...redefined. introducing the all-new lexus rx and rx hybrid. agile handling. available 12.3-inch navigation screen and panorama glass roof. never has luxury been this expressive. this is the pursuit of perfection. i'm richard lui. here at the msnbc headquarters we are seeing first photo of jason rezaian, one of four americans released yesterday in the prisoner swap with iran. this picture uploaded by special envoy brett mcgurk and this afternoon we learned three of the americans have arrived in germany. just this past hour, their second stop on their way back to the united states. you are looking at video right now of them landing earlier in geneva and today for the first time we heard from president

obama on yesterday's developments that came on the same day of the iran nuclear deal. the world is a safer place and five u.s. citizens are now free as a result of firm leadership. >> these are a reminder of what we can achieve when we lead with strength and with wisdom, with courage and resolve and patience. >> our team today covering this story. thank you so much. keir simmons, ron allen as well as ali arizi and we'll start with keir simmons in landstuhl, germany where the news in the past hour, three of the americans related to the prisoner deal are there in landstuhl. what do we know right now, keir. >> reporter: that's right, richard. they were flown from switzerland to an airstrip about 15 minutes away from here and then drive tone the base behind me here. as you mentioned just in the last minutes the picture of

jason rezaian "the washington post" reporter with the u.s. special envoy. he does look a little tired. it has to be expected given that he's just been freed from iranian custody. now we've spoken to some senior editors from "the washington post" inside the base behind me waiting to greet him and we spoke to him before those three former u.s. prisoners arrived here and they said that they expected them to be taken to a hospital where would undergo a medical evaluation, a psychological evaluation and that they would only be met by friends and family when they were good and ready. again, that is what you would expect. we did see earlier, richard, those extraordinary scenes in switzerland where they touched down and they had their first taste of freedom and meanwhile, we saw some pictures of some of the iranians who have been pardoned by the u.s. being freed in texas. as we mentioned earlier, a cold

war prisoner exchange, a stunning, momentous events on this historic weekend following that nuclear deal. >> i know you and i were discussing last hour, how did they look? i was speaking with sarah shourd who was a former iranian prisoner and she was describing how as before the day that you were to be released, she was given more food so that she would look more healthy and in this case, many people will look at this picture and many individuals wondering what the state of the health of all of these prisoners are at this moment and there's one person that we probably will not see, at least in today's video or on video of the coming 24 hour, perhaps and that's the fourth individual as part of the deal. remind us what the situation is with that fourth prisoner? >> reporter: right. that is something of a mystery and perhaps easily explained

because of the attention that these three are getting already and will get when they head back to the u.s., but one of the five decided that he did not, as we understand it, want to travel from iran. that he wanted to stay in iran. u.s. officials making clear that of course, he's a free man and he has the choice to go about his way and exercise his freedom in any way that he chooses, but still a mystery over why he would choose to do that. perhaps because he doesn't want to be the focus of attention. another one of the five, by the way, isn't here. he appears to have made his own way, too. inside the base here now we have three of the five who have been released. we don't know how long they will be here for, but being here, richard, does provide them with a chance to just take a breath before they head home. some of them already have family members with them, but when they go home they won't just go into the arms of their family, of course, but also into the spotlight of the media and perhaps they just need a little time to prepare for that.

>> top of the hour, the new news we're reporting again from keir simmons. thank you so much in germany. three of the prisoners now in landstuhl, germany. thank you so much. let's head over to the white house. ron allen on the north lawn and we've been looking at the response coming from the president and in addition to that, ron, we have the new developments today and that is the $1.7 billion that that amount of money now going to iran, being released by the united states. we also have new sanctions announced today, as well. >> reporter: indeed, richard. the sanctions are added on to existing sanctions against iran's ballistic missile program. these are missiles that can fly hundreds, if not thousands of miles. the iranians have a significant arsenal and one of the most diverse in that part of the world and many of our allies there, the israelis and the saudis and others see this as a huge threat. the iranians conducted a test back in october and back in november and it's my understanding, as well that

there was a threat by the united states then to impose sanctions, but the iranians warn that if, in fact that happened that that would scuttle perhaps the nuclear deal or more directly scuttle the release of the five americans because negotiations were obviously ongoing at that time. earlier today, here's some of what president obama had to say about the imposition of these new sanctions or additional sanctions on iran's ballistic missile program. >> iran's recent missile test, for example, was a violation of its international obligations and as a result, the united states is imposing sanctions on individuals and companies working to advance iran's ballistic missile program and we are going to remain vigilant about it. we're not going to waiver in the defense of our security or that of our allies and partners. >> there are also sanctions on iran because of their invol involvement in funding terrorism and human rights violations as well in the countries and the nuclear sanctions were

significant. we're talking about $50 billion of assets now frozen and still, they are significant and the administration is emphasizing that, in fact, should there be any violations of the nuclear accord or sanctions that the security council imposed on iran could be, in fact, snapped back to use their words if, in fact, iran violates the agreement. richard? >> ron, also what you've been reporting today is detail on that $1.7 billion and how this goes back many decades. >> indeed, richard. if you think back to the late '70s and early '80s before the diplomatic ties with iran were severed there were funds between private citizens and the government. this pot of money involved $400 million that the iranians paid

for military equipment and hardware from the united states, that essentially were frozen when the embassy was taken back in the late '70s. since then, that money has earned interest and there's been a tribunal set up in the hague to dispute all of this mono pep that dollar 400 million with interest, became 1.7 billion and the iranians got that money back today as well as sanctions relief. that's what we're talking about. >> a lot of moving parts and you're watching them for us. ron allen at the white house with the president and his reaction to the latest developments in the last 24 hours of this deal. thank you, ron. i now want to go to tehran. nbc's ali arouzi up with us and it's past midnight there. we have the day after the iran deal has been ratified and verified by the iaea and the new sanctions announced by the united states. what have been the headlines? how have iranians been reacting to so many different

developments when it comes to iran and the united states? >> reporter: absolutely, richard. we are seeing the culmination of a flurry of diplomatic activity between iran and america, something that would have been unheard of several years ago and people in iran are very happy about the ultimate result of this because they've been waiting for sanctions to be lifted from this country for a very long time now. the sanctions have had a detrimental effect on the iranian economy and the iranian people's psyche. they haven't been able to transfer money from banks to banks and it's been very difficult to get visas to other countries and it's been impossible to make wire transfers and on a business scale from the country, they haven't been able to sell the country's natural resources like oil other and things. the iranians are expecting things to turn around hugely. they're expecting the economy to revive and come in from the cold and people are hoping that this is a new chapter in iranian and

american relation, but we mustn't get ahead of ourselves. iran and america have very, very strategic opinions in this region and they see the region looking very differently and they're not going to see eye to eye very soon, but they have taken a step in the right direction. they are talking instead of fighting and that's given a lot of confidence to iranian people and we were out in the bazaar today and they were looking forward to a new iran, but a lot of people were skill skeptical. they were skeptical of 35 years of animosity between these two countries and not just going away overnight. richard? >> this as the united states is reaching out and addressing and intimating the youth there in iran are so important, and as you've been reporting to us the elections that have been ongoing to pick a new ayatollah. a lot of moving parts in the united states and certainly a lot of moving parts in tehran. thank you so much. i want to turn to my panel for

more on the iran deal and former deputy assistant secretary of state for iran and the state department's bureau of northeastern affairs. here with me in new york is conn ross, from the diplomatic advisory group and president of the plow shares fund. john, let's start with you. and there's a lot to talk about. first of all, if you can, give us a sense of these -- these sanctions, these 11 plus five that have been announced on the day after that the deal went through and that there was a prisoner swap. it just seems to -- to be yet another development that would be a surprise. >> it shouldn't be, richard. really, what this reminds us is there's a long road -- we have a long road to go with iran. 35 years as your correspondent pointed out, 35 years of trading insults, of trading threats of

name calling. that doesn't go away. that doesn't go away overnight and it doesn't go away with one agreement or a week or a month. there is a legacy of hostility, bitterness, grievances and some real and some imagined. and so there are still -- there are still a lot of things that we and the iranians disagree about. what is new is that we now have the ability to talk about them rather than just yelling -- rather than just yelling at each other and this is something i should say that president obama talked about when he was still senator obama, candidate obama in his election campaign. he said, look, we need to talk to our adversaries and than the we are friends. not that we are going to agree on anything, but that we have the ability, at least, to talk to each other, and i think we're seeing the results of that in the events not just of yesterday, but also with the

incidents of the sailors and the whole tone of interaction is changing. but i would re-emphasize we are not friends and we are probably unlikely to become friends any time in the immediate future. >> ambassador, to you now joe sinsirioni. you have had several discussions with president rouhani as he has been reported by ali arouzi coming to the microphone hour after hour really saying what an amazing development iran has had in this deal. what was going through president rouhani's mind, do you think, based on your conversations with him leading up to yesterday? >> i've met president rouhani three times including when he was iran's nuclear negotiator. as you know, he represents the

pragmatic wing of the ruling elite and he's in constant struggle with the hardliners who control the ministry of the interior, for example, and the hardliners who cristed these prisoners that rouhani helped tree and he's constantly calculating every move. >> two years ago in september 2013 when he made his first visit to the united nations after being elected president. we had a small dinner with him, about 20, 25 americans and he was pressed on why we didn't negotiate all of the different issues between the united states and iran. why were we just doing the nuclear issues? why not go for big as they said, and you hear some of the complaints from the far right that we didn't do this, we didn't do that. so rouhani says that the history of u.s.-iran relations is very complicated and the table can't bear the weight of all these issues at once. so we have to take a step and in

so doing build confidence we can take the next two and so on and so on and both sides have agreed to begin with the nuclear. >> joe, as you heard from ali arouzi, a lot of things are happening right now in iran. i was mentioning the ayatollah. i was mentioning the elections and the youth vote. put that all together in terms of what is making rohuhani the right person, perhaps, the right time to get this done in iran? >> you see him open up iran to the west. he believes that iran's real power comes from economic power and that you can only get by engaging with the west and you can only get that by stopping the sanctions and you can only do that by giving up the nuclear weapons capability and he seems to have agreed the supreme leader. give up the nuclear weapons capability in exchange for the opening and that's where you get real security and real power and

not through the illusionary power of nuclear weapons and he appears -- as we've looked at the last 48 hours secretary kerry in kerry fashion coming to the meeker phone and certainly a victory for him in diplomatic circles and coming out saying we looked at uranium, plutonium and covert in their approach here. when we look at secretary kerry versus hillary clinton times, how do their diplomatic styles and how will history look at those two in the way they worked on such issues? how are they different and the same? >> that's a good question. john kerry has invested an awful lot of energy into the iran deal. he's also now investing a lot of energy into restarting the diplomatic process on syria. on the iran deal we have some results with the iran and the

u.s. at least on this narrow issue of the nuclear deal and it doesn't by any means describe the gamut of issues that demand u.s. and iranian attention and the middle east and the biggest is syria which san is an epic disaster. i sometimes feel there's been far too much emphasis on the nuclear issue and i don't deny it at the cost of a broader amount of attention on syria which is an epic disaster in causing all kinds of problems across the region and beyond. john cleary has turn his attention that is and i think heel will be judged by that and how are they doing the clinton versus carey at the department of state. >> i think there's been more progress on john kerry.

whether it was -- i think it's fair to say she didn't really take any risks. inalways got the feeling that she always had in mind a future run for the presidency and she was immensely cautious on things like the arab-israeli dispute and kerry has stuck his head out on iran and perhaps sir why and it was because of any ambitions would not come back to haunt hum in a special deshl run and it's a completely new opportunity to solve a lot of problems that previous administrations have not solved and i don't think hillary was the person seen to execute that in a way that john kerry, to his credit, has done. >> ambassador john lambert, con ross, and thank you all three.

all weekend for being with this development and breaking story. thank you so much again. president obama revealed that in addition ss being lifted iran will get $11 billion and $1.7 billion related to unfrozen assets. we'll look at the iranian trail and will the threat of new sanctions have any impact on their actions? in new york state, we believe tomorrow starts today. all across the state the economy is growing, with creative new business incentives, the lowest taxes in decades, and university partnerships, attracting the talent and companies of tomorrow. like in utica, where a new kind of workforce is being trained. and in albany, the nanotechnology capital of the world. let us help grow your company's tomorrow, today at business.ny.gov try phillips' fiber good gummies plus energy support. it's a new fiber supplement that helps support regularity

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we're still watching what's happening out of germany. coming in to us just this afternoon three of the four americans related to the prisoner swap deal that were released arriving at landstuhl, germany. you're looking at new video that we just got in. this is their second stop en route to the united states and we believe this is the convoy after they had landed, and then moving to the facility and the military facility in landstuhl, germany.

this is all part of the a cl acclimation as they come back to the united states after spending time a year or longer in prisons in iran. we are also getting our first look at "the washington post" jason rezaian this coming after recent hours and this picture taken in geneva which was the stop that these three u.s. citizen his taken before they reached germany and it was uploaded by special envoy brett mcgurk and you can see jason rezaian in the middle. so much will be said and this is the first picture that we have of him as we try to understand the state of their health. how are they doing? and that is what's happening in landstuhl, germany. thanks to the recent nuclear deal with the u.s. iran will be gaining over $1.7 billion from the u.s. in unfrozen funds and interest on top of the sanction relief that the country has

already had. it's purchased 114 airbus plan s s that has resulted from the dropping of the sanctions. eamon javers from washington. eamon, you and i discussed the jets yesterday and we have this new $1.7 billion in released assets which 400 million that goes back almost 30, 40 years, 1981, specifically. now that you've had a day to look at this, the numbers -- this is just the beginning of what we know that is at stake here. >> there's that old saying in washington a billion here and a billion there and pretty soon you're talking about real money. clearly this is real money from the iranian regime and what do they decide to do with it and one of the things that's been

emphasized and the iranians have debt that they need to repay and they have bills coming due and a lot of this money might go inside the turnstyle and go right out to foreign creditors and there might be some paying down of debt by the iranians and the other question is do they invest in their economy? do they buy airplanes? do they buy farm equipment or that stuff and do they use this money to build up their military? and that is a decision that the iranian leadership will have to make for itself. another question is who will profit from all of this around the world as american companies eyeball the new iranian market along with their european and asian competitors. >> one of the things we've been watching here, eamon, is oil, right? because now we'll look at it was $1.1 million barrels a day that they now produce. you add in 500,000 and another 500,000 and 2.1 roughly speaking, barrels per day at $30. that is $60 million a day now

and that's cash. >> right. it's a lot of money, but it's not nearly as much money as the iranians would have made pumping oil a few years ago. you see this huge decline in world oil prices. there is a massive oversupply of oil on the world market right now and part of that is because of the u.s.-shale oil boom and part of that is because of saudi arabian pumping and we've seen prices fall off of a cliff. it's been a major story in economic headlines for the past several months now. that's going to be a problem for the iranians as they sell oil into the world market that is suddenly overwhelmed with oil and how much will they be able to sell it for and how much money will they bring home and it's not clear that they could make as much as a year ago and some don't like the word globalization. the way that the economy works today is that iran cannot function by itself, being self-sufficient and when they're cut off from the digital links that make the economies work in every country around the world, that has been catastrophic for

them. now that they're reintegrating, if you will, into the global economy. what might not mean for iran and they're re-integrating all of the way, right? we should be very clear that this is just a lift of the nuclear sanctions on part of the united states and of course, the european allies have lifted a broad array of sanctions and there is still a eththicket in place for the iranian economy and we saw the treasury department announcing it has designated a number of entities and individuals inside iran for tests. those entities and individuals won't have access to the global economy that you're talking about. so for american companies it will be very difficult to figure this out. they'll have to deal with foreign subsidiaries possibly gain entry into the i raranian market and it will be much easier for the competitors to get into the market. you will see europeans and asian companies much sooner than

american companies as they wait to see what happens and of course, the results of this election that we're having in the country in 2016 to see who wins the white house next time they might have a very different idea of how it should all go down. >> i think we learned in the last two days here, eamon javers, there are many chapters still to be written and that within the last 12 hours as we've been getting these new pieces of information, 16 entities or individuals that have new sanctions announced today. eamon javers, i appreciate it. >> you bet. president obama uses the iran nuclear deal to reach out to the next generation. >> 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 progress for both our peoples and the wider world. >> what's next based on that focus on the new generation in iran next. when you've got a house

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people. yours is a great civilization with a vibrant culture that has so much to contribute to the world in commerce, science and arts. for decades your government's threats and actions have isolated iran for much of the world. now our governments are talking with one another, following the nuclear deal. you, especially young iranian, 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 progress for both our peoples and the wider world. that's the opportunity before the iranian people. we need to take advantage of that. >> president obama in his address earlier today after the iranian deal that had happened yesterday. i want to go now to reza mirashi for the national i rarania iranian-american council. he is reaching out directly,

across the waters to iran, you know, eight and a half hours ahead of the east coast time saying you are the ones that now control the future and our ali arouzi who is based there in tehran is saying as the election comes forward, an election that will determine the leadership of iran for the coming years, it is the youth that at least is being considered significant to the future of iran also in political circles here. >> and i think that's one of the most important and most understated developments, particularly on this side of the pond here in the united states. the iranian people have always been the biggest driver for change inside of the country, particularly changed for good, and i think looking ahead the iranian government has even realized that the schism between state and society was beginning to increase to the point where it became the foremost national security threat, more than any potential conflict with the united states or any other country. so now you have the obama administration and washington d.c. and the iranian government

if ter ran both recognizing that the iranian people, innocent iranians are the future and they're trying to harness that future. there's no guarantee for success, but i think it provides the most optimistic chance and opportunity that we've had before us in quite some time. >> as has been said, the united states and iran are not friends. we are not in the final chapter, certainly, and in many cases there as you just mentioned security threats related to iran and sponsorship of terrorism in certain parts of the world. with all of that said, what is it that the youth is determining in iran right now? what is at stake in the elections there in the leadership that you were just alluding to? >> it's no secret to you, me or anyone else watching this program right now that iranian elections are neither free nor fair, but what we have seen particularly in 2013 with the election of president rouhani is when iranians turn out in high numbers to vote it isolates hard line and extremist candidates

and it allows for the most pragmatic, moderate or palatable candidates that are allowed to run in elections to become elected and that can alter the impact and the trajectory of iran's politics and move things in a direction that can provide for the types of opportunities and foreign policy successes that we've seen since obama and rouhani have spearheaded this process. >> rouhani zarif, they are part of the twitter generation. they are tweeting and using social media more than any recent leadership coming from iran. again, a head nod to the youth in iran. who are the youth in iran the way you would describe it, reza? >> oh, wow. that's a tough question to answer because i don't think you can lump all of iran's youth under one umbrella. i think it's a very diverse, socioeconomic swath of iranian society that just wants to see their country re-engage with the rest of the world and see their country live up to its potential

because everybody inside of iran, i think believes that iran has always had a powerful place in the middle east. iran has always been at the forefront of change in the middle east and in the bigger scheme of things i think they want to see a government that does a better job of fulfilling the political, economic and social aspirations of their people and that's a marathon, not a sprint. i have no illusions about that, but i do think we've seen some positive steps in the recent years. >> reza, iranian-americans, the community strong, deep, long and national. what's been their reaction to these developments as of late? >> overwhelmingly positive. i think in the bigger scheme of things iranian-americans are always hoping for the best and planning for the worst and it's been a rough past 37 years, but once the iranian and american community have something to sink their teeth into. first there was the phone call and then the interim nuclear deal and then the final deal and

ten u.s. sailors being freed in 16 hours and then you have the prisoner swap. one thing after another has led to a more positive trajectory and that shows the iranian-american community and if they are engaged in american civic life they can help produce the kind of changes that they've been wanting to see for quite some time now. >> it's been a busy two days, no doubt for you, reza, as we've been watching this together, both happening in iran, in vienna and here in the united states. thank you so much for taking the time to visit with us. reza mirashi there in washington. coming up, iran expected to be one of the hot topics at tonight's democratic debate, but there is a twist to this debate that could mean some surprises for the candidates. ♪ there it is... this is where i met your grandpa. right under this tree. ♪ (man) some things are worth holding onto. they're hugging the tree. (man) that's why we got a subaru.

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she was critical of him. a question was asked to obama and said would you sit down and talk to the iranians and he said

yeah, i would. point being that you talk to your adversaries. you don't run away from them. secretary clinton called him naive. turns out obama was right. so clearly, we r many, many issues and many concerns with iran, but clearly also we want to improve our relationships with this very powerful country. >> bernie sanders on "meet the press" taking hillary clinton to task for comments she made in the campaign indicating she would not hold talks with iran. you can expect that to come up at tonight's democratic debate giving a hint of his perspective and his strategy in dealing with today's headline, but the candidates will not just be questioned by nbc "nightly news" anchor lester holt and andrea mitchell and by youtube stars selected to participate. jacob soberoff is in charleston with a preview of who you can expect and who are those youtube stars? >> i'll get to that in a minute and on the heels of president obama sitting down with youtube

stars. as you said there will be four youtube stars questioning bernie sanders and martin o'malley and hillary clinton unless you think a youtube debate is wolverine cat and silly videos it's quite a substantive history and you heard of youtube participating in presidential debates. back nine years ago in 2007 at the citadel there was a youtube presidential debate and hillary clinton and barack obama were asked a question that was very important and it resonates to this day to this very weekend. take a look. >> would you be willing to meet separately without precondition during the first year of your administration in washington or anywhere else with the leades of iran, venezuela, cuba and north korea? >> senator obama? >> i would. >> senator clinton? i would not promise to meet with the leaders of these countries during my first year.

richard you hear there something that was a important policy distinction at the time. senator obama said to anderson cooper, he said that he would, in fact, be willing to meet one-on-one with the leaders of iran with syria and venezuela and hillary clinton, then senator clinton, said she would not. this came from a youtube questioner and the nuclear deal that we're all talking about. >> appreciate that. again, that is happening tonight at 9:00 p.m. eastern. the democratic debate, charleston, south carolina on nbc. and we've been discussing the u.s.-iran nuclear deal that has had a significant impact to the debate and jake was alluding to that there and is it affecting iranian politics and what's happening in iran? i want to bring in a foreign correspondent for politico in washington. as you've been watching the reaction out of iran and out of tehran, there are several important parts to look at.

one of which is the impending elections, and i believe there are two that we are looking at right now in irgs ran. >> we're talking mainly about the parliamentary elections coming up in late february and those are the big ones because the moderate president rowhani, he wants to see his group get stronger within the parliament and you can see hard liners in iran trying to see things that strengthen their hand and the idea is part of the nuclear deal that the moderates will have a stronger hand going in. it's going to be a very interesting race to watch. >> some watchers have been alluding to how this may affect the power structure at the very top, the ayatollah. and that those learnings will at the end affect who will be the next ayatollah. >> yes. i mean, that could be a while away in terms of the assembly of experts and deciding who the next supreme leader of iran is going to be, but currently we

have ayatollah khomeini and he has to balance the moderates and the people in the middle and whoever they are. it's not at all monolithic in iran and that's important to remember. >> what is there to watch? what would be the key point to watch coming out of these elections as well as with the leadership? because as it's been said earlier in this hour that the current leadership appears to be the moderate faction, the moderate option that the youth and the electorate including the youth have a choice of? >> that's right. but you have to understand the parliament can only do so much in iran, the intelligence agencies and the security agencies and a number of the agencies are controlled by hard liners. even if the moderates do very well and seize control of parliament, their initiatives and their proposals might get nowhere because the supreme leader and other agencies and other folks might say you're

going too far and we're going to be america's best friend. >> they are not america's best friend. >> no. not even close. as many would remind us, despite the developments within the last two days. >> so in the united states we have a certain understanding of what it means to go to vote. describe to us what it's like to vote in iran. >> well, in a way it's kind of -- it is very, very controlled. it's not like anybody can just run. it's a parliamentary system, first of all, it's a theocratic system, as well. the candidates have to be preapproved and so when people go to vote they know they're having to pick from a group of candidates that they might not necessarily have chosen from in the first case and a lot of it depends on turnout and how many young people show up and ultimately, whoever is counting the ballots and what they decide they want. >> foreign affairs correspondent of politico, thank you. >> thank you. we showed you this video earlier this hour. the convoy carrying three freed

americans who have now arrived in landstuhl, germany, landing and heading over to the military facility there. three of those related to the four-prisoner deal with iran and the united states. we'll have a live report on what's ahead for them. cash backs keep throwing obstacles at you? first - they limit where you earn bonus cash back. then - those places change every few months? i think i'll pass... quicksilver from capital one puts nothing in your way. you simply earn unlimited 1.5% cash back on every purchase, everywhere. you can't dodge the question... what's in your wallet? for your heart health, you think you're doing all you can ...but 9 out of 10 americans... ...aren't getting enough important omega-3s. bayer pro ultra omega-3 can help, with two times the concentration of omega-3s than the leading brand. love your heart ... with bayer pro ultra omega-3.

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the americans who departed iran after being released from detention have arrived in germany after a brief stop in switzerland. this appears to show the convoy in landstuhl going that way. this is the latest development as they make their way back to the united states. three of the four americans related to that deal. the deal, as you know, was at least four americans released for seven of those being held in the united states also being

released. was that a good deal. >> it's typical of these kinds of exchanges. in fact, it's a fairly excellent kind of deal. remember, the israelis traded 1,000 palestinian prisoners to get one of theirs, one israeli soldier released and these were terrorists. none of the iranians that we released or dropped charges against were involved in terrorist activities and they were business people there for breaking sanctions. so, yes, it's been a very good deal and it sort of caps off this remarkable five days. first, the u.s. sailors are released in 15 hours. unprecedented and then we get the iran nuclear deal verified and iran has voluntarily dismantled its nuclear weapons complex and it's a nuclear weapons-free zone. i'm telling you if barack obama was a republican they would have named an airport after him. it's our politics that are sort

of dividing us at this time and preventing us from experiencing the real national patriot iks joy at this remarkable set of diplomatic triumphs. >> joe, it may not be too early to do exactly what you just said. regardless of what side you're on, one might say. as we look at the developments, you could not help because you were saying it caps off a remarkable series of days and months, but it also caps off the administration, the obama administration, this after this president, as a candidate, as we were showing you earlier in this hour saying no, i will engage and hillary clinton saying in the first year she would not and he now being able to say my approach to soft power work, perhaps. >> yes. you know, five years ago the talk in washington was when we were going to bomb iran, not if and there were many pushing for a military solution, attacks on iran. tens of thousands of u.s. soldiers to invade iran to stop the bomb program. well, it turns out that diplomacy worked better than a

military invasion. instead of soldiers patrolling iran's nuclear complex, we now have inspectors. they have vol uuntarily dismantd a system that they've spent years and invested enormous national pride in building up and it didn't cost us a nickel and no one died. this is nobel prize-worthy diplomacy. there is a reason that the overwhelming consensus of nuclear experts support this deal in the expert world, there is no controversy over this. this is a winner by all accounts, the strongest nuclear proliferation agreement ever negotiated. >> joe, have we turned the corner, a small one? >> on iran, we certainly have. there's a lot of hurdles. there's nothing easy about the road ahead. we have a lot of differences dividing us, but we have just solved what many people thought was the most difficult nuclear problem in the world and we did it at a low cost without inflicting any american

casualties. we benefit from it and the iranians benefit from it and it's the classic win-win situation. can we now have conversations from iran stabilizing iraq, defeating isis and defeating al qaeda and stabilizing, and without the nuclear deal we couldn't have had the talks with it and we are now opening the conversations. >> i mentioned this earlier with -- when we were talking in the hour and that is this idea of secretary kerry coming to the microphones and someone, at least a former member of his nephew and he was saying secretary kerry loves this job. this is something he absolutely wanted to do, he cherishes it, but then you also have secretary clinton, former secretary clinton who is the most

traveled, who had seen so many different ebbs and flows when it xhsz to international policy and foreign approximately see and international security, how would you contrast, compare and contrast these two secretaries of state. >> secretary clinton has accomplishments under her belt and secretary kerrie is lapping her. he has really taken on the tough challenges that had political risks with them ask it shows is the benefits of appointing somebody for whom this is the capstone of their career. they don't have political ambitions post secretary of state and kerry has been fearless and he's not done yet. i mean, i've talked to him. he wants to do more. he really wants to end the war in syria. he wants one more shot at an israeli-palestinian peace accord and he wants to take advantage of the opening with iran to try to get involved -- iran involved

in stabilizing the middle east. henry kissinger will tell you, we need iran to stop the further collapse of the middle east. >> joe, we've got 30 second, though. go further here. do we expect, if he were to be more aggressive as you're describing him to be as a secretary of state, might we see progress and what might that look like in the spaces you're talking about in the middle east? >> he's pushing for it. the first sign of progress would be an actual cease-fire inner issia for humanitarian aid and a process to have elections and ease assad out. that is the first and likeliest place i would look and also ending the yemen civil war. those are the two that are front and center for kerry's agenda at this point. >> thank you so much, my friends and giving us your final thoughts of finishing what has been quite an interesting, shall we say, 48 hours and thanks very much. >> historic. thank you, richard. >> that does it for this hour. thank you for staying with us

here on msnbc. we'll continue to bring you the very latest developments on iran throughout the evening right here on msnbc. we leave you with one last look at first picture released of washington post reporter jason rezaian who was held in iran for 18 months. have a very good sunday. ♪ ♪ but i can't come home right now... ♪ ♪ me and the boys are playing.♪. ♪ ... all nig♪t text beth, what can i do... [siri:] message. pick up milk. oh, right. milk. introducing the newly redesigned passat. from volkswagen. make healthy saychoices.ten but up to 90% fall short in getting key nutrients ... ... from food alone. let's do more. add one a day women's ... ...complete multivitamin. with vitamin d and calcium to help support bone health. one a day.

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