i wanted to ask about the jcpoa. that will also be on the biden administration agenda try tryio rese a policy regarding jcpoa withdrawal would be tricky. the role of sanction will be a major topic in the next administration. that one is also very thorny on capitol hill. giving advice for navigating that space and how that might be best dealt with? >> yeah, i mean i think in in a very straightforward we should reinstitutehe jcpoa. it's not that i'm online for how that iran is that when you look at the big picture, the main reason that we got out of the jcpoa is because of the concerns come in terms of like a substantive argument, aside from the politics of obama did it, therefore it is better. the substantive argument was that it didn't address iran's other bad behavior, but iran is missing rent in human, messing around in lebanon and iraq in syria, and they are about all the way around. we just let that go. there's also bunch of arguments about frankly that were just 100% dishonest about having jcpoa it will stop in

regarding jcpoa withdrawal will be tricky. the role of sanctions will be a major topic in the next administration. that one is also very thorny on capitol hill. do you have any advice for navigating that space and how that might best be dealt with? >> yeah, i mean, i think in a very straightforward way we should reinstitute it. it's not that i'm unmindful of how bad iran is. when you look at the big picture, the main reason that we got out of the jcpoa is because of the concerns -- in terms of like a substantive argument, aside from the politics of obama did it, therefore it's bad, the substantive argument was that it didn't address iran's other bad behavior, that iran is messing around in lebanon, iraq and syria. and they are a bad actor all the way around, we just let that go. also a bunch of arguments that, frankly, were 100% dishonest about how the jcpoa didn't really stop iran from getting a nuclear weapon. it absolutely did. there were a lot of lies told about that. for all the other stuff going on we're better off if ir

when he pulled out of the jcpoa in 2018, he stated four goals.irst, it was to get iran to renegotiate the nuclear deal on his terms. second, it was to get iran to agree to a better deal that will eliminate iran's uranium your richmond -- enrichment program and iran's missile program, and the fourth was to limit or restrict iran's regional influence. has he succeeded in achieving any of those goals? no. now, he is leaving the white house in three weeks time, battered and broken, without achieving any of those goals. it is not surprising that the trump administration is increasing tensions. but iran has been following a policy of restraint towards the united states. iran does know that the trump administration is not happy with the expectation that the incoming biden administration will rejoin the jcpoa and iran wants to give the biden administration an opportunity to return to the nuclear deal and left the sanctions -- lift the sanctions and undo the damage is trump administration has done. so it is the united states that is seeking tensions with

phases and the access to international atomic energy inspectors is all that remains as part of the jcpoas a light of pressure -- a lot of pressure for the government inside iran. >> i think it is quite telling, indicating the fact that iran's or the iranian debates on the jcpoa moving to a harsher situation and rhetoric, i think this will have any effect on the future negotiations on the jcpoa in compliance with it. >> tuesday's motion allows the government one month to implement these demands. >> article 176 of the iranian constitution states it is a matter beyond the three branches of government or the legislative body. no political body or branch of power could act the on the. >> the latest report which came out in november said iran now has 12 times more than the permitted amount of 300 kilograms of enriched uranium, putting its stockpile at nearly 4000 kilograms. the killing of -- the killing adds pressure in the last few months they have left in office. the president has said iran will avenge the death of the high-ranking official. what is clear now as he does not want to use the n

sanctions that have been in place ever since the trump administration le the jcpoa back in may 2018.nd that would be the bestase scarioen. but that won't be easy given that president-elect biden himself has made several speeches during his campaign. likelinesshat he would set some preconditions for the united states to join and not automatically. >> that was a middle east expert based here in japan. >>> next, to a cultural feud playing out in the kitchen. south korean and chinese social mediaheating up an online battle over kimchi, a spicy dish. china won a global certification from the international organization for standardization for chinese pickles. china's state-run media reported it as an international standard for the kimchi industry, led by china. despite the iso clearly mentioning the standard does not apply to kimchi, the comments sparked a backlash in south korea, where kimchi is a traditional staple of e th national cuisine. some chinese posters said kimchi is a traditional chinese food, because most of the kimchi consumed in south korea is made in china. south koreans se

. >> yes, i think as you noted, biden has made it very clear that he is committed to rejoining jcpoa, think that is where the top two, top three priorities for progressives, and, you know, in terms of other commitments that we are trying to get from the incoming biden administration is we are hoping that in the first 100 days, we are hoping in addition to some of the key players you mention, in addition to rejoining the jcpoa, there is an immediate end to u.s. military support to weapon sales, countries that are part of the saudi lead intervention in yemen. we are hoping that there is a clear indication that biden will support repeal of the -- that he would support war powers legislation that is going to be coming through congress to reaffirm congress -- >> not to interrupt, but just for my audience, i want to say that what you wanted to see was a repeal of the authorization for use of military force that was set up an 2001. i just wanted to -- is that correct? >> correct. both of them. 2001 and 2002. and in addition to supporting war powers reform legislation that we anticipate comin

the 2015 jcpoa has been hanging on by an absolute threat. biden is going to try to salvage it.d by what he said to cnn and that is that if iran returns to strict compliance on the nuclear deal, obviously not going ahead with this bill, the united states would rejoin the agreement. you and i both know this is not going to be nearly as easy as it was in 2015. there has been a lot that has happened. manus: if we look at the context of what biden has said on the china-u.s. relations, the assumption you and number of other people have had in interviews was, straight back into jcpoa, into resolution with the run, maybe these fast-track assumptions that have been made need to be questioned. annmarie: a lot of guests have set on this program that what is going to be forefront for the biden administration is getting domestically america back on track in terms of coronavirus, in terms of unemployment. foreign policy is going to be second nature. iran and china are going to the top two we are discussing this morning. to the market, there are signs the uneven economic recoveries are challe

they want to see if biden is willing to sign a new jcpoa.believe that he will be willing to do so -- >> we have to leave it -- we have to leave it at that, ronen. we will have you back. thank you, all of you, for a fascinating conversation. >>> coming up, how to beat this covid spike when we come back. just like your fingertips, your lips have a unique print. ...and unique needs. your lips are like no others and need a lip routine that's just right for you. chapstick® has you covered. chapstick®. put your lips first®. you can earn your degree faster and for less with relevant life experience and eligible transfer credits. because your experience matters. see how much you can save on your degree at phoenix.edu. see how much you can save ♪ you're still the one ♪ that i love to touch ♪ still the one ♪ and i can't get enough ♪ we're still having fun, ♪ and you're still the one applebee's 2 for $20. now that's eating good in the neighborhood. >>> everyone is getting excited about vaccines but we have many, many months to go before any hope of her

the region, around the world, starting with europe, most of all, who has really helped the hold the jcpoarump pulled out, to really address our concerns with iran. i don't think people should imagine that every single sanction we have will be remove if we re-enter the jcpoa as president-elect biden has said he wants to do, if iran comes back into full compliance. >> who makes the first move? as a diplomat, the iranians, it seems like they're just buying time until biden comes in. who has to make the first move? >> i think the iranians did take some action, they shortened the time frame that they want to see sanctions lifted by the united states. so that was some reaction to that. but, you know, one can orchestrate diplomacy in a way that things can happen simultaneously. we had implementation day, iran did everything they needed to do, and on the same day, everybody really recognized that everybody had done what they needed to do. so there are always ways to orchestrate these things in a way that meet everybody's concerns and interests. it will take some exquisite diplomacy to make that h

they want to see if biden is willing to sign a new jcpoa. i believe that he will be willing to do so -- >> we have to leave it at that. we will have you back. thank you, all of you, for fascinating conversation. >>> coming up, how to beat this covid spike when we come back. ♪ ♪ ♪ you're all, you're all i need ♪ ♪ you're all, you're all i need ♪ ♪ as long as i got you then baby ♪ ♪ you know that you've got me, oh! yea...♪ ♪ ♪finding the right words can be tough.n it comes to autism, finding understanding doesn't have to be. together, we can create a kinder, more inclusive world for the millions of people on the autism spectrum. go to autismspeaks.org we're all finding ways to keep moving. but how do we make sure the direction we're headed is forward? at fidelity, you'll get the planning and advice to prepare you for the future, without sacrificing the things that are important to you today. we'll help you plan for healthcare costs, taxes and any other uncertainties along the way. because with fidelity, you can feel confident that the only dir

security team that they are figuring out how and when they can get the united states to rejoin the jcpoathe iran nuclear deal. take a listen to israel's prime minister netanyahu this week and i want your response on the other side. >> what the jcpoa did was 0 open the gate of the cage and open the door and let the tiger loose to plunder, and for the states to go back to the jcpoa, shouldn't go back to-- >> this kind of asks, this warning from netanyahu begs a bigger question here, what is biden's relationship going to be with israel, and biden is not even in office yet. >> it's going to be a difficult relationship, the democratic party is angry with netanyahu for his close relationship with president trump. which is unfortunate. the biden administration is looking to back to the deal, and they would negotiate with a better deal. iran was never in compliance with the deal in the first place and i think the deal is fatally flawed. i hope that biden would not rejoin this agreement. gillian: here is it what biden said,'s making the case, you guys don't think that we, the obama-biden administ

the iranians have said they have done everything on their to uphold their side of the jcpoa.hey have visited facilities outside at nuclear sites, they have been given access at those are things that could possibly come to an end given the fact that parliament has passed the new bill given the remaining signatories of the agreement have two months to remove some of the sanctions there is a sense the time is of the essence and there will be a small window for the u.s. administration to remedy the situation. andrian: a group of more than 300 kidnapped nigerian student had been released boko haram has claimed responsibility for the induction. a state official says the government is in talks with the kidnappers for the remaining students release -- student's release. >> when i came here i expected i could see my son honestly speaking i still did not. >> there is no way to measure my anger. this is the fourth day we have come here in the morning to the school. we cannot sleep or eat because of our missing children. when we see security men moving back and forth it gives us hope of

attack was launched in order to make it rder for president-elect joe biden to tryo get back into the jcpoaplausible, and in fact, that is the effect it has h. the decision the folks whehave to make big decisions are not the biden administration, which has expressed an inacrest in goingto the nuclear deal. it is iran's leaders. they are going to have to figure out what is more important to them, diplomacy with united states in order to get back to the deal and get these onerous economic sanctions lifted, or is it more of a priority to save face and restore deterrence and the national pride and avenge the death of one of their men. katty: i dif't knot is to since the stick to describe this in iranian-- politictoo simplistic to describe this in iranian political termss tussle between moderates and hard-liners in the regime. but what is your understanding of who has the upper hand at the moment, how much that mightac i if we see administration to resume negotiations? karim: well, katty, the reality is that iran is ruled by the hard-liners. there are more pragmatic forces, but therthey are not

east,oking at the middle the biden administration will want to get back into the jcpoa, but it could be we are due for confrontation with iran. finally, with the growing rift between turkey and nato, but also turkey and its neighbors. , turkeyan item there going even more rogue than before. i hope you are sufficiently depressed. as i said, we will turn to the --ortunities, and hopefully we have various probabilities attached to risks, and they don't have to happen, and the hope is we have many more opportunities than risks. take it over. >> thank you. but seems very depressing, not all of it is. 2021 clearly gives us opportunities for the biden administration. [indiscernible] abouti will be talking [indiscernible] as we have heard, the biden administration has wished to rejoin institutions we have left in the last four years. the world health organization in paris climate accords. that is a great first step but we believe there is an opportunity for more structural reform. forave to account geopolitical realities and the future. the world trade organization and the u.s., as the globa

they are lying, breaching their agreement already they signed, and both jcpoaies signed the jason -- jcpoaedge they are lying. sanctions is the only way to force them to make a change. david: but in the meantime, as i understand it, iran, because the united states has pulled out, is enriching uranium at a faster pace and is restarting its weapons program. don't we need to deter that? sanctions have not done the trick. amb. danon: i agree with you. i think they will do it no matter what, but now that they is --ing it publicly, it in the western democracies to pull out from the agreement, and they did in the past. we showed it with our allies. their intention from the beginning was to lie and deception. i think more pressure, more sanctions will lead them to actually sit down and negotiate a deal that we will be able to enforce and will bring them back to where they should be. david: ambassador, you mentioned the abraham accords and under the trump administration progress was made with some arab countries in the neighborhood, morocco most recently. under thecontinue biden administration? wha

it only further creates distance between the jcpoa, iran, and the other allies that are party to theeal. tom: i am distracted here looking at the new slow right now, and i think just because of the news we have to migrate to china, although there is so much we have to talk about. what can we do in your area financially on hong kong? should we expect or demand that bank of america, j.p. morgan or the others do some action on liberties and hong kong? dan: if you look at what the u.s. has done under the hong kong autonomy act that was passed over the summer, many global banks in the market, even those operating in mainland china, have close the accounts of people at carrie lam and others. there was article over the weekend about how carrie lam was paid in cash because she can't access her bank accounts, or credit cards. so everything is in hong kong dollars. hong kong has one legitimate trump card left, no pun intended, within the list -- within the last 49 days. by october of 2021, the u.s. government has to designate banks found to be enabling the enactment of the national secured a l

. >> there is a lot of questions about the jcpoa and the inevitability that biden will in some form pursue talks with iran, and so in that likelihood, given that likelihood, what is your advice both to them in terms of keeping iran in check, but also allies in the region who in the last couple of months have been sort of teaming up with israel as a way to maybe couch that possible adversarial spike in the region again. so how does that all play out? >> first of all, i think the abraham accord is a great achievement. the trump administration should get credit for that and it goes back to president trump's visit to riyadh. people said what's trump doing going to riyadh. the speech that he gave with king solomon's speech together, i think that was a time of great promise. whenever you get your hopes up, with the middle east, they get dashed to an extent, with the way that mohammed bin salman consolidated power, the murder of jamal khashoggi, a u.s. resident and journalist. but i think it's a significant development over time of a recognition by arab states that their interests aligned with th

. >> first of all we have to look at the facts and the facts are the deal is a bad deal, the jcpoa is sell what they did in the last five years and everything we learned about, the missile test, terrorism, everything is happening today, my advice is not to listen to the iranians, and not to try to appease them, when you try to appease them they take advantage of it and i think it will be bad for the u.s. to play that game. i would've climber pressure to walk with the division and each day they will be willing to change which i doubt it, you can speak about it but you don't run immediately and hug them and give them what they want. eric: leave it to the iranian threat to unite israelis and the saudis on the same page, the biden of administration should take note of that, here's the former counterpart the current saudi ambassador to the united nations saying as you just said there should be some type of new deal. >> i think the deal with iran has gone beyond being able to be activated as is, i think the biden of administration will recognize that and will come to understand that there w

we have to look at this very carefully and the iran deal, the jcpoa, whether the u.s.ill re-enter that agreement or not, we are worried about it. my colleagues are worried about it. i hope the u.s. will not re-enter this agreement. it's a bad agreement, bad for the u.s. and bad for israel. liz: well, the diplotech summit is tomorrow. i am an honored participant to be able to be invited to moderate it. thank you. good luck to you. >> thank you very much. liz: inspirational country. >> thank you very much. liz: any time. when we can travel, i'm there. happy hanukkah to israel. thank you so much. >>> movement on two major d.c. fronts at this hour. it took 44 days but senate majority leader mitch mcconnell has now formally congratulated president-elect biden and vice president-elect harris on their win in the 2020 election. what today's action means for the stimulus battle and the millions depending on unemployment benefits. closing bell ringing in 38 minutes. we are taking you live to capitol hill next. - i sent your new prescription to the pharmacy. - any idea how much i

think they will be hesitant to make any concessions that are real and substantial and go beyond the jcpoaxpect the tension between the israel and iran to go up. i would expect to see more israeli operations. i think the washington will have a very difficult time coercing israelis to cease and desist. gerry: thank you very much and thank you for typically excellent "wall street journal" editorial. thanks very much indeed. >> thank you. gerry: more on the potential diplomatic repercussions i want to bring in former secretary of defense, former director of cia, leon panetta. thank you for joining me. >> good to be with you. gerry: ben rhodes who served in the obama administration described killing of iranian scientist by the israelis, as outrage just, undermining the new administration diplomacy. perhaps we talked about, perhaps sabotaging that diplomacy. is that your view? >> well i, having worked with mossad when i was cia director, they have for a long time targeted various individuals in iran. so it doesn't come as much of a surprise that they would strike at the top nuclear scientists.

east, president trump and then with secretary pompeo in position took the united states out of the jcpoa, imposed tough sanctions on iran, a maximum pressure campaign, and this has two purposes. one, i think we've succeeded, greatly reduce iran's capacity to sow terror, death and destruction in the middle by depriving it of capital, and less successful at bringing iran back to the negotiating table. but we've been extraordinarily successful, the trump administration, been extraordinarily exceptional in working with our friends and partners in the middle east. no president before donald trump was ever able to secure more than one peace agreement, broker one peace agreement between israel and an arab country. donald trump has new formalized two peace agreement normalization of relations with bahrain and the united arab emirates. we should pause for a moment to understand how extraordinary it is. the conventional wisdom for -- ever since oslo, ever since the last 20 years, has been there's no -- there can be no peace agreement, no new peace agreement since jordan in the mid-1990s between is

certainly he has said that they will rejoin the jcpoa, the iran nuclear deal. happens. >> molly: an enormous amount to watch on that. we head to 2021. benjamin hall, thanks very much. shifting gears back home. we want to return now to georgia where this incredible breaking news has just come through that senator david purdue has announced that he and his wife will be in quarantine ahead of coming in contact with someone who tested positive for covid-19. the senator himself and his wife have not. they're negative. we go to peter doocy who has been there on the ground in georgia and can speak about the potential impact of this. one of the most watched races in the country, one of the top candidates in the race facing a big challenge here days ahead of the pollsopening. peter? >> this comes the afternoon after last night was purdue's 100th stop in georgia on a a statewide tour that he's done throughout this run-off campaign. they celebrated stop number 100. today we thought something might be up. he didn't show up for a scheduled appearance this morning with linds

there remain flaws about what was in the jcpoa, what wasn't in it, and i see joe biden having a visioner himself to try and reenter the deal as much as possible. i'll quickly sum up as this, this is somewhat dÉjÀ vu. we saw the iranians on offense in 2015 and '16, and we saw them winning and rolling us. and now we see them on defense, and i think the iranian regime in charge really wants to back to going on offense. eric: the clock is going to cut us off, i apologize. lee zeldin, congressman, thank you. we're going skating. we're going to nana's. wherever you go this holiday, chevy can help you get there. which is why we're making our chevy... ...employee discount available to everyone. the chevy price you pay... ...is what we pay. not a cent more. so wherever you go, happy holidays from chevy. use the chevy employee discount for everyone to get over six thousand eight hundred dollars below msrp on this equinox. get the chevy employee discount for everyone today. arthel: breaking this afternoon, president trump tweeting that his attorney, rudy giuliani, has tested positive for the coro

we're not going to be able to parachute back into the jcpoa.g to require another round or two of negotiation, carrots have to be offered to the iranians but also means we need to be prepared for some bumpy rides in the arabian gulf. that's going to be in my view, the most complex problem immediately facing this administration. >> so richard haas, your top foreign policy story for both of your globes this morning was the covid-19 pandemic. how do you think that affects our national security and foreign policy over the course of the next year? >> on one hand, it really restrains us economically, politically. we simply don't have a lot of band width as a country to act in the world until we get things sorted out at home. we don't think of health in some ways as a national security issue, kasie, but it really is. the problem is the world's not going to weight. it's not going to say, okay, you americans, go sort yourselves out and when you're ready, we welcome you back. things are going to go on. we talked about iran, north korea, china, russia, we'

and looking to the middle east, the biden administration wants to get back into the jcpoa but it couldthat we're due for a confrontation with iran. and finally with turkey growing rift between turkey and nato, but also turkey and the rest of its neighbors. so we have an item there on risk of turkey that is going even more rogue than before. so i hope you're sufficiently depressed. as i said we're going to turn to the opportunities, and hopefully, you know, with risk we have various probabilities attached to them. they don't necessarily have to happen and obviously the hope is that we have many more opportunities crop up than risks. anka, take it ore. >> thanks, matt. yeah, this seems very depressing, not all is doom and gloom. 2021 clearly presents opportunities for the biden administration and in the paper that we'll be releasing this week you'll get to see also the top ten chances the u.s. can take. today i'm just going to be talking about one that is at the top of the list and that is reviving multilateralism. as we've all heard in recent public statements the biden administration h

neighbors which is why israel and the arab states in the region we don't support returning back to the jcpoat the administration will talk to us when they come in, speak to your allies in the region and then we'll try to work out a new arrangement that will actually prevent iran from ever developing nuclear weapons and will push back against the regional aggression. >> we'll get to that more in just a little bit. but one more question for you and then i want to turn this over to yousef and ask him a few questions. so it sounds like -- doesn't sound like, but you said that benjamin netanyahu and other israeli leaders, even his chief rival right now, as well as you, feel like israel will be more secure if this weapons sale does go through to the uae, is that correct? >> we believe that the uae is an ally in confronting iran and we do not believe that this arms package will violate the u.s. commitment to maintain israel's qualitative military edge which is one of the most sacrosaint one that the united states makes to israel. >> yousef, let's talk about how you all got to where you are right no

solamani and we have a president elect if he gets the job who says i'm going to go back and go to the jcpoa actually the iranians would do if president trump was elected -- reelected, excuse me. they could come in and renegotiate a deal with the trump administration. listen, what the biden administration has got to understand and -- and everything that president trump has done is not bad, they have to recognize that -- the trump administration is giving them real leverage because the iranians are crippled by the sanctions that are imposed on them. this is very different in 2014 when obama was negotiating the nuclear deal. there's real leverage here. iran has never been back on the heels as much as they are right now in 40 years. second, the arab-israeli normalization, peace agreement in the middle east is a huge leverage for the biden administration because iran is feeling isolated. we can go back and get a much better deal. not go back to the deal that was there in the past, that's a huge mistake. what's a better deal? anywhere, any time inspections, no missile ballistic missile developmen