayah is monitoring reaction in Tehran. Elise, let's start with you. What exactly is the proposed deal here?</s>LABOTT: Well, Max, this deal was offered to Iran back in February by the so-called P5+1 bloc of countries basically in exchange for the easing of some sanctions on gold and precious metals and aviation spare parts; also deal for a medical fuel for a nuclear medical reactor. Iran must shut its facility at kohn (ph), which is one of the main concerns about where it's enriching uranium. It must ship out its stockpile of uranium that's already been enriched to 20 percent, which is seen as kind of a gateway to the actual enrichment level where they can move towards a nuclear weapon. And they need to suspend further enrichment of that 20 percent. So Iran has never formally accepted or rejected the deal. It's unclear whether now in this new improved tone between the west and the Iranians, particularly between the U.S. and Iran, whether they be willing to sweeten that deal. But certainly President Rouhani has said he wants to ease sanctions on his country and, you know, it remains to be seen what the west really is willing to give Iran. It's pretty clear what they want Iran to do.</s>FOSTER: The U.S. is confident, is it, it's got the support of China on this one.</s>LABOTT: Well, I think Russia and China are really the main ones. And if there's a deal that Iran would accept, I think at the end of the day, Russia and China have always been more sympathetic to the Iranian interests. So if the Iranians who have a very good relationship with Russia were to say this is a deal we can accept, I think you can count on Russian and Chinese support.</s>FOSTER: OK, Elise, thank you very much. Reza, Mr. Rouhani, is he speaking on behalf -- how empowered is he? Is he speaking on behalf of the supreme leader? Can we completely rely on everything that he can agree in New York?</s>REZA SAYAH, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, certainly the supreme authority, the ultimate power in Iran, Max, remains the supreme leader Ayatollah Khamenei. But over the past couple of months, ever since Hassan Rouhani was elected president, there's all kinds of indications that he has the backing of the supreme leader. And it's the supreme leader who has approved this seemingly new campaign to reach out to the west, to make an offering, to offer the west the (inaudible)...</s>FOSTER: OK, we've lost Reza there. We will try to go back to him later on. But the U.S. and Iran's thorny relationship is decades old. If you look back, it really started in 1953 when U.S. and British intelligence organized a coup which took the prime minister out of power. In its place, they put in Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi. Now the Shah stayed in power until 1979 when mass demonstrations swept the nation -- excuse me -- forcing him to flee to Egypt. Just weeks later, the Islamic leader Ayatollah Khomenei returned from 14 years in exile to Iran. He established himself as the supreme leader and Washington immediately evacuated more than 1,000 Americans from the country. Now later that year, Iranian students stormed the U.S. embassy in Tehran, taking 66 Americans hostage. It would take the U.S. 14 painful months to get them all home. In 1980, Iran's neighbor Iraq invaded them sparking a war that would go on for eight more years. Iraq received support from the west during that period. In the mid-90s, President Clinton imposed tough economic sanctions on Iran. He later tried to improve relations with Iranian President Khatami, but with no success. Now fastforward to 2005 and conservative Mahmoud Ahmadinejad took power as president. His inflammatory remarks about Iran's nuclear program and Israel did little to improve relations. This year, Hassan Rouhani was sworn in as the new Iranian president. And some think his softer stance on hot issues could signal a new era for these two countries. Our guest tonight knows from personal experience just how far the U.S.-Iranian relationship has come. John Limbert was a young diplomat when Iranians took over the U.S. embassy in Tehran. He was held hostage for 442 days. And during that time met with Ayatollah Ali Khamenei who is now Iran's supreme leader. John Limbert later served as U.S. deputy assistant secretary of state for Iran. He's currently a professor of Middle East studies at the U.S. Naval Academy. Now thank you so much for joining us. This is a big moment, isn't it, in international relations, because these are two key powers and they don't talk that often.</s>JOHN LIMBERT, FRM. U.S. DEPUTY ASSISTANT SECRETARY FOR IRAN: Well, it's a huge change. It -- that's almost 34 years ago today that the two foreign ministers -- Ibrahim Yazdi and Cyrus Vance -- met on the sidelines of the general assembly. And the meeting, if you look at the history of the meeting -- that meeting was a disaster. It went very badly. And there has been no meeting at that level since. So today will be a breakthrough. And I'm hopeful, at least, that the meeting today will go better than the one 34 years ago.</s>FOSTER: Will the U.S. be treading carefully to make sure at least this first meeting goes well. Is it so important that things don't blow up? And as you say other meetings have gone so badly.</s>LIMBERT: They should be. I'm confident they do. I mean, the problem is that both sides have these rusty toolboxes stuck way in the back of their shed. And these are the tools of diplomacy. They haven't used them for 34 years. And they have to get -- they have to get them out. And they're not used to doing this. But it isn't really all that complicated. It comes down to basic diplomacy, which is listening to what the other side has to say, listen -- seeking behind their words what they really want, and controlling your own language.</s>FOSTER: The meeting takes place in about an hour. When they emerge from this meeting, how do we judge whether or not it's been successful? What are we looking out for?</s>LIMBERT: That's always -- that's always difficult. Are they going to meet again? What's the followup? What's the body language? What is the tone? They're both very professional. I mean, you'll hear words like full and frank exchange of views. But the question -- ask the question, are there going to be other meetings at their level, meetings of experts. Where will they be? What will they talk about? Tone, language, words, I think will be very important.</s>FOSTER: I'm going to take you back a few years now to a piece of video that you'll recognize. It's when you met the current supreme leader. He was in a different position at the time. But let's just have a quick listen to the video.</s>KHAMENEI (through translator): I mean in terms of food, clothes, health concerns.</s>LIMBERT (through translator): Well it's good, what can we do, must manage.</s>KHAMENEI (through translator): Well, I mean if there's any shortcoming or problem we can solve it.</s>LIMBERT (through translator): No, there is no problem like that. Just one problem.</s>KHAMENEI (through translator): Oh, yes, the fact that you are here.</s>FOSTER: It seems like you actually got on really well. There was a good chemistry between you. I mean, what -- can you give us some sort of sense of what sort of person the west is dealing with right now?</s>LIMBERT: Well, at that time, he was of course -- we were both much younger. He was a Friday prayer leader of Tehran. He went on to become -- he went on to become president. When he was president, the story goes he complained about his lack of power and how he was overshadowed by other officials. I don't know what I can say after a five minute meeting. What I wanted to do was to use his own traditions and language against him and say, sir, what you are doing is absolutely outrageous and holding diplomats, for whose security you are responsible, is shameful and goes against every tradition of your own religion and your own culture.</s>FOSTER: I guess we're really looking for any sort of scraps or indications of what he is thinking, because the reality is whatever happens in New York, the decision will be made by him and, you know, the various people around him in Tehran, right.</s>LIMBERT: Well, to all appearances the supreme leader and the president have a good relationship. They know each other's thinking. I mean, the president is very much part of the elite, that same rather exclusive men's club that's run Iran for 34 years now. And they know each other's way of thinking. They don't have to really spell things out. Basically I think the instructions that he -- the president gets, or the guidance that he gets is, look, you know what to do. You know what the policies are. You know how far you can go. And again, I'm sure the supreme leader doesn't have to spell this out, but the message is if you overstep the line you will find - - you will find out.</s>FOSTER: OK, John Limbert, really appreciate your time, thank you very much indeed. Iranian President Hassan Rouhani has promised a new era of constructive engagement with the world. So what do Iranians think about it? Here's some reaction from the streets of Tehran.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hello, America.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hi, America.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hello.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We love Americans.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: American people are good people. We want the same thing as the American wants.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): America is a great country. And we want to have good relations with America.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We Iranian people don't have any problem with America.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): Our problem is with American politicians, those who are after war and bloodshed.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You are not fair. Be fair to the world.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): Your behavior is not very good. Your politics is about war and it's terrifying.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): America has imperial plans and ideas. It wants to dominate.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): Your not the boss of the world. You shouldn't think that you're in charge of how the world runs. You have to have equal respect for all countries.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): Why should we be controlled? Who is America to control us?</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: With all the sanctions they put on us, it's like putting a gun on someone's head.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): If you think you're powerful, power doesn't mean you dominate people.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): This talk that we're making a bomb is completely false.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: As far as I'm concerned, I don't think they're making bombs.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): Don't you make one yourself? Why did you make a bomb?</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We are dangerous. We are dangerous.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Iranians are most civilized people.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: How many -- how many wars do we have -- did we have? Can you tell me? Can you tell me?</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: People of Iran, they are friendly outside of the perception of the America.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We are very peaceful people. We love each other. And we never ever started a war.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You respect our civil rights and we'll respect yours. It's just humanity.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): Don't mettle in our business. Just let us live in peace.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think the first steps are beginning to have the dialogue.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): I want things to improve for everyone's benefit.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: America live, let live. That's all. Thank you so much.</s>FOSTER: View from Tehran for you. Now still to come tonight, the search for victims of the Kenyan wall attack continues as teams from the U.S. and Israel arrive on the scene. We'll have a live report from Nairobi. Also, battling extreme heat and the lack of water, the conditions facing survivors of Pakistan's earthquake.