>> tense times. democrats clash over health care. wall street, and guns in the last presidential debate before the iowa caucuses. >> i think secretary clinton knows that what she says is very disingenuo disingenuous. >> he has voted with the nra numerous sometimes. >> sticks and carrots, the u.s. slaps new sanctions on tehran, even has president obama praises the results of iran nuclear deal. >> and tennis executives deny they ignored match fixing. >> welcome. no i'm glad ulkd join us.

i'm errol barnett. >> and i'm rosemary church. thanks for being with us. this is "cnn newsroom." i think you could say the gloves came off at the democracy presidential debate on sunday night with bernie sanders surging in the polls and voting two weeks away in iowa, hillary clinton repeatedly tied her positions to the obama administration while targeting sanders on his policy shifts. >> the debate was held a black away from the scene of a racially motivated shooting at a south carolina church last year. and a clash over gun control came up very quickly. >> senator sanders, last week secretary clinton called you, quote, a pretty reliable vote for the gun lobby. right before the debate you changed your position on immunity from lawsuits for gun manufactures. can you tell us why? ? i think secretary clinton knows

what she says is disingenuous. i have a d minus voting record from the nra. >> i have made it clear that based on his own record, he's voted with the gun lobby numerous times. he voted against the brady bill five times. he voted for what we call the charleston loop high school. -- loophole. he voted against the most important piece of legislation in 20 years. >> the two front runners also disagreed on financial reform. sanders questioned clinton's ability to regulate while taking money from banks. >> can you really reform wall street when they are spending millions and millions of dollars on campaign contributions and when they are providing speaker fees to individuals? it's easy to say, i'm going to

do this and that, but i have doubts when people receive huge amounts of money from wall street. >> i go after them and i can tell you that the hedge fund billionaires who are running ads against me and karl rove who started running an ad against me right now, funded by money from the financial services sector, i'm the one they don't want. >> another hot button issue, iran. both bernie sanders and hillary clinton have positive reactions to the nuclear deal with tehran but opposing views on normalizing relations. >> i think what we have to do is move as aggressively as can to normalize relations with iran. understanding that iran's behavior in so many ways is something that we disagree with. >> i was responsible for getting those sanctions imposed, which put the pressure on iran that

brought them to the negotiating table which resulted in this agreement, and so they have been, so far, following their requirements under the agreement. but i think we still have to carefully watch them. we've had one good day over 36 years, and i think we need more good days before we move more rapidly toward any kind of normalization. >> our political director was inside the debate hall. he says the race is in a new phase. >> this debate happened in a new context, a new point in the race. and clearly hillary clinton came in to really try to draw contrast with bernie sanders on guns, on health care, and he came in to do it on wall street and her connection to wealthy contributors, and here's what you have going on. for the first time in this race, i really think that bernie sanders was a little bit more on defense in a way that he hadn't

been. a little more scrutiny because of how well he's doing in the race. hillary clinton's mission was to make sure that the bernie sanders' momentum where he's doing well in the early states, didn't grow. that she still made him the candidate of the far left. >> cnn political reporter, joins me now to talk more about the last democratic debate before the iowa caucuses. thanks so much for talking with us. so the democratic candidates clashed over a number of issues including health care, guns, gor foreign policy and wall street reform. what was your initial reading of how it went and who do you think came out on top? >> this was an interesting debate. it was really bernie sanders who was the target here. that was unusual given that clinton has been the candidate on top for so much of this race. obviously, clinton is seeing her lead shrink in some of these

early primary states and so tonight she went after him really hard on guns. also questioning whether his numbers actually add up on the new health care plan that he's introduced. medicare for all. and i think hillary clinton did win this debate tonight just by going after him again and again and coming after him on foreign policy as well. showing her credentials as secretary of state, and it just is a fascinating debate heading into iowa as people are getting ready to vote in the next couple weeks. >> interesting. so what do you think were the standout moments in the debate? the ones everybody will be talking about in the hours ahead? >> i think that clinton's attacks on sanders on guns were the most firy moments of the debate. he came back strongly saying her attacks were disingenuous and he had a d minus rating from the

national rifle association, but i do think that that will continue to be an issue on the campaign trail that the two of them are going to engage over. there was also another really interesting moment where bernie sanders was asked about his tri teak on bill clinton's past indisdepressions. he sa indisdepressions. >> he said i want to race on the issues. >> the race is close in iowa and new hampshire. clinton claims he's not concerned but as the presumptive nominee, she must be a little worried. what are your sources telling you? >> they definitely are worried, and a lot of democrats polling for clinton are worried. i don't think they expected the race to get this close, and the question always has been whether

bernie sanders' lead in some of these states is real or not, but he's really getting organized in these states and what everyone is so afraid of is that once again she may have underestimated her challenger here. there was a story in the new york times today looking a little bit at bill clinton wondering whether or not they underestimated bernie sanders. so it will be interesting to see how much fire power she trains on him over the next couple weeks. if tonight is any indication, it's going to be a very feisty battle down to the end. >> i think you're right. thank you so much for joining us. appreciate it. >> my pleasure. thank you. and you can find complete coverage of the democratic debate on our welcomes at cnn.com. now we turn to germany where three americans are enjoying freedom after finding months, even years in prison in iran. >> the u.s. secretary of state says washington post reporter,

jason ra sign, amere heck mattie, and saeed abedini will reunite with their families and undergo medical checkups. >> frederick pleitgen is in jeremy where the three men are being evaluated right now. fred, it is the first night outside of iran for these three released prisoners. talk to us about what happens next and what's been the reaction from some of them so far? >> reporter: so far, they are saying they're thrilled about the fact that they're finally out of iran and they made it here to the regional med car center which is one of america's biggest and best trauma centers outside of the united states. it's a military hospital. there was a short phone conversation, apparently, between jason ra cyan. he said he was doing well and he

was in good spirits. he said the toughest thing for him, he was in iranian detention for about one and a half years, was the solitary confinement. his medical condition and you talked about the fact that there are medical evaluations going on today, and certainly the physical health of these three men, one of them heck amir heck mattie, it was of grave concern to their loved ones and to u.s. politicians as well. that's one of the things they'll be looking at. but of course this also takes a psychological toll as well. as we've mentioned, one in solitary confinement for a long time. that's something "the washington post" kept saying again and again. all of these things will be looked at by the physicians here at this medical regional center, and then probably just as important is the fact they're going to be able to see their

loved ones once again. apparently some have already arrived here in germany and already inside the hospital complex. >> an extraordinary day for those three men. so what do we know about the fourth american who was freed and then surprisingly elected to stay in iran? what do we know about him and his case? >> reporter: yeah. it was surprising to see his name on the release for many people in the first place. he is not someone whose case was very well known to the american people. there was virtually nothing known about his case. it was interesting, barack obama, when he came out yesterday and gave a short speech about this prison exchange takes place, he said there's not much 9known about this case, but it was important for us to get as many americans out of iranian custody as

possible. he elected not to go on the flight. it's unclear why he elected to. it's unclear if he's in iran or whether or not he might have taken a commercial flight out. that's something perhaps we'll find out more about in the coming days. american politicians have also said there's not much known about this man. >> all right. our frederick pleitgen bringing us up to date from germany. many thavrnks. a group of gunman grabbed men from an apartment in baghdad on friday. >> a company said three of the staffers went missing. we're told two of the contractors are dual iraqi american citizens. iran is getting back in the oil market after sanctions are lifted. but recent missile tests spike a new round of sanctions by the u.s.

tehran's response, next. plus reports of a major scandal threatens to cast a shadow over the start of the pro tennis season. details on that after this. "ow..."

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>> welcome back. the pro ten nis season is starting under the shadow of possible shadow. they are rejecting explosive new reports of widespread match fixing. they're responding to the bbc and buzz feed news which both say they've acquired secret internal files implicating 16 players ranked in the world top 50 over the last decade, including grand slam winners. >> no individual players were named in all of this. but the atp, wta, grand slam board deny allegations that they suppressed evidence. listen. >> the tennis integrity unit and the tennis authorities absolutely reject any suggestion that evidence of match fixing has been suppressed for any reason, or isn't being thorou thoroughly investigated. and while the bbc and buzz feed

may refer to events about ten years ago, we'll investigate any new information, and we always do. >> now, even matches at the wimbledon tournament may have been involved. we have someone joining us where the australian open got under way today. what a bomb shell this is for the tennis world. the report suggests a real network of gamblers linked to top-ranked players. what evidence is at the center of all of this? >> reporter: well, airline, the evidence really coming from several sources. we're talking about an analysis of 26,000 matches. leaked documents and also people were spoken to, people involved in the game, former players, past players, gambling authorities and the like. a thorough investigation. it was a bomb shell. here we are first day of the

grand slam calendar in australia. serena siwilliams is playing he match, and we're all talking about this match fixing scandal. >> let's discuss that more. i'm wondering about the word on the street. it's the first day of the australian open. you wonder if the timing was linked. no one will be talking about williams or any other star, and even if they will be, this controversy will be hanging over them and the entire sport for some time. do fans feel that way? how are they reacting? >> reporter: it will be interesting to see what fans think about it. we have to make the distinction between the top top players and players in the second or third tier. they don't make a lot of money. they have to do everything themselves. they may be more susceptible. we've just heard from advantadj. he said a couple of things.

he mentioned there is zero tolerance for this in the sport, and he also felt in the last few years tennis has done a better job of trying to tackle this. they made a tennis integrity unit in 2008. williams said from her perspective, she didn't see anything. we heard from djokovic and williams, the best womens and mens players. they felt confident going forward. >> they're pushing back a bit, but the top ranked players aren't necessarily needing to make the kind of, i guess, allegations, bad behavior and match fixing that lower players would need. andy murray ranked number two in the world, he sent out a tweet and, in fact, it's the last tweet on his time line to this buzz feed investigation. he retweets it essentially without comment. what kind of signal is that from a top tennis player, do you think?

>> reporter: well, airlinerrol, think we'll find out. he plays his first round match tomorrow. they all have to do their mandatory press conference. he's been outspoken. he's not shy to let people what he thinks. the one thing about murray, he wants a clean sport. that also per taktains to dopin. he's been outspoken. i don't think he'll hold back tomorrow. >> that's what makes this so damaging for the players following the rules. for those who aren't, it taints it for everybody. i appreciate you joining us from melbourne. thanks very much. iran is denouncing new sanctions imposed by the u.s. on 11 iranian companies and individuals. >> these sanctions come after iran carried out two missile tests last year that violated u.n. resolutions. an iranian ministry spokesperson says it lacks legitimacy.

>> president obama hailed the deal with iran that saw sanctions eased. he says the agreement makes the world safer. >> under the nuclear deal that we, our allies and partners reached with iran last year, iran will not get its hands on a nuclear bomb. the region, the united states, and the world, will be more secure. >> now, these latest sanctions were imposed by the u.s. after that prisoner swap was worked out, and three of the americans who had been imprisoned in iran left the country. cnn international diplomatic editor joins us on the line from vienna, austria. the prisoner swap went off smoothly, but then more sanctions were slapped on their country. what will the likely impact of that be, and why lift some sanctions and then add more in. >> well, the reason to lift some

is that iran met its obligations under the nuclear agreement of last july, and the iaea, verified that iran's compliance and thus beginning a new phase of inspection in iran, and they had the iaea doctor, he has gone to tehran. he went there. he arrived yesterday. he's beginning meetings today with the iranian president with the head of iranian atomic energy agency there, and he will outline what's expected in terms of inspections coming up to continue to monitor and verify what iran has agreed to. so in terms of the sanctions that are being lifted, that's because of iran's actions up until now in line with that nuclear deal. however, there's also ballistic missile issues. as you said, they're testing ballistic missiles a few months

ago was in contradiction to the nuclear deal, and therefore the new sanctions have been applied because of that to 11 companies that have been involved, allegedly, in procurement of parts for those missile systems. 11 companies and individuals. some of those are based in the middle east. some of those have a reach into china. they are a means of a procurement for parts to make a ballistic missiles that go beyond the limits that were stated in the agreement last july. that's why the new sarngss have been imposed. we've heard from all sides from president obama, from the president of iran. what the secretary of state. that diplomacy is the way forward. in light of where things have

stood in the last few days and the talk of the diplomacy that's happened. it seems that's an avenue that both sides are likely to continue to try, obviously, the new sanctions are not what iran wants, but they are what they've signed up and agreed to. >> in m thanks to nick joining us on the line from us a tstree ya. >> the lifting of sanctions may be an economic boom for tehran, but petroleum prices are falling. at one point in monday's trading in asia, brent crude was selling below $28 a barrel. >> that is a 12-year low. it's pushed the major stock indices mostly low. you can see there, hong kong down around 1.5%. nikkei lost 1.12 %. and australia was done .7%.

>> for more on iran, and the effects on the market. let's turn to richard quest. he's standing by in twitterland to talk about this. i wonder what the attendees will make of the deep dive and iran receiving $1 billion in unfrozen funds thanks to a prisoner swap natu . those things prove the world economy is changing. >> reporter: the world economy is changing, and the issue they're going to be talking about here is factoring in them. it's always this strange dichotomy between dealing with the crisis of the day and keeping your eye on big global issues, big, pardon the pun, blue sky thinking. and that's what they're going to do. the blue sky thinking we can put to one side for the moment. on oil prices, it really does come down to who wins and who loses. you have the losers who are the

oil exporting nations. particularly the girls, russia, you have brazil. you have loads of oil -- nigeria. they're on the losing side of the equation. and the gaining side are the oil importing countries. particularly those like japan, net importers, vast importers, and then you have the united states. at $27 a barrel, just about every oil exporter is in deep trouble for one reason or another. and so that's one of the issues they will be talking about as they come to deal with this issue. and also, how you factor in iran increasing its oil production, whether it's half a million barrels a day, a million, up to 5 million in the future. what effect does that have? >> so, richard, that's kind of the geo political angle of this. what types of businesses will

benefit and be looking now to make new deals? who might suffer with what iran can now do? >> reporter: right. now, it's important to understand here that when you say lifting u.s. sanctions, you're talking about lifting u.s. sanctions as they relate to non-u.s. persons. and that's a crucial distinction, errol, for the simple reason that u.s. people, u.s. citizens, u.s. companies, the u.s. banking system in many cases is still shut off to iran and the oil money coming from iran. so it's important that we keep in mind the sanctions that were lifted were those that relate to the united nations, if you like, the 2003 to 2006 sanctions. that is huge, absolutely vast. i'm going to show you two d

distinct examples from the little to the large. on the little side, you have the caspian caviar industry from iran. the iranian caviar because of the water is extremely popular and extremely -- much sought after. that will now be able to be ensured and exported. and on the other side, you have air bus, the big european plane maker. they have just sold more than 100 planes to iran which needs to modify and regenerate the domestic aviation fleet. all aspects little and large, big and small are going to benefit in some measure. >> there you have it, richard quest breaking it down. joining us this morning, just past 9:29 there.

democratic candidates clash as polls show a tightening race. we'll have a recap after this short break. >> plus another u.s. presidential hopeful will be the focus of a british parliament debate later today. why some people want donald trump banned from the uk.

a big welcome back to viewers in the united states, and those of you watching around the world. this is "cnn newsroom," i'm errol barnett. >> democrats held a spirited debate sunday ahead of the iowa caucuses. with bernie sanders surging in the polls, hillary clinton took sharp aim at him on a number of

issues. they clashed on gun control, health care, and wall street reform. >> three americans who have just been freed from prison in iran are now in germany, and are to reunite with their families. a cnn reporter, and a pastor are being evaluated at a military hospital before continuing to the states. >> the u.s. held off on imposing new sanctions on iran so as not to endanger the release of those prisoners. the treasure department has now look listed 11 companies and individuals it says helped supply iran's ballistic program. senior white house officials say iran knew about the sanctions but there was no deal in place. turning back now to the democratic presidential debate. recent polls in iowa and in new hampshire show bernie sanders closing in on hillary clinton's lead. a short time ago i spoke with the director of the center for

politics at the university of virginia. i asked him if he thought clinton had done enough to stop sanders' momentum. >> i doubt it. i think she did a good job stressing her issues and putting sanders on the defensive about guns. she's where the party is on guns, but he has the more emotional issue of wall street. democratic activists feel strongly about income inequality and what happened with the great e session, so i would say she solidified her support. he probably solidified his, and i think it's still a close race in iowa and new hampshire. >> but there's something beyond that. some said sanders with his democratic socialist push, things like a $15 minimum wage, fighting claimaimate change, th prison system, that's pushed hillary left.

that may serve her well early, but might that hurt hillary clinton in a general election when you don't need the far left? >> that's a good point. clinton would have preferred to not be pulled to the left. not having sanders be as strong an opponent as he is. the clintons are good at moving as needed. i think she'll scramble back to the middle for her general election. she can always cite something to support that move. >> have you have it. insight from the director of the center for politics at the university of virginia. the death toll from last week's terror attack has risen to four. at least 25 more people were wounded when suicide bombered and gunmen targeted people. >> 12 suspects have been arrested. authorities say a southeast

asian faction of isis was behind the assault. baa keen in a is obser observing -- >> mingling with guests. >> david mackenzie has the defails. >> firy scenes both shocking and horribly familiar. authorities say at least four heavily armed attackers, two of them women, storming a cafe popular with westerners in burkina's capital friday. >> it's horrible. everyone was panicked and laying down on the floor. there was bld everywhere. they were shooting at people. the sound of the detonation was so loud. we could hear them talking and they were walking around and kept shooting at people that seemed alive. >> officials said it was a complex attack. some terrorists posing as

tourists during the day before striking at night. moving from the cafe to a popular hotel across the street. burkina bay forces joined by french special sources and american intelligence support. hours into the bloody siege, the security operation moved in and the shooting soon stopped but the attack left dozens dead from at least 18 countries, more than 120 hostages were freed and many still injured. >> translator: they came in. we were all lying on the ground. and they shot at everybody. maybe i was lucky it was just my arm. >> the attacks allegedly claimed by al qaeda and executed by another group led by this man. the same group is behind the

deadly radisson attack in miley late last year. >> the lifting of the heaviest economic sanctions is expected to have a major effect on iran's economy. coming up next, we'll see how things might change for the average iranian and the gulf region. >> and the newly elected president is expected to lead the world to more independence with china. that's not sitting weal well.

following the nuclear deal, you, especially young iranians have the opportunity to begin building new ties with the world. we have a rare chance to pursue a new path, a different, better future that delivers prodepress for both our peoples and the wider world. that's the opportunity before the iranian people. we need to take advantage of that. >> barack obama there presenting the lifting of iranian sanctions

as an opportunity, but with that opportunity, of course, comes some uncertainty. and for perspective on that, i'm joined from london by the chair of contemporary middle east studies at the london school of economics and author of the new middle east, protest and revolution in the arab world. thank you so much for talking with us. >> good morning. >> president obama offers a positive spin on where this prisoner swap and lifting of sanctions might take the world. how big an opportunity is this, and what are the likely ramifications of iran being opened up to the world like this. >> let's take a stock of where we are. i think what has happened in the last few months is that the cycle of hostility, more than three decades of hostility has been broken between the united states and the west on the one hand and iran. a new page and chapter has opened, and relations between iran and the world. in fact, if you go back and

listen to what the president told the people during his presidential campaign, he promised the iranian people to improve the quality of life of average iranians and also improve the relations with the world. he basically reiterated these two goals in the last few days. a great deal remains to be done. let's keep in mind that the iran economy has been decimated by almost since 1980. it's been under tremendous, very painful punishing sanctions, and unemployment among the youth is between 20% and 25%. the iranian currency has lost a great deal of its value over the last few years. for iran to really improve its economy structurally, it's not just about the infusion, 50 or $100 billion that will go to the

iranian economy in the next few weeks and months, iran has to restructure its economy. this is a painful process, and the new leadership will most likely face a great deal of resistance from the conservatives and the revolutionary guards who are deeply suspicious about opening up iran, in particular, because they fear that the cultural influence of the united states and the west could easily -- i mean, have terrible impact on state and societ and the iranian islamic republican. >> i wanted to ask you this. a new round of sanctions have come from the u.s. what will the likely impact be of that? iran is not happy, of course, with this -- this was done right after the four americans were released and flown out of the country. >> another point, rosemary, another critical point. what we need to understand, even

though, i mean, there is a new dynamic, a new momentum of relations between iran and the united states, this is not a transformative moment. there are no diplomatic relations between the united states and iran. the new opening of relations is really very not on institutions but on a trusted relationship between john kerry and zarif, the two foreign ministers. the two countries have divergent issues in the middle east. they oppose each other in lebanon, israel, yes, ma'amen. they have divergent interests. the united states has major sanctions still against iran in terms of iran support for ri sis answer the movements like hie i

bylaw. the united states and iran are not on the same page, and iran ploo believes it's a pivotal power, an unrivalled power in the gulf. it's trying to build both the military capacity and spread the influence in the region, and the united states believes that iranian interests, basically, i mari mean, clash with american security issues and its allies. >> thank you for joining us. we appreciate it. chinese state media say taiwan's landmark election will cause challenges. the first female president was elected over the president. she leads the opposition democratic progressive party. >> in another first, the ruling prochina kmt party lost control of the legislature. >> for more on the reaction to

the election, we're joined by christy who joins us hong kong. you were there in taiwan when this was all happening. china has warned of challenges now that taiwan has elected a new leader. why did she win? what do people there want? >> they wanted change. taiwan is facing a number of challenges, including a stagnating economy and a tricky relationship with china. the people of taiwan not satisfied with the ruling party. that's why they voted for the dpp. we have been monitoring and looking at chinese reaction very closely. no official reaction from the min city of foreign affairs, but interesting in the newspaper saying the results of the elections do not necessarily mean a triumph of taiwan independence. it says it wasn't the independent views that waon her

and her party the votes. keep in mind the ruling kmt party not only lost the presidency. they also lost their control, their majority in parliament for the first time in taiwan history. here we're seeing chinese state media blaming the fall of kmf for the rise of the dpp. an additional response saying this is the victory of the leader in today's presidential election, may bring short term uncertainty to relations but it doesn't mean the positive momentum that's built all over the past years will be reversed. relations have improved between the two sides over the last eight years. you remember that historic handshake in november. there are these closer trade and travel links. analysts are saying this and also china watches inside china

that the closer ties not likely to be scrapped any time soon under the new president. >> all right. live in hong kong for us. she also wrote about this story. you can find that on cnn.com. you can see what a pop star's apology has to do with all of this as well. great to see you. joining us from hong kong. >> we'll take a quick break. still to come, should donald trump be banned from the uk? we'll tell you how the u.s. presidential candidate has become the subject of a parliamentary debate.

this is interesting. in the coming hours, the british parliament will discuss whether donald trump should be banned from the uk. >> yeah. it comes after more than half a million people signed a petition calling for the ban. the government responded to the petition saying exclusion powers are very serious and are not used lightly. >> max foster joins us from london with details on this. it's very strange, max, but is this really expected to go anywhere? >> reporter: well, it depend how you look at it. the idea of a ban, there's no vote at the end of it. there won't be a ban as a result

of this debate. but there's a huge sense of feeling about donald trump, particularly those comments about muslims in the uk parliament right now. and as they debate those, they can't be put in for slander or defamation. they're going to use it as an opportunity to lay into donald trump and what he stands for, and obviously uk is a key ally of the u.s. so it'll be an interesting test of how politicians in an allied country view the prospect of a president donald trump, i think. >> and with this, max, they probably already made their point, haven't they? >> reporter: um, yes. i think the public certainly made their point. this petition that was started by someone in scotland in aberdeen where trump has a controversial golf course.

it snowballed. parliament and a committee didn't have much choice but to make this part of a debate. but all the political leaders are united in saying that they don't think donald trump should be banned. actually, there are those that i it may make him look like a victim and may help him in the u.s. election. they'd rather he did come over so they could counterargue his comments on muslims. >> i heard the person behind the petition was surprised and overwhelms at the response. we'll see where it goes. interesting. max foster live for us in london. >> thanks, max. >> and thank you for watching cnn. i'm rosemary church. >> i'm errol barnett. early start is next for those of you in the states. >> for those of you elsewhere, stay tuned for max foster and "cnn newsroom."

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a high stakes clash with the democratic presidential candidate debate. hillary clinton and bernie sanders sharpening attacks on each other and it got personal. happening now. three americans freed from iran on their way home. this as sanctions are lifted giving iran access to the world marketplace. what a busy day. huge events. we have live team coverage breaking down the developments. good morning. welcome to "early start." i'm john berman. >> i'm christine romans. two weeks until the presidential