i want to bring in nick payton walsh. we heard about the president considering military action in syria. many of these have been on the internet. they have put them all in one form for these committee members to be able to see. i noticed as well there's a logo that's burned and printed on that video. where is it coming from? >> they signify the activist groups that have doing the videos. it means it came from activists and passed out by you tube and picked up by the u.s. government seemed to verify it. that's the process they've been doing for the last few years. you have to try to talk to people over there and recognize things in the background. it's all part of the intelligent picture now the u.s. has to sell to congress. >> let's talk about waiting for the u.n. report, the inspector's report after seeing this video. >> i think it's increasingly evident now. pretty much the first time mentioned the report when talking yesterday saying how results could impact upon the decision that russia has taken. we're not quite sure

nick payton walsh is joining us from the u.n. right now. 15 votes in favor, unanimous vote on this resolution. how did it go down? what happens now? >> reporter: now we are hearing from u.s. secretary of state john kerry in the unanimous decision i think mostly expected after moscow and washington appeared to go through the road blocks they had. we heard from the u.n. secretary general ban ki-moon saying the peace process to try to get the civil war will continue. they expect the syrians to keep their end of the bargain and allow fair access to inspectors. the point, though, this resolution doesn't authorize military force if syria is set to be in violation and does least issue of how you would decide if syria was in violation a little bit fuzzy, wolf. >> it only speaks of consequences, it doesn't necessarily authorize military force, right? >> reporter: absolutely. that's not on the trigger at all. it does say that future deliberations on whether syria's violated or not should occur under the chapter 7 part of the charter which

let's talk about this with nick payton walsh and colonel nick pay tona.ats been criticism for action, paralysis, disagreement, expected to deliver tomorrow's report august 21st. what do you think the role is going to be for the u.n. will it make the u.n.'s role larger? >> in fact we have just heard first official confirmation from the u.n. that report will come out tomorrow morning and the secretary of talk to reporters at 12:50. so we will hear whether or not chemical weapons were used, what kind, and indications that may suggest who is behind it. but that's not the job of the report itself. plus the u.n. is taking a big role this week. because even though the agreement in geneva had a lot of meat to it, it still needs to be inshrined in international law. >> is this a "this is it" moment with the report, findings and all of this. is this "the moment"? >> i think it is another step in the case they're building. but it's right here. the framework sewn only sets up a guideline for where we would like the human resolution to go. but i think the key will be,

let's go to nick payton walsh at the united nations where a briefing has just wrapped up. the headline? >> reporter: well, we're getting a bit more indication of how long this process will take to get some sort of results out of u.n. inspectors. the spokesman for the u.n. would not give a timeline, wanted to stay well away from that. we do

nick payton walsh is standing by there. everyone knows that russia and china vetoed meaningful action in the past. the u.n. often accused of being rather impotent when it comes down to it. is there anything that they would likely say yes to or will it be meaningful? >> you'll probably get the same resolution. when it comes to russia and china fee tvetoing what the u.s could come up with. lab tests are being done. sample ls taken from those sites are allegedly chemical weapons were used. we're waiting to see what the results will be. they will play enormously into global public opinion. that's going to play out enormously. much focus on the time line. how fast can they produce anything from a week to three weeks before we see these results. i'm getting indications it would be sooner rather than later. the u.n. secretary before he left for the g-20 had spoken to some members of the security council. we'll hear from him in about 45 minutes. that's more likely to be a technical update rather than the vital yes or no. all eyes o

senior fellow at stanford's hoover institution and senior international correspondent, nick payton walsh, is here as well. let's start with you, why would they go public with this information in the first place? >> look, we are not just dealing with the russian foreign minister, we are dealing with putin. when you deal with the putin regime, you deal with a high-stake gambler. the russians believe that president obama is on the run. the russians believe they have us in the corner. if we believe a quick resolution of these chemical weapons issue, simply ask syrians for resolution, they would give us truthful document, we were really in for a surprise. >> and nick, let's talk about the deadline for the information for the chemical weapons. they met the deadline. they gave us the list. can we trust them with that? they came up with it quickly. >> with john kerry and sergey lavrov, they did it anyway. perhaps not only a great place militarily, but u.s. officials said they are quote, pleasantly surprised. . we see deadlock happening at united nations with resolution and russians being blackma

nick payton-walsh, lieutenant colonel rick francona. right to you, rick, you made the case about why you believe two specific cities were hit by these attacks. what's your analysis of that? >> if you look at the status of forces -- the way they're laid out in damascus right now, there's a highway called the southern beltway. it divides the regime from the opposition forces. it goes along the eastern edge of the city. right inside the city is the square which many believe is the key. if the rebels can get to the square, they might be able to take the city. right there, ein tar ma and zamalka are on the on the rebel side of the highway. while you can kill a lot of people with bombs and artillery shells and rockets, the chemicals kill everybody and it pushes everybody away from that line. these weren't random attacks. they were planned and put there for a reason. >> stand by, lieutenant. nick, i want to bring you in here. as we've been talking about this and it's a question i've been posing here -- because the videos have been out there on

nick payton walsh is at the united nations tonight.rdy today them didn't know if they would be toward come to the table. now it looked like it is back on track. how significant is that? is this a done deal? >> it seems to be a done deal. a bit of last minute jitters in the haig where they had to pass a decision to say they were ready to get on with the mission to get rid of syria's chemical women's. they will meet and vote. that is expected to go through. the question really after that is how is the violation done by syria actually recognized and then enforced. it is a bit fudgy in the language how you will determine if syria is in violation. and then as you mentioned, the language of the resolution doesn't allow for automatic forceful it just says they have to reconsider that violation. look at what measures can be possible and then vote on it all over again. giving again a vaet over on this process but some advances at least now there is a faster u.n. bound timetable for syria, giving up its chemical weapons. >> thank you very much.

nick payton walsh is here right now. nick, you're getting to be a regular here.all week. iran's president, something of a rock star when he left here. so, what's -- what should we make of all this? >> i think it's a sign that there's a need for some sort of change in iran's policy. a lot of people inside iran, you saw the reception he got there, there was a shoe thrown at him, but that was from the minority in many ways. sanctions are making life there misery. >> is he on board with the u.n.? >> he said he's got the full backing of the supreme council of the ayatollah, he couldn't have made a move like that ringing barack obama without that kind of backing. the real issue now then we've had the positive messages and had him set a different tone on the holocaust and he was toning down the usual rhetoric from ahmadinejad last year when he gave his speech but the question is what practically comes next. unlikely to have had a phone call between two presidents of that level if the white house didn't know there was something concrete on the table but we don't know wha

senior international correspondent nick payton walsh joins us from the u.n. nick, what happened? we were on this march to peace. why did the russians pull out? >> reporter: remarkably busy day here, as you say. what we heard in the last hour from two u.n. diplomats here, quite simple claim that the russians had pulled out of the meeting they had in fact themselves called, citing quote, changing circumstances. we are given no indication that this meeting is going to be held at a later date and i think you mentioned the meeting between john kerry and sergei lavarov on thursday, there is perhaps a separate track going between d.c. and moscow to try to get this going forward. as i understand from a senior state department official, there will likely be no one else attending. this day began with the french putting out their resolution proposal. it contained a bunch of stuff the russians simply weren't going to be happy with. they have a veto power here at the security council so they can pretty much quash any resolution they don't like. the french idea did contain an open condemnation

let's go to nick payton walsh at the united nations where a briefing has just wrapped up. nick, what's the headline? >> reporter: well, we're getting a bit more indication of how long this process will take to get some sort of results out of u.n. inspectors. the spokesman for the u.n. would not give a timeline, wanted to stay well away from that. we do know that tomorrow they are currently being accompanied to the hague will be transferred to one of the laboratories to begin tests, i would imagine, on that particular day. on tuesday, there will also be a briefing by the secretary general to the nonpermanent members of the security council updating them, i think, most likely on the logistics of how this testing is going at this particular point. but i think there is a feeling at this moment that that process is happening, is under way, and i i think it's entirely possible these results may be available before congress begins debating, although it's very hard to tell given the amount of diplomatic pressure that currently surrounds something like this. >> nick paton walsh, tha

. >> nick payton walsh, thank you. president waited more than two years to get into the conflict here. arwa raises a really interesting point from the activist from whom she spoke. we've all had this discussion about what's the difference between the 100,000 people killed in syria before the 1400 were killed by chemical weapons. the president obviously make the case that chemical weapons don't distinguish between a soldier and an infant and they can kill massive amounts of people at the same time. but the activist makes a point. if the u.s. can get involved and the russians can get involved to get rid of these chemical weapons, can't they stop the bloodshed? >> they can. if the desire is there. and the problem that we have seen over the past two years or maybe not the problem but the issue is that it's been so complicated and it has been a very difficult thing to get frankly president obama to do. and we talked about this last night. that there were members of his cabinet, hillary clinton and others that we now know, w

our senior international correspondent nick payton walsh, who is standing by with the very latest. rning, nick? >> reporter: wolf, it was always going to be a bit of a long shot to get the russians to sign on to any resolution that authorizes force because of the veto they have on the security council. but here there are a lot of moving parts. we are looking to see if syria will voluntarily give up its chemical weapons program, as it says it might, and many looking forward likely to monday when the u.n. inspectors will release their findings from the long-awaited report. we got an inadvertent glimpse perhaps from ban ki-moon what that might say. it's perhaps a misspeak that suddenly the tone for a very busy week ahead. the chief wasn't on camera, but still said this of the vital looming u.n. inspectors report on syria. >> i believe that the report will be a overwhelming -- overwhelming report that the chemical weapons was used, even though i cannot publicly say at this time. >> reporter: his spokesman tried to reel it back. >> the report is not released. i'm not privy to the informa

cnn's nick payton walsh is at the united nations for us today. bly there. i'm guessing, from years past with his predecessor, this speech will be quite different. >> reporter: absolutely. judging by his twitter feed, completely different indeed. it was an afternoon in which many began to see the window for a meeting between obama and rouhani shrinking. president obama leaving this area shortly. of course, many thought he was unlikely to make that informal meeting before rouhani's speech, just in case the iranian president came out with any messages that may potentially embarrass the white house. we're also looking now to exactly see what message we get from tehran about this meeting to happen. the white house having been clear they made suggestion they'd be open to an informal exchange, no negotiations, no bilateral meeting. it didn't seem like the iranians were able to get their own house in order. many saying perhaps there's a way of getting diplomacy started again and there is a potential for a meeting to happen down the line if iran puts forwa

. >> our nick peytat payton walshe at the u.n. >> reporter: john kerry will meet with sergei lavrov.how precisely would it be determined if syria wasn't complying with the task of giving up its chemical weapons? moscow wants that decided here, we learned and the u.s. wants the body in the hague looking into that, to make that decision. of course, there's the resolution itself. it was pretty much greed in geneva, backing up the framework those two men came up with, dissolving syria of its chemical weapons. i understand from diplomats here that the text is watered down, not as strident as perhaps the americans or british would like. parts the u.n. charter force could be used if the resolution isn't compliant with it. that will still be referred to in there. it's not going to be as tough as some of the western powers would like, soaking up slightly more of russia's desires here. so much on the plate of those two men in their meeting, fredricka. >> looking forward to hearing the result of that. nick paton walsh, thank you so much. we'll bring you all the details right here on cnn. >> it

cnn's senior international correspondent nick payton walsh is at the u.n.ago leaving a meet with the chinese foreign minister. he said i'll let you know when i see they are serious. rowhani, the new iranian president adopted a much warmer tone than his predecessor ahmadinejad. the five permanent members of the security council plus germany and iranian foreign minister zarif will also be in the room. will be the enrichment and future for inspections in that country. but however these negotiations turn out and rowhani said he'd like a deal within three months. that's a pretty big ask. however these turn out, the sheer fact we have a u.s. and iranian official at this high level meeting in a room is something really we have not seen for 34 years. back to you, kate. >> nick, thanks so much for that. >>> so iran's president is stirring controversy with his comments about the holocaust. during an exclusive interview with cnn's christiane amanpour ror rowhani condemned the crimes. it's relative to his pred source who denied the holocaust ever happened. now an irani