why president rouhani did not go, we don't know. reports are he didn't go because alcohol was serve. i think he left the u.n. for the afternoon, but will be back to make his speech in an hour or so. >> let me be clear on that point. so there was the report now that there was an offer from the administration to--for the president to meet with mr. rouhani on the sidelines. was this over lunch, before lunch, after lunch? and the iranian leader and delegation said no to this? >> reporter: we always thought that a meeting between president rouhani and president obama was kind of a bit touch and go. it was never going to be a proper meeting in which they were filmed greeting each other and chatting. it was always going to be if it happened at all a chance encounter in the corridors. what happens after the u.s. president has spoken, there is always a lunch given by the secretary general to which all world leaders go. they offered the iranians an encounter on the sidelines of the general assembly. one can only assume that would be in the en

what can rouhani do to prove sincerity? >> well, i think first of all, rouhani has done quite a lot to show and prove that he can deliver. there is a legitimate question mark in the minds of many in washington, can he deliver, because the danger of engagement with the other side is that if the other side cannot deliver, you have wasted diplomatic capitol. he has released political prisoners, done things that shows that he has the ability to maneuver the. thepolitical landscape. president obama has challenges with congress. congress is going to be quite important in order to get a lasting, enduring deal with the iranians. only congress can lift many of the sanctions imposed on iran. >> how much is timing an issue? if this meeting doesn't happen now, is the chance just lost forever. >> i think because of the expectation game, it will be a tremendous amount of disappointment if the handshake does not take place. it may overshadow a very historic meeting taking place thursday when secretary kerry and the iranian foreign ministe

rouhani was elected and they had a new foreign minister. were any conversations with the previous-- >> no. >> rose: none. >> no. therefore, it's a major shift. after the election, i received the ambassador of iran, and the new minister, mr. zarif, called me saying, "well, there has not been a relationship before" and we had an interesting conversation on the phone. it was about syria. i said, "you know we are against chemical weapons because we have suffered with chemical weapons coming from the iraqis, and, therefore, we are against the chemical weapons, and we want to that everybody will abide by the international law." and i said, "mr. minister, i'm very happy to high pressure from you. we want that everyone will abide by international law, and especially in the nuclear field. then there was a silence. and then he said okay. and, you know, this sort of story which enabled us to know who is in front of us. >> rose: where do you stand and has your opinion changedly on the question of iran being a participant in negotiations about syria? >>

general assembly next week rouhani since taking office six weeks ago. he said a lot of positive things a lot of people in washington were saying well that's all well and good but we don't know if he's actually going to be able to deliver prime minister of israel netanyahu said he smiling while he's building a bomb he's a wolf in sheep's clothing and yet what we found is that rouhani over the past six weeks has managed to convert these positive words into positive actions is demonstrating that he can deliver. he has a little bit of space right now he's not going to have an infinite infinite amount of time to do so because there are hard liners in iran who don't want any sort of approach model with the u.s. but there is time right now the question is is obama going to be able to do the same thing and hold off hardliners here in washington from sabotaging potential talks so he gave us examples of some of those physical things that he has actually changed or not the things that he's necessarily just talked about well you know one of the main campaign promis

heels of mr rouhani arrival the u.s. government is preparing to seize a thirty six storey many one skyscraper that prosecutors say is secretly owned and controlled by the iranian government a u.s. judge has ruled that the owners of this fifth avenue building known as the alvey foundation and asset corp transferred rental income and other funds to an iranian state owned bank a violation of u.s. sanctions this seizure could not come at a worse time considering that the leaders of the u.s. and iran could possibly meet face to face next week reporting from new york or in a fortnight r.t. . and that's not the only news coming from iran on the eve of newly elected president hassan rowhani his visit to the united states iranian authorities unexpectedly freed eleven of the country's most prominent political prisoners from jail the list of freed people includes journalist author of activists and attorneys most notably so today a human rights lawyer who represented several activists who protested against the iranian government als

heels of mr rouhani is a rival the u.s. government is preparing to seize a thirty six storey many one skyscraper that prosecutors say is secretly owned and controlled by the iranian government a u.s. judge has ruled that the owners of this fifth avenue building known as the alvey foundation and asset corp transferred rental income and other funds to an iranian state owned bank a violation of u.s. sanctions this seizure could not come at a worse time considering that the leaders of the u.s. and iran could possibly meet face to face next week reporting from new york or in a fortnight r.t. . that's not the only news coming out from iran in an interview with n.b.c. news president rouhani pledged to tear down barriers that prevented iranians from surfing the internet freely he said he believes all people should have the right to access the free flow of information and have a platform for dialogue he also went on to say about his country will not pursue nuclear weapons so a lot of promises are coming out from this new president b

rouhani was elected and they had a new foreign minister. were any conversations with e previous-- >> no. >> rose: none. >> no. therefore, it's a major shift. after the election, i received the ambassador of iran, and the new minister, mr. zarif, called me saying, "well, there has not been a relationship before" and we had an interesting conversation on the phone. it was about syria. i said, "you know we are against chemical weapons because we have suffered with chemical weapons coming from the iraqis, and, therefore, we are against the chemical weapons, and we want to that everybody will abide by the international law." and i said, "mr. minister, i'm very happy to high pressure from you. we want that everyone will abide by international law, and especially in the nuclear field. then there was a silence. and then he said okay. and, you know, this sort of story which enabled us to know who is in front of us. >> rose: where do you stand and has your opinion changedly on the question of iran being a participant in negotiations about syria? >> w

president rouhani was. it was someone from the arab press who used the term resistance but we were talking about terrorism. we were talking about hezbollah. he said something, i can't quote him, but he said something like this is not mutually exclusive with the kind of outreach we're doing. so in effect, he's not backing off the support for hezbollah. >> in other words, we're talking to obama and the president today, you know, to be fair to the president, he said it's got to be meaningful, transparent and verifiable. that's what he says about the united nations' agreement. that's what he says about syria. so the question is how can it be transparent and verifiable, because there's not much in iran or syria that's transparent as far as i can tell. >> let's remember that reza also reported that nothing has changed about their nuclear program. it's exactly the same as when ahmadinejad was in power. so this is a new package and no one knows what's inside it. >> although it is an old position of the iranian gove

no meeting of course as we know between rouhani and obama. the white house telling the press corps this evening that they offered the iranians a chance for an encounter, and the iranians said no. >> okay. john terrett for us, wrapping up an extraordinary day of speeches. john thank you. >>> while world leaders gather, protests are going on outside the united nations. two groups are taking different stances on iran. >> reporter: as the possibility of a [ inaudible ] between the west and iran being seen at the united nation, there is a push back coming from voices in the united states who believe that iran just can't be trusted. we are at a demonstration across the un organized by a group, that have organized demonstrations like this for the past several years calling to an end to iran's religious leadership. but this year they are getting a lot of support from high profile speakers from rudy giuliani and others. they are joining a growing chorus of voices who have expressed concerns about rolling back sanctions, including high-level senator li

rouhani or obama? >> rouhani. he refused to take that meeting as though he was a guy sitting on a rope line, shaking hands with the president of the united states. >> well, there was a lot of behind-the-scenes ground work leg for the meeting that didn't happen. and the iranians in the end decided that it was a bridge too far for their domestic politics. same thing happened in 1995 when clinton was in office and there was a new diplomat and they were trying to do it. to read a lot into that, it is ridiculous. both of these leaders won because they are finally getting together after 35 years of a stalemate. >> i think rouhani comes out ahead because that we need discussion and obama admitted in his own speech that iran can proceed forth with a peaceful nuclear generating facility and israel has been sidelined out of the conversation. >> mark? >> no, i don't think this is the kind of gesture that franklin spires confident that he wouldn't meet with the president. it wasn't the big issue one way or another. but i do t

hassan rouhani's government efforts do not stop there. his foreign ministers met with the european union's envoy on iran's nuclear program. the diplomatic obstacles on iran are substantial. there's syria, a staunch storer of bashar al-assad, iran and the u.s., and its allies are on opposite sides. then there's iran's backing of the military wing of hezbollah, a listed terror group operating in syria and lebanon. iran's nuclear program left the country isolated. a former diplomat in iran's un mission says hassan rouhani can change that, especially now as iran's highest authority sees the need for flexibility. >> mr hassan rouhani has enough authority, free authority to deal with particular problems. >> the mandate means for the first time in more than three decades, instead of pes imism, there's a degree of opt miss m as an iranian leader prepares to speak to the world at the u.n. >> gunfire could be heard this morning in kenya as security forces conduct what they call a final push to remove gunmen from a nairobi shopping mall. as you can

watching were president rouhani's speech earlier together. it started fairly moderate and open to the west but became harder line. >> in many ways, he might have been speaking at the united nations general assembly, but he was also speaking to an audience in tehran. in many ways he has to talk to conservatives and hardliners and bring them through that this was the first definite nuclear process. they were like symphony conductors. they have a complex orchestra they are playing to read some of these musicians don't want to play in that orchestra. he was speaking to those musicians. it actually was the start of nuclear negotiations between iran and the united states. >> president rouhani said he is prepared to engage immediately in what he called time bound talks on iran's nuclear issues. what does he mean, and how significant is it tackle >> pretty significant that iran is actually starting negotiations. giving assurance to the west that we just don't want to talk with no purpose, to buy time to build our nuclear programs. it is going to be a

as hassan rouhani said here. we have a full screen graphic to put up that will help explain what the sanctions are and where they came from. the u.s. impose them because of its suspicions that tehran is secretly trying to make nuclear. it sanctions companies from oil to banking and other things but they've had a devastating affect on ordinary iranens. they have unemployment in iran is widespread. so the lifting of those sanctions could bring jobs and the end of isolation for iran. i can't stress enough how bad the economy is. you can't get anything done in iran. the ports are closed. they don't have stuff coming from around the world. they get some stuff through the very long border in china. no one knows what goes on in that part of the world, but you can't police that, and you have no idea what is coming into the country. but iran has a very old aircraft fleet. they can't get the parts to keep their aircraft going. that's the affect of the sanctions, and that's why hassan rouhani has been reaching out and presi

the appearance of hassan rouhani. take a look at how his name has cropped up in the international media. over the last few days leading up, it has been very positive. this picture of him and barack obama exchanging messages. a translation of an article in the iranian media -- on a reform minded pater -- paper. that the west has never been so enthusiastic about a warming up of relations between the two countries. another editorial saying that they are probably going to make real progress on the nuclear dossier, all thanks to rouhani's direction. >> makes the front page of the newspaper. >> we were covering that he was going to the u.n. and in his delegation he has the only jewish mp in the iranian government, a very clear break with ahmadinejad's position on that kind of thing. making openly anti-semitic comments. had an op-ed each -- piece in the washington post. trying to bury the hatchet, trying to talk about mutual respect, national dialogue, the kind of dialogue that we hear, from lots of heads of state. if we loo

. >> iran's new president hasan rouhani touched down in new york. >> rouhani was elected in june as a moderate candidate who advocated improving relations with the international community. >> jon: rouhani is a moderate as well as an accomplished mannedi patinkin impersonator. down in the days of ahmadinejad and the hunt for stereotype of the crazy america-hating anti-semitic wearing jacket wearing president. but how different can this rouhani guy be. >> though iran usually blocks iranians from twitter, now rouhani is tweeting. >> the surprising and unprecedented outreach that began with another tweet two weeks ago wishing the world's jews a happy rosh hashanah holiday. (laughter) >> jon: did not see that coming. well that is different, finally iran has reached the same level of tolerance as your local ford dealership. not that rouhani's wiped the whole slate clean. >> let me ask you, president ahmadinejad said the holocaust is a myth. do you agree? >> he's a historian, i'm a politician. >> jon: missed it by that much. here's a tip on the playing of the i'm not a historian card. if som

i think that's why rouhani is now, you know, making these offers. i think they realize how much pressure is on their regime and we're basically giving them a chase to capitulate and compromise on their nuclear weapons program or face an implosion of their economy. >> congressman, what do you make of rouhani's public relations offensive? he's certainly trying to sound and seem different from ahmadinejad and his pred s predecessors. >> very clever fellow and certainly took credit during the negotiations with the europeans. his words were during that process, he was able to stretch out the negotiations and get the centrifuges spinning, get them online. so today, you've got four times as many and they're spinning four times as fast because they're much more advanced, and he takes credit for doing that. so i think -- i think that's been his past policy. what we need to do is make it very clear that we're wise to that. we know he's playing the same playbook that north korea used to get nuclear weapons, to get out from under the sanctions. so we just need

i reiterated to president rouhani what i said in new york. while there will surely be important obstacles to moving forward, and success is by no means guaranteed, i believe we can reach a comprehensive solution. i've directed secretary kerry to continue pursuing this diplomatic effort with the iranian government. we had constructive discussions yesterday in new york with our partners, the european union, the united kingdom, france, germany, russia and china, together with the iranian foreign minister. going forward, president rouhani and i have directed our teams to continue working expeditiously in cooperation with the p-5 plus 1 to pursue an agreement. throughout this process we will stay in touch with our friends and allies in the region, including israel. we're mindful of all the challenges ahead. the very fact that this was the first communication between an american and iranian president since 1979 underscores the deep mistrust between our countries, but it also indicates the prospect of moving beyond that difficult history. >> let's g

>> perhaps you can see why in a president rouhani's speech. he still needed to take a hard line against america while holding out an olive branch. the president of iran has said the reason there was no meeting over the chocolate mousse and the tuna tartare that was served is because alcohol was being served at that lunch. the americans are saying the meeting was too complicated for the iranians. it was because of the internal dynamics in iran, clearly referring to iran possibly leader. it really just underscored the trust that there still is between the two sides. on thursday there will be a meeting between the members of the un security council and iran's prime minister. that will be the highest level in counter between an american and an iranian since 1979. so that is significant. should remember that. on balance, this week at the united nations, has it been a disappointment, or given cause for optimism for those who think there is a diplomatic solution? >> i think it is only really just beginning, but there is certainly tremendous excitemen

watching were president rouhani's speech earlier together. it started fairly moderate and open to the west but became harder line. >> in many ways, he might have been speaking at the united nations general assembly, but he was also speaking to an audience in tehran. in many ways he has to talk to conservatives and hardliners and bring them through that this was the first definite nuclear process. they were like symphony conductors. they have a complex orchestra they are playing to read some of these musicians don't want to play in that orchestra. he was speaking to those musicians. it actually was the start of nuclear negotiations between iran and the united states. >> president rouhani said he is prepared to engage immediately in what he called time bound talks on iran's nuclear issues. what does he mean, and how significant is it tackle >> pretty significant that iran is actually starting negotiations. giving assurance to the west that we just don't want to talk with no purpose, to buy time to build our nuclear programs. it is going to be a

hassan rouhani has travelled to europe and negotiated with europeans, did a ph.d. in sclnd. now, the two men are two men and they are not the most powerful two men in iran. the supreme leader supreme leader khamenei has veto power. >> there's plenty of sceptisise m as well. >> so much is happening, the u.n. security council voting on the syria question, and now ensuring that there is going to be inspection, right? how big a development is this? >> it's a remarkable achievement happening more quickly than the progress in the u.s.-iran nuclear talks. praise is due to the russians and secretary kerry and his team for working seriously and getting the syrians to agree to this. some are unhappy because they think removing the chemicals does not end the war or give bashar al-assad a new lease on life. i think that having to acknowledge that giving up one of his strategic assets could, over time, contribute to a weakening of his regime. >> last quick word. >> one thing that will be important to watch out for is while the process goes on, does this mean that washington steps back fr

president rouhani gave us some details of the conversation. margaret brennan is our state department correspondent. margaret, what do you know? >> well, scott, the phone call capped off this week-long public relations offensive during the iranian president's visit here in new york and he tried to show he was accessible, very different from past leaders and used social media to reach out to the public. he tweeted this account of the phone call. according to president rouhani, president obama told him that "if we can make progress on the nuclear file, other issues such as syria will certainly be positively affected." president obama then sent president rouhani good wishes for a safe and pleasant journey and apologized if you're experiencing the horrendous traffic in new york city. president rouhani expressed confidence that progress could be made on the nuclear file. "with political will there a way to rapidly solve the matter." the new talks will begin in two weeks. "i express my gratitude for your hospitality and your phone call." the iranian

president rouhani gave us some details of the conversation. margaret brennan is our state department correspondent. margaret, what do you know? >> reporter: well, scott, the phone call capped off this week- long public relations offensive during the iranian president's visit here in new york and he tried to show he was accessible, very different from past leaders and used social media to reach out to the public. he tweeted this account of the phone call. according to president rouhani, president obama told him that "if we can make progress on the nuclear file, other issues such as syria will certainly be positively affected." president obama then sent president rouhani good wishes for a safe and pleasant journey and apologized if you're experiencing the horrendous traffic in new york city. president rouhani expressed confidence that progress could be made on the nuclear file. "with political will there is a way to rapidly solve the matter." the new talks will begin in two weeks. "i express my gratitude for your hospitality and your phone call.

he has known rouhani for more than ten years. in their meeting, koumura said he delivered a message from the u.s. government on iran's nuclear program. he also said he received a message from the iranians, though he didn't disclose the details. >> translator: it is desirable that iran and america have a dialogue, and i said that japan is ready to help both sides build confidence in the other. >> reporter: on tuesday, rouhani not only made his debut speech but met french president francois hollande for the first time in new york. an iranian expert says this is part of rouhani's efforts to rebuild confidence with western countries. >> we are trying to rebuild our face and figures in international community, and we are trying to rebuild again this balance of power. these are our goals to go in -- to sit in front of united states and start strategizing a negotiation with them. >> reporter: iran's leadership is apparently aiming to open a new page with the world. the international community is watching whether and how the u.s. leaders

rouhani was elected and they had a new foreign minister. were any conversations with the previous-- >> no. >> rose: none. >> no. therefore, it's a major shift. after the election, i received the ambassador of iran, and the new minister, mr. zarif, called me saying, "well, there has not been a relationship before" and we had an intesting conversation on the phone. it was about syria. i said, "you know we are against chemical weapons because we have suffered with chemical weapons coming from the iraqis, and, therefore, we are against the chemical weapons, and we want to that everybody will abide by the international law." and i said, "mr. minister, i'm very happy to high pressure from you. we want that everyone will abide by international law, and especially in the nuclear field. then there was a silence. and then he said okay. and, you know, this sort of story which enabled us to know who is in front of us. >> rose: where do you stand and has your opinion changedly on the question of iran being a participant in negotiations about syria? >> w

the problem is rouhani doesn't run the iranian republic. the supreme leader does, and unless he says something different, we're going to see more of the same, more of the bait and switch, more of the charlie and the football from rouhani. >> frank and michael, thanks to both of you for the back and forth on what could be and what may not be. >>> now let me take you to washington. back to pictures here of senator cruz, republican senator from texas, speaking, continuing to speak. he's been going for about 20 minutes here on the senate floor, giving his opinion on why obama care is bad for the country. he says that he will keep talking until he can't stand there anymore. take a listen. >> i intend to speak in opposition to obama care. i intend to speak in support of defunding obama care until i am no longer able to stand. to do everything that i can to help americans stand together and recognize this grand experiment 3 1/2 years ago is quite simply not working. >> chief congressional correspondent dana bash there watching. what's happening? i

there we see iran's president rouhani about to be introduced. what are you expecting from his remarks? >> remember, this is his inaugural speech to the international body. and he has signaled in every way that he is going to change the tone of the iranian presence in the international community. >> let's listen in. >> translator: in the name of ala, praise be to god, the lord of the world, blessings and peace will upon our profit mohammed and his kin and companions. >> translator: there president, mr. secretary general, excellencies, ladies and gentlemen, at the outset i would like to offer my most sincere [ inaudible ] on your deserved election to the presidency of the general assembly. and seize the moment to express appreciation for the valuable efforts of our distinguished secretary general. mr. chairman, our world today is replete with fear and hope, fear of war and hostile regional and global relations, fear of deadly confrontation of religious, ethnic, and national identities, fear of institutionalization of violence and extremism, fear o

no sign of rouhani. we do not believe he has rsvp'ed or accepted that lunch. >> i'm sure there would be a seat for him if they need one. >> i'm sure they could find him a chair. that does not mean they will not meet at some point in the corridors. that could still happen and we'll be told that it happened outside of our view. you can see them gathering for the lunch. they haven't sat down. and the president doing the schmoozing and the shaking of hands and that would be the extent probably of a conversation with rouhani if it does take place. >> right. >> how important is it that they actually have an encounter? and even if they don't, if the president's speech laid out a path forward, as it did, and if rouhani's speech is equally conciliatory, then it's up to john kerry and zarif to try and make something happen? >> right. well, you know, what's interesting to me is one of the things we're not thinking about from our viewpoint is how dangerous it might be for rouhani to be seen by hard liners in iran to

rouhani. >> he hads a problem. iran's economy is deteariating. they are losing $5 million is a month as a result of sanctions. he was sent to new york with a breach, and that was to find ways to ease sanctions. his brief was not find a solution to the nuclear file, that's barack obama's brief. the two briefs will come together. the devil will be in the details. when you read the iaea international atomic energy agency report on iran, there's 72 items, 50 of which are disputes. the devil will be in the detail. this is an historic day. it has to be tempered by the reality of the long slog. >> >> all the parties are signalling they can move forward. there has been years of negotiation where we've tested the parameters of an arrangement that might be minimally acceptable to both sides. >> what would be a short-term change? would that be 6 months, a year? >> i think it will take 6 month to a year to work out the details. in the first meeting, to plan the october recommencement of negotiations the rainians were more forward leaning, and may have signal

rouhani will attend the u.n. general assembly next week, there are no announced plans for him to meet with president obama. so, what do president rouhani's overtures to the united states mean? and how much change is actually happening inside iran? for those answers, i'm joined by haleh esfandiari, director of the middle east program at the wilson center. and karim sadjadpour, a senior associate at the carnegie endowment's middle east program. what is rouhani up to, karim sadjadpour. >> as you said, queen, this is the most significant event they have launched since 1979 and it has been significant. i think the big question is whether this is merely a tactical compromise in order to stave off economic pressure and reduce sanctions 0 is this a strategic shift by iran to alter its relationship with the outside world, in particular with the united states, and i think only time will tell. we're going to have to test that as president obama said. >> what do you think about that, haleh esfandiari. >> i think it's strateg

then came rouhani's "washington post" op-ped. rouhani declared he is committed to constructive interaction with the world. he appears to be ready to negotiate and urged his counterparts to engage. in the run-up to the general assembly, the iranians seem to be trying to use as many channel

dollar has gone up because of what hassan rouhani said at the general assembly. he said he doesn't have the power to dismantle the program. even the leadership doesn't have that power or authority. any politician who dares to do that, they will be ousted. if you listened to when he was talking, he said he was under immense intense pressure. they don't trust the united states. yes, the united states governments will doesn't trust the u.s. government. i don't want to blame the u.s. government but the wall of mistrust is very high. >> i want to get to president obama's words. what has the reaction been out of tehran? >> well, they always welcome dialogue. they chose to elect a moderate president because they're sick and tied of dispute over iran's nuclear energy program. iran does not have anything to identify here. iran just wants respect and mutual understanding between these two countries. they want trust. iran would be more than willing to open it's nuclear program. iran has nothing to hide. the only thing that iran doesn't like is the so-called all options are