i assume that president rohani was sort of taking a page out of his book.hat the president also needs all the help he can get to push through what he believes to be a moderate agenda through a very difficult and challenging landscape in iran. not just a nuclear cord, but also trying to open up to the rest of the world. he went to italy. he is going to france tomorrow in order really to drum up business and it's a huge trade and business in italy where he is right now. he has spent $17 billion in terms of investment or signed $17 billion worth of bilateral deals. in france he will ask for 114 airbus planes to refit a very, very ailing iranian passenger plane fleet. all the years of the sanctions may have made them, amongst the most unsafe planes in the world. that's the focus of this trip. >> how is it it play in iran the facts that president of iraq meets with the pope? what's the impact over there? >> well, i think it probably plays well. i mean, we haven't seen anything particularly unusual come out of the iranian press. i just checked before coming here

>> probably not rohani himself, but his network.hat you will see is roman any being an isolated president who has the entire parliament against him. and the body which is the set of experts, which will appoint the next sfreupreme leader, will al loyalists. and you have the technocrats going back into the shadows. who is going to benefit from the money which is now being released what you of the sanctions relief? the most likely scenario is that the money will be transferred to the economic business empire of the revolutionary guards. the largest contractor in iran is a construction base. that base will get the contracts. it's not going to be the private sector. former president and mr. rohani are arguing that if you give us the money, we can empower the middle class. we can make the private sector come back into iranian economy. but the private sector more likely than not is going to become subcontractors to the revolutionary guards. in reality, you can strengthen irgc control with the business elites of iran. so that calculation fr

i did so myself in my conversation with president rohani.er the nuclear deal was completed, the discussions between our governments accelerated. yesterday, these families finally got the news that they had been waiting for. jason is coming home. the courageous journalist for the washington post who wrote about the daily lives and hopes of the iranian people, he's been held for a year and a half. he embodies the brave spirit that gives life to the freedom of the press. jason has already been reunited with his wife and mom. pastor siyad is coming home. his unyielding faith has inspired people around the world. now he'll return to his church and community in idaho. a former sergeant in the marine corps. he's been held for four and a half years. today his parents and sisters are giving thanks in michigan. two other americans unjustly detained are also being released. an iranian who is in iran has a student. their cases were largely unknown to the world. when americans are freed, that's something we can all celebrate. i want to thank my national

italy wants the $18 billion worth of contracts that rohani delivered.c muslim population. >> they wanted the money. >> they are villains to do that. they are suppressing their own culture. they're not standing up for what we all believe in. that's a terrible thing. they are villains. >> we appreciate it. "factor tip of the day," who does the left wing media despite more, fox news or donald trump? the tip, moments away. here's to knowing she loves blueberry pancakes. and where she keeps... the fire extinguisher. our valentines diamond heart pendant can be worn four ways. surrounded by godiva chocolates, it's just $129.99. helzberg diamonds here's to love. if you have high blood pressure many cold medicines may raise your blood pressure. that's why there's coricidin® hbp. it relieves cold symptoms without raising blood pressure. so look for powerful cold medicine with a heart. coricidin® hbp. ♪ lost shipments, international regulations, security breaches, lost revenue lost respect. well crafted solutions for today's problems in commerce. pitney bowes, the

italy wants the $18 billion worth of contracts that rohani delivered. muslim population. >> they wanted themoney. >> they are villains to do that. they are suppressing their own culture. they're not standing up for what we all believe in. that's a terrible thing. they are villains. >> we appreciate it. "factor tip of the day," who does the left wing media despite more, fox news or donald trump? the tip, moments away. thismy chronic pain.age but it came with some baggage. you're not the only one. opioids block pain signals by attaching to something called mu-receptors here but they also attach to mu-receptors in the bowel. and that can cause opioid-induced constipation... or oic. i could struggle with oic the whole time i take my opioid? maybe not. there's movantik. movantik can help reduce oic by blocking opioids from binding to mu-receptors in the bowel. do not take movantik if you have a bowel blockage or a history of them. serious side effects may include a tear in your stomach or intestine. and can also include symptoms of opioid withdrawal. common

it has accelerated its missile ofgram at the request president rohani. it's taken an additional american hostage. it has stepped up the slaughter in syria. was after that agreement finalized you had iranian rockets firing 1500 yards off the u.s. aircraft carrier truman. and just yesterday iran detained u.s. -- 10 u.s. sailors which was not appreciated, especially coming on the aftermath of firing those rockets near the truman. we are all relieved to learn this morning that the sailors yet in whatleased, could be a matter of days i inald chin -- iran will cash with $100 billion plus in sanctions relief. money which is now in escrow. i'm sure it has occurred to many of us that if iran the a's this now,ow -- behaves this way when he gets its hands on the bank roll, especially given the fact that the money is going to the irgc and not the iranian people, what other actions are going to see from the iranian revolutionary guards corps? we had a story this weekend, frontpage and the weekend edition of the wall street journal. the headline of that story is " nuc

. >> this is how rohani came into power on the back of trying to remove iran's isolation from international community, resolve the nuclear issue, and, of course, revamp the iranian economy that has been under so much pressure because of sanctions. so, yiran wants to rejoin the international community. and i think this image of iran, this trend is going in the right direction to bring about a new assessment from the american side on who they're dealing with in the iranian leadership. and i hope that this nuclear deal, the prison exchange swap, and the release of the sailors is just one step towards opening up the relationship between the two countries on more pressing issues that they see eye to eye, whether than stability in afghanistan, iraq, and energy security. there's lots at state here and a lot on the table they can still discuss >> sreenivasan: what about the issues inside iranian society that we as americans would still have serious problems with? >> i mean, it depends on which ones. obviously, in my opinion, the isolation of iran did not help the human rights conditions of iranians

iran's president hassan rohani has arrived to meet the pope for a two-day stop over in italy and hisirst european tour since the lifting of international sanctions on iran earlier this month and live to jackie roland in rome for us and the all important meeting with the pope and not so long what are we expecting to come out of that? >> it's a very important visit because this is the first time that an iranian leader has met a pope since when mohamed came to the vatican in 1999 to give you some idea of the time that elapsed and pope francis will be using the meeting or has been using the meeting to try to promote the cause of peace and of human rights, in particular he was expected to be urging, persuading president rouhani to use his good offices, his influence with the regime in syria bashar al-assad to try to promote the efforts to get peace talks started again. >> what is the purpose of this visit to europe? this first european tour of course since the lifting of international sanctions as we said, what is iran hoping to get out of this? >> this is all about ending iran's isolatio

only one of many big business deals inked during president rohani's visit to europe. iran will also purchase 100 airbus jets. the message is clear, iran is open for business. >> translator: we have gathered here to say that france is once again ready to get involved in economic and developmental activities in iran, with new energy and greater motivation within the framework of the policies pursued by the government. and we are here to welcome all business leaders to get involved in iran. >> reporter: the folks here feel they are ready to compete on the international markets and are hoping the many new business deals between iran and the west will soon also lead to more demand for their products. fred pleitgen, cnn, tehran. >>> the co-founder of microsoft could be facing a $600,000 fine after one of his yachts destroyed part of a coral reef. authorities are investigating whether the yacht is responsible for damaging more than 1,000 square meters of reef with its anchor chain. >> that had to hurt. oh, my goodness. now the billionaire was not on board at the time, but th

iranian president hasan rohani is here in rome, the first major stop on a tour designed to drum up trade and investment following years of economic sanctions, recently lifted as part of the nuclear agreement and officials say deals worth $18 billion have already been signed. >> interpreter: the most stable country and iran has no intention of attacking or innovating a country and does not intend to interfere in the affairs of anticipate other country. >> reporter: also meeting with pope francis, the two leaders talking privately for 40 minutes. and the pope asking him to help stop the spread of violence in the middle east underlining the importance of diplomacy in the fight against extremism. >> the nuclear accord and the certification and imp implementation which followed between iran and the international community. been critical of the nuclear deal and the obama administration still insisting engagement is the best way to contain potential threats from iran. >> iran's path to building a bomb has been closed off and an additional source of danger in the middle east is refused. >> next

guard did decide they would try to in someway embarrass not just the united states but president rohaniionship with the united states. >> commander, a lot is being made of the fact the sailor apologized for going into territorial waters. is there something else he should have done in that situation? do you make of that? >> well, anderson, i think it could be a sign of a larger issue within the united states navy and while there is an investigation going on and we should wait for the facts to come out. you know, a lot of it is you have code of conduct training for the sailors. the sailors did undergo the training but the reality is they no longer sit down and talk to them about it. how do you do your code of conduct training? a quick online course when you finish you get a little quiz, finish the quiz and you're done. instead of having a real chat with these young men and women about the impact of their behavior can have given how the media works today, given the kind of international impact that this kind of incident could have. plus you have the larger picture, anderson, in that where

operates and how little accountability they have to people like iran's foreign minister and hassan rohani this certainly is a very remarkable development that apparently for some time there must have been some sort of back channel negotiations being on between the u.s. and various people within the iranian power structure to get this release organized. it is certainly something that is very, very remarkable. in light of the fact that you still had a struggle going in within iran as well where you had the moderates around hassan rouhani and more hard line factions like the revolutionary guard in the military, a lot of the clernlggy. this is remarkable not just for jason rezaian but amir hekmati and saeed abedini. for them to be able to come home is a big achievement. >> we have been covering this story for a long time. we are now getting from the iranian media the name of the fourth american about to be freed as part of this prisoner swap with the united states. his name is nosratoliah khoshawi. do we know anything about him? we know a lot about the other three. what do we know about him?

day two of iran's president rohani visit to italy and leaders visiting italy as part of his first europeane lifting of sanctions on tehran earlier this month and live to jackie roland who is in rome for us and what is on the agenda today for the iranian president? >> well, very importantly today president rouhani is due to meet france at the vatican and it's a very important meeting because it's the first time that an iranian leader is meeting a pope since president hatami came in 1989 and that was a significant period of time and pope francis is really going to use his meeting to emphasize the use of human rights and peace. in particular he will be urging president rouhani to use his influence and good offices of the syrian regime of bashar al-assad to try to encourage as far as possible more efforts towards a peaceful solution to the conflict in syria and obviously a helpful attitude towards getting peace talks started as soon as possible. >> jackie as we said this is rouhani's first tour since the lifting of international sanctions, what is iran hoping to get out of this visit? >> this

that will be difficult for the rohani administration, their track was to restore diplomatic relationsdowngrade them. another fallout from this is also going to be the peace talks over syria. iran and saudi arabia had sat around the negotiation table with world powers trying to bring an end to that conflict in syria. i doubt the two sides will be sitting around the negotiating table trying to figure out a resolution for syria. so, this has very wide ramifications, this fallout between saudi arabia and iran. the two countries are major powerhouses in the middle east, one sunni, one shia, and that they're diametrically opposed on oil and al assad in syria. today iran's foreign ministry hit back a bit at the saudis. they were trying to be diplomatic over the last few days, today they accused the saudis of intentionally killing sheikh nimr al nimr to deflect from domestic problems in their own country. >> thank you very much. >>> straight ahead after the break, general motors investing $500 million in lyft. lyft's president and gm's president will join "squawk alley" live to talk about tha

>>> pope francis is meeting with iran's president at the vatican today during rohani's first trip toope. expected to discuss human rights including executions in iran which is strongly opposed by the vatican and while diplomacy is high on the agenda, trade ties likely dominate the headlines. mega-business deals. isis released a footage of some of the men isis said carried out the paris attacks last november. the video shows the men before the paris attacks carrying out isis killings in what appear to be syria or iraq. also concludes an apparent threat to attack britain. >>> new allegations of corruption to talk about in the tennis world. players in a mixed doubles match at the australia open say they've been approached by the body that investigates match fixing in tennis. >> according to the new york times, pinnacle sports said there was an unusual spike causing the web site to suspend betting ahead of it. all players identified in the newspapers denied those allegations. >>> coming up, as locations up and down the east coast break out from the first blizzard of 2015, guess what? ano

under president rohani without sanctions release in the past two years have been some improvements anddicts the economic growth next year will go from 0% this year to about 5% so that is a significant improvement that the iranian people will feel in their life even without structural reforms in the economy but if iran is to fully develop its economic potential and join the 20 largest economies in the world then it would require significant reforms that it is quite difficult given the political infighting to imagine at this point in time. >> let's talk about the geo politics how far ali has the nuclear deal come strengthening iran against the main rival saudi arabia which it is fighting in proxy wars in syria and yemen? >> look, i think the question of financial resources is a bit exaggerated in and when it gets to regional policies. we have a long track record of iranian pursuit of its policies in the region and we know that in general it's not a function of the money in their bank account. look in 2012 and 2013 iran under tremendous economic pressure as a result of sanctions and did n

we haven't heard from president rohani yet. he will be key to address this situation.hey are getting ready to implement a nuclear deem. he doesn't want to do anything to endanger that. if the revolutionary guard were holding the sailors. they answer to the supreme leader and the president has the final say on these sort of matters. having said that before the nuclear deal, america and iran have no contact with each other. now they've had face-to-face lengthy conversations and kerry and sharif have contact with each other. we have a report from news saying they expect the sailors to be released early in the morning here in about five or six hours. it's about 4:30 a.m., rachel. as daybreaks, we will probably get more information. >> thank you for joining us live from tehran, fascinating hearing the u.s. and iran characterized, wow, how the sailors got there in different ways is a little scary. at least they're talking. >> i love the chance to have international relations with the two countries. joining us from the white house nbc news, senior white house correspondent ch