that's all for tonight. don't forget to tune in to tonight's democratic debate. our coverage will begin at nbc nbc news and nbcnews.com at 8:00. tune in a few minutes before 9:00, our i'll be there, lester and andrea, if it's sunday, it's "meet the press." good sunday to you. here at the msnbc headquarters in new york city we are now seeing our first picture of "washington post" reporter jason rezaian, one of four americans released yesterday in a prison swap with iran. this picture uploaded by special envoy brett mcguirk. we've 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're looking at video right now of them landing earlier in geneva. today for the first time we heard from president obama on yesterday's development which is came on the same day as the implementation of the iran nuclear deal. now, the president says the world is a safer place and that

five u.s. citizens are free of firm leadership. >> this is a reminder of what we can achieve when we lead with strength and wisdom. with courage and resolve and patience. our team today covering this story, keir simmons, roll an electrical as well as ali aruse zi. we'll start with keir simmons in landstuhl, germany, where the news within the past hour, three of the americans related to the prisoner deal are there what do we know right now, keir? >> that's right, richard. they were flown have switzerland to an airstrip 15 minutes away there here and driven to the base behind me here. as you mentioned, just in the last minute, the picture of jason rezaian, the "washington post" reporter, has been tweeted out standing there with the u.s. special envoy. he does look a little tired, you

have to say. that's to be expected given he has just been freed from iranian custody. we've spoken to senior editors from the "washington post" who are inside the base behind me waiting to greet him. we spoke to them before those three u.s. prisoners, those three former u.s. prisoners arrived here and they said that they expected them to be taken to a hospital where they would undergo a medical evaluation, a psychological evaluation and they would only be able to be met be 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, had their first taste of freedom. meanwhile, we saw some pictures of some of the iranians who have been pardoned by the u.s. being freed in texas. a kind of cold war prisoner exchange. really stening momentous events on this historic weekend

following that nuclear deal. >> keir, as a part of this, that picture that just came in, you and i were discussing last hour, how did they look. i was speaking with a former iranian prisoner, sara shourd, 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 you know, many people will look at this picture, many individuals wondering what the state of the health of all of these prisoners are at this moment. but there's one person we probably will not see at least in today's video or on a video of the coming 24 hours perhaps and that's the fourth individual as part of the deal. remind us somewhat the situation is with that fourth prisoner. >> that's something of a mystery 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 he

did not want to travel from iran, u.s. officials making clear he's a free man so he has the choice to go about his way and exercise his freedom in anyway that he chooses. but still a mystery over why he would choose to do that. again, perhaps, just 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. so 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 aarps of their families, of course, but into the spotlight of the media and perhaps they 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 in

landstuhl, germany. let's head over to ron allen on the north lawn looking at the response coming from the president. also in addition to that, ron, we have the new developments today and this is the $1.7 billion that that amount of money now going to iran, being released by the united states. we have new sanctions announced today, as well. >> indeed, richard, the sanctions are added on to existing sanctions against's iran's ballistic missile program. these are missiles that can fly hundreds if not thousands of miles. the iranians have a significant arsenal, one of the most diverse in that part of the world and many allies there, the israelis, the saudi, others, see this as a huge threat. the iranians conducted a best 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. the iranians warn if, in fact, that happened that that would

scuttle perhaps the nuclear deal or more directly scut it will 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. positions of these 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 of the united states similar posing 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 involvement in funding terrorism and human rights violations as well. so the nuclear sanctions were significant $50, billion to $100 billion worth of assets unfrozen. it's hard to quantify and monetize the other sanctions

that face iran but still they are significant and the administration is emphasizing that, in fact, should there be any violations of the nuclear accord that the unilateral sanctions that the united states imposed or sanctions that the security council imposed on iran could be, in fact, snapped back, to use their words, if iran violates the agreement. richard? >> ron, you've also been reporting 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 between the united states and iran were severed there was a significant amount of business transactions going on between private citizens and between the governments. this pot of money involved some $400 million that will the iranians paid for military equipment, hardware from the united states that essentially got frozen when the diplomatic relations were severed, when the embassy was taken back in the la

late '70s. since then, that money has earned interest and there's been a tribunal set up in the hague to essentially arbitrate various disputes about all this money. that $400 million with interest of $1.3 billion became $1.7 billion and the iranians got that money back today as well as sanctions relief. that's what we've ta we're talk about. >> a lot of moving parts. nbc's ron allen at the white house. thank you, ron. i want to go to tehran, iran, nbc's ali aruzzi up with us, a little past midnight there. we have the day after the iran deal has been verified, ratified, if you will, by the iaea, we also have the new sanctions announced by the united states. what had been the headlines? how have iranians been reacting to so many different developments when it comes to iran and the united states?

>> we're seeing the culmination of a flurry of activity between iran and iraq. and people are happy about the ultimate results 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 bank to bank, it's been very difficult to get visas to visit other countries. it's been impossible to make wire transfers and on a business scale for the country they haven't been able to sell the country's natural resources like oil and other things so iranians are expecting things to turn around hugely now. they're expecting to economy to revive, expecting the come in from the cold and people are hoping this will be a new chapter in iranian/american relations. as i said before, we mustn't get ahead of ourselves. iran and america have very, very different strategic opinions in this region. they have -- they see the region

looking very differently and they're not going to see eye to eye svery soon. but they have taken a step in the right direction. they are talking instead of fighting and that's given confidence to iranian people. in the bazaar today, people were happy this deal was done, they are looking forward to a new iran but a lot of people were skill skeptical. they were skeptical about 35 years of animosity between these two countries not just going away overnight. so a long way to go. richard. >> just as the united states president is reaching out and actually addressing and intimating that the youth there? iran are so important and as you've been pointing to us, the elections to pick a new ayatollah is so important. so as i was saying a lot of moving parts in the united states but 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. joining me from washington, d.c. is the former deputy assistant secretary of state for iran, the state department's bureau of

middle eastern affairs. here with me in new york is kahn ross, director of a nonprofit dwi diplomatic advisory group and joe cirincione, president plow shares fund. john, let's start with you. give us a sense of these sanctions, these 11 plus five that have been announced on the day after the deal went through and that there was a prisoner swap it just seems to be yet another development that would be a surprise. >> it shouldn't be. what this reminds us is that there's a long road. we have a long road to go through iran. 35 years, as your correspondent pointed out, 35 years of trading insults, trading threat, name calling. that doesn't go away overnight, with one agreement or aweek or a

month, there's a legacy of hostility, bitterness, grievances, some real, some imagined. so there's still a lot of things that we and the iranians disagree about. what is knew that s that we now have the ability to talk about them 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 campaigns. he said, look, we need to talk to our adversaries, not that 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 limbert, to you now joe scirincione. you have had several meetings with president rouhani and he was reported by 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. we met in tehran in 2005. as you know, richard, he represents the pragmatic wing of the ruling elite. he's in constant struggle with the hard-liners who control the ministry of interior, for

example, the justice apparatus in iran, the hard-liners who arrested all these prisoners that rouhani has helped free so he's constantly aware, constantly calculating every move. let me give you one insight. two years ago on 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 the different issues between the united states and iran, why were we just doing 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 in iran. i was mentioning the ayatollah, mentioning election, youth vote. put that together in terms of what is making rouhani the right person, perhaps, at the right time to get this done coming from iran. >> he wants to take the nuclear deal plus the steps you've seen him taking and 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. so he -- and he appears to have convinced the supreme leader -- has made a strategic choice. give up the nuclear weapons capability in exchange for this economic opening and this will be where you get real security and real power not through the illusion their power of nuclear weapons. that's what he's thinking. he appears to have the upper hand for now.

>> kahn ross, to you on this. as we've looked at the last 48 hours, secretary kerry in kerry fashion coming to the microphone, certainly a victory for him in diplomatic circles, coming out and saying we've looked at three potential channels, uranium, plutonium and covert, very clear in their approach here. when we look at the secretary kerry, in you will, versus hillary clinton times, how do their diplomatic styles and how will history look at those two and the way they worked on such issues? how are they different and the same? >> that's a good question. john kerry has invested a lot of energy the iran deal. he's also investigated nrn in restarting a diplomatic process in syria. in the iran deal we have result, we have this rapprochement between iran and the u.s., at least on this narrow issue of the nuclear deal. but it's a narrow issue. it doesn't describe the gamut of

issu issues that demand u.s. and iranian attention across the middle east and the big zest, of course, syria, an epidick disastdid sa saster. and i sometimes feel there's been too much emphasis on the nuclear issue, which is important, i don't deny it, at the cost of a broader amount of attention on syria which is an epic disaster and causing all kinds of problems across the region and beyond. john kerry has turned his attention to that. we shall see whether there is progress in the fourth coming geneva talks. he will be judged by that but his extraordinary achievement on the iran deal. >> how are they different? the clinton versus kerry administrations at the department of state? >> i think there's been more progress under john kerry. whether that's hillary clinton's fault or john kerry's i couldn't say. she was pretty diligent about the way she conducted her time at the state department but i think it's fair to say she

didn't take any risks. i always got the feeling that she was had in mind a future run for the presidency. that she was immensely cautious on things like the arab-israel dispute. kerry has stuck his neck out on iran and to a degree on syria. perhaps that was because he'd given up his presidential ambitiouses. he knew anything he said or did now would not come back to haunt anymore a presidential run and that's in a sense to hillary clinton's discredit. there's enormous opportunity on the obama presidency, the world saw the obama presidency as a completely new opportunity to solve problems the previous administrations hadn't solved and i don't think hillary was seen as the person to execute that in a way john kerry to his credit has done. >> ambassador john limbert, thank you all so much again. president obama today revealed that in addition to sanctions

being lifted iran will get another billion dollar, $1.7 billion in total related to unfrozen assets. what can the iranians do with this new cash and will it have any impact on their actions? breo is for adults with asthma not well controlled on a long-term asthma control medicine, like an inhaled corticosteroid. breo won't replace a rescue inhaler for sudden breathing problems. breo opens up airways to help improve breathing for a full 24 hours. breo contains a type of medicine that increases the risk of death from asthma problems and may increase the risk of hospitalization in children and adolescents. breo is not for people whose asthma is well controlled on a long-term asthma control medicine, like an inhaled corticosteroid. once your asthma is well controlled, your doctor will decide if you can stop breo and prescribe a different asthma control medicine, like an inhaled corticosteroid.

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still watching what's happening out of germany. coming into us just this afternoon, three of the four americans related to the prisoner swap deal that were released arriving in landstuhl, germany. you're looking at video we just got in. this is their second stop en route to the united states and we believe this is convoy after they landed then moving to the facility, the military facility in landstuhl, germany. they will get -- this is part of the acclimation as they come back to the united states after spending various period of times, a year or longer, in

prisons in iran. we're also getting our first look at the "washington post" jason rezaian, this coming in within recent hours. this picture taken in geneva which was the stop that these three u.s. citizens had taken before they reached germany. it was uploaded by special envoy brett mcguirk. you can cia son rezaian in the middle. this is the first picture we have. that will be the story for the next week or so no doubt. 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 sanction relief that the country has already had. it e it's purchased 114 airbus planes as a part of this new economic

activity that's resulted from the dropping of the sanctions. joining us now, ammon jabbers from washington. ammon, you and i talked about the jets yesterday. we have $100 billion that has been discussed as an estimate. we have this new $1.7 billion in released assets, that's $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 billionaire, a billion there and pretty soon you're talking about real money." clearly this is real money going to iranian regime and the question is what will they do with it. the iranians have a substantial amount of debt they need to repay. they have bills come dog and this might go through the turnstile and out to foreign

creditors. so there might be some paying down of debt here by the iranians but then the other question is do they invest in their economy? do they buy airplanes? farm equipment? or do they use this money to build up their military? that lab decision the iranian leadership has to make forrist. another question will be 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 the oil because now we're going to look at -- it was 1.1 million barrels a day they produce, add on another 500,000, roughly 2.1 million barrels a day at 30 bucks -- that's $60 million a day now and that's cash. >> >> right. it's a loath of money but not nearly as much as the iranians would have made pumping oil a couple of years ago.

you've seen this huge decline in world oil prices. there's a massive oversupply of oil on the world market right now. part of that is because of the u.s. shale oil boom, part of that is because of saudi arabian performing a i pumping, prices have fallen off a cliff. it's been a major story for several months. that's the problem for iranians as they try to sell oil into the world market that is suddenly overwhelmed with oil. how much will they sell it for and how much money will they bring home? it's not clear they can make as much as they could have a couple years ago. >> as we know, and some don't like the word "globalization" but the way the economy works today is that iran cannot function by itself 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 into the global economy, what might that mean for not only iran but the region? they border seven other

countries here. >> they're reintegrating but not all the way. we should be clear this is just the lift of the nuclear sanctions on part of the united states and the european allies have lifted a broad away of sanctions. there's still a thicket of american sanctions in place on a variety of other pieces of the iranian economy. in fact, just this morning we saw the treasury department announcing it designated entities and individuals inside iran for their ballistic missile test. so that means entities won't have access to the global economy you're talking about so for american companies it will be difficult to figure this out. they've have to deal with foreign subsidiaries and gain entree into the americanian market but it will be easier for european and asian markets. so you'll see european and asian companies in iran sooner than american companies and the results of this election in 2016 to see how who wins the white house. they might have a different idea

of how this should go down. >> and the elections happening in iran as well. we've learned just within the last two days, eamon javers is that there's many chapters to be written, that just within the last 12 hours. 16 entities or individuals that have new sanctions. eamon javers, thank you very much. president obama speaks to young iranians. listen. >> 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. our next item is a genuine "name your price" tool. this highly sought-after device from progressive can be yours for... twenty grand? -no! we are giving it away for just 3 easy payments of $4.99 plus tax! the lines are blowing up!

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♪ why fit in when you were born to stand out. the 2016 nissan altima has arrived. ♪ i do want to once again speak directly to the iranian people. yours is a great civilization

with a vibrant culture that has so much to contribute to the world. n commerce and in science and in arts. for decades, your government's threats and actions to destabilize your region have isolated iran from much of the world and now our governments are talking with one another. 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 progress for both our people's 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 the research director for the national iranian american council. reza, as you just heard the president earlier and again right now, he is reaching out

directly across the waters to iran eight and a half hours ahead of east coast time saying you are the ones that now criminal the future and our ali arouzi, who is base there had 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 understated developments, particularly on this side of the pond in the united states. the iranian people have always been the biggest driver for change inside of the country, particularly change 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 in washington, d.c. and the iranian government

in tehran both recognizing that the iranian people, innocent iranians inside of iran are the future and they're trying to harness the future. there's no guarantee for success but it provides the most optimistic chance and opportunity 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 certain certainly in many cases you mentioned security threats and sponsorship of terrorism in parts of the world. with that said, what is it that the youth is determining in iran right now? what is that stake in the election there is in the leadership that you were just eluding to? >> there's no secret to you, me, or minute else watching this program that iranian elections are neither free nor fair but what we have seen, particularly in 2013 with the election of president rouhani is that 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 iranian elections to become elected. and that can alter 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, 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 that you can lump all of iran's youth under one umbrella. i think there's a very diverse socioeconomic swath of iranian society that wants to see their country reengaged with the rest of the world and see their

country live up to its potential because everyone inside of iran, i think, believes 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 the people. and that's a marathon, not a sprint. i have no illusions about that. but i 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 have always been hoping for the best but planning if the worst. it's been a ruough past 37 year but once the iranian american community has had something to sink their teeth into, there was an obama/rouhani phone call, then the interim deal, then the

final deal, then 10 u.s. sailors freed in 16 hours, then this prisoner swap. one thing after another has led to a more positive tra jek doje and that shows iranians if they are engaged in american civic life they can produce changes they've been wanting to see for some time. >> 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 us with. reza marashi in washington. coming up. iran expected to be one of the hot topics at tonight's democratic debate but there's a twist which could mean surprises for the candidates. still be pain.ut therel it comes when your insurance company says they'll only pay three quarters of what it takes to replace it. what are you supposed to do? drive three quarters of a car? now if you had liberty mutual new car replacement, you'd get your whole car back.

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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." the point being that you talk to

your adversarieadversaries, you away from them. secretary clinton, i think, called him naive. turns out obama was right so clearly we have 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 during the 2008 campaign indicating she would not hold talks with iran. you would expect that to come up at tonight's democratic debate. he's giving a hint of his perspective and strategy dealing with today's headlines but candidates won't be just questioned by "nbc nightly news" anchor lester holt and chief foreign affairs correspondent andrew the ya mitchea andrea mitchell but also with four youtube stars selected to participate. who are those youtube stars, jacob? >> richard, i'll get to that in a minute. on the heels of president obama sitting down with three youtube stars at the white house on

friday night, as you said, there will be four youtube stars here in charleston that will be questioning bernie sanders, martin o'malley and hillary clinton and lest you think that a youtube debate is all about wolverine cat and the cinnamon challenge and all kinds of other silly videos, there's quite a substantive history and you heard bernie sanders refer to it of youtube participating in presidential debates. back nine years ago in 2007 right here in charleston, south carolina, at the citadel, there was a cnn/youtube presidential debate and hillary clinton and barack obama were asked a question that was very important and, in fact, it resonates 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 leaders of iran, syria, venezuela, cuba, and north korea? >> senator obama? >> i would. >> senator clinton? >> i will not promise to meet with the leaders of these countries during my first year.

>> reporter: so richard you hear there something that was a very important policy distinction at the time. then senator obama said to anderson cooper, he told him he would in fact be willing to meet one on one with the leaders of iran, syria, north korea, venezuela and cuba and then senator clinton said she would not. this came from a youtube question question questioner and foreshadowed the deal we're talking about this weekend. >> appreciate that, jacob. tonight at 9:00 p.m. eastern the democratic debate, charleston south carolina on nbc. we've been discussing the u.s./iran nuclear deal that has had a significant impact on the u.s. presidential elections. jake was eluding to that there. is it affecting iranian politics? i'd like to bring in the foreign correspondent for politico in washington. use've been watching the reaction out of tehran, there are several important parts to

look at. one of which is the imposing elections and i believe there are two that we are looking at right now in iran. >> well, we're talking mainly about the parliamentary elections coming up in late february. those are the big ones because the moderate president, rouhani, he wants to see his group get stronger within the parliament. but you know these weeks ahead you could see hard liner ins iran trying to do certain things that strengthen their hand but the idea is that because of the nuclear deal that the moderates will have a stronger hand going in. it's really going to be very interesting race to watch. >> some watchers have been eluding to how this may affect the power structure at the very top, the ayatollah, and that these elections will at the end affect who will be the next ayatollah. >> yes. i mean, that's -- that could be a while away in terms of the assembly of experts and others getting chosen and deciding who the next supreme leader of iran is going to be but currently we still have ayatollah khamenei.

he still has to balance the hard-liners versus the moderates and the people in the middle and whoever they are. it's very -- it's not at all monolithic in iran and that's something 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 has been said, at least earlier in this hour, the current leadership appears to be the moderate faction, the moderate option that the youth, that the electorate, including the youth, have a choice of. >> that's right. but you have to understand, you know, the parliament can only do so much in iran. the intelligence agencies, the security agencies. and the judiciary. a number of these agencies are controlled by hard-liners so even if moderates do very well and seize control of parliament, their initiatives their proposals, they might get nowhere because the supreme leader and other folks involved might say "you're going too far, we don't want to pretend we're

america's best friend now." >> right. and they are not america's best friend. >> 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 understand of the way it means to vote. describe to us what it's like to vote in iran. >> well, in a way it's kind of -- well, it's 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 so when people go to vote they know they're having to pick from a group of candidates they might necessarily have not chosen from in the first place. at the end of the day, a lot depends on turnout, how many young people show up, and ultimately whoever is counting the ballots and what they decide they want. >> nahal toosi, foreign affairs correspondent from politico. thank you. >> thank you. >> we showed you this video earlier this hour, the convoy

carrying three freed americans who have now arrivaled in landstuhl, germany, landing and heading over to a 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. dad, you can just drop me off right here. oh no, i'll take you up to the front of the school. that's where your friends are. seriously, it's, it's really fine. you don't want to be seen with your dad? no, it's..no.. this about a boy? dad! stop, please. o, there's tracy. [ horn honks ] what! [ beeps, tires screech ] bye dad! it brakes when you don't. forward collision warning and autonomous emergency braking. available on the newly redesigned passat. from volkswagen. wheall i can think abouthit, is getting relief. only nicorette mini has a patented fast-dissolving formula. it starts to relieve sudden cravings fast. i never know when i'll need relief. that's why i only choose nicorette mini.

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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 shows their convoy in landstuhl. joe cirincione, 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. it's fairly excellent. remember, the israelis traded a thousand 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 any terrorist activity, they were business people there for breaking sanctions so yes it's been a good deal and it caps off this remarkable five days. first the u.s. sailors are released in 15 hours, unprecedented. then we get the iran nuclear deal verified. iran has voluntarily dismantled its nuclear weapons complex. it's a nuclear weapons free zone. now the joyous release of american prisoners. i'll tell you, if barack obama was a republican they would have already named an airport after him. it's only our politics that are

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

instead of soldiers patrolling iran's nuclear complex we now have inspectors. they have voluntarily dismantled a system they spent years and invested enormous national pride building up, it didn't cost a nickel and no one died. this is nobel prize worthy diplomacy. there's a reason experts support this deal. there's no controversy over this in the expert world. this is a winner by all accounts, the strongest nuclear proliferation agreement ever negotiate negotiated. >> have we turned a corner, a small one? >> on iran, certainly, there's nothing easy about the road ahead, we have a lot of differences dividing us but we have solved what many people thought was the most difficult nuclear program in the world and we did it at low cast without inflecting american casualties. we benefit from it, the iranians

benefit from it, it's the classic win-win situation. can we have conversations with iran about our other overlapping strategic objectives? stabilizing eeshliraq? defeating isis in defeating al qaeda? ending the bloodshed in syria? maybe. without the nuclear deal we couldn't have had those talks. with it, we're open the the conversati conversation. >> i mentioned this idea of tech air is kerry coming to the microphone and someone, at least a former anybody of his team, and that was richard nephew, and he was describing to me, he was say i saying secretary kerry love this is job. he cherishes it. but you have former secretary clinton, the most traveled, who

had seen so many different ebbs and flows. how would you compare and contrast these two secretary of states? >> secretary clinton did an excellent job. she has a number of accomplishments under her belt but i have to say that secretary kerry is lapping her. he has taken on the tough challenges that had political risks with them that shows the benefit of 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've talked to him. he wants to do more. he wants one more shot an an israeli/palestinian peace accord. and he wants to take advantage of the opening with iran to get

involved in stabilizing the middle east. helpry kissinger will tell us we need iran. >> do we expect -- if we were to be a little bit more aggressive as you're describing him to be as secretary of state, might we see progress and what might that look like in the spaces you're talking about in the middle east? >> the first sign of progress would be a cease-fire in syria opening up for humanitarian aid and then a process to have elections and ease assad out. that's the first and like iests may and ending the yemen civil war. those are the two front and center for kerry's agenda. >> joe cirincione from ploughshares. a little way of finishing what has been quite an interesting, shall we say, 48 hours. thank you so much, joe cirincione. >> historic, thank you, richard. >> that does it for this hour. thank you for stay withing us here on msnbc.

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