Interview with Iran's President; Imagine a World
CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN HOST (voice-over): Tonight as the military campaign in Iraq and Syria grows, I ask the president of Iran what would it take for him to join the fight against ISIS.</s>HASSAN ROUHANI, IRANIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): All nations must feel a great degree of responsibility.</s>AMANPOUR (voice-over): And the clock is running on the November deadline for a nuclear deal. Will Iran and the big powers ever come to an agreement?</s>AMANPOUR: Good evening, everyone, and welcome to our special weekend edition of the program. I'm Christiane Amanpour. An unprecedented coalition of Muslim nations is currently participating in the airstrike against ISIS in Syria. But there is one player that is key to this fight and to the survival of Syria's Bashar al- Assad and that is Iran. While ruling out military coordination, President Obama and Secretary of State John Kerry have both publicly courted Iran's support or at least its acquiescence. But here at the United Nations General Assembly, the Iranian president, Hassan Rouhani, called the allied airstrikes in Syria "illegal," while also though voicing many of the same concerns about, quote, "the fire of extremism and radicalism burning in the Middle East."</s>ROUHANI (through translator): I deeply regret to say that terrorism has become globalized from New York to Mosul, from Damascus to Baghdad, from the easternmost to the westernmost parts of the world, from Al Qaeda to Daish.</s>AMANPOUR (voice-over): President Rouhani's visit to the UNGA last year made history after talking by phone to President Obama and this time around he has met with the British Prime Minister David Cameron, which is a first since the Islamic revolution of 1979.</s>AMANPOUR: But Iran's nuclear program is still a major stumbling point, with the deadline approaching for a deal and the parties still unable to bridge crucial gaps. Amidst these intense talks and a round of public appearances, I met President Rouhani fresh from his address to the United Nations General Assembly.</s>AMANPOUR: President Rouhani, welcome back to the program.</s>ROUHANI (through translator): I do thank you very much for having created this opportunity once again to take a few moments to speak directly with the wonderful people of the United States of America.</s>AMANPOUR: Let's talk about then what's immediately at issue for the people of the United States of America and the whole world, and that is the battle against Islamic State, ISIS terrorists in Syria and Iraq. You have said that everybody should be combating this extremism. Are you joining in the alliance? Are you also combating ISIS?</s>ROUHANI (through translator): What I can tell you is that Iran has been at the forefront of fighting against terrorism. We can go all the way back to the beginning years of the revolution. We were facing an extremely vicious and savage form of terrorism inside the country. And we have rendered assistance prior to the attacks of September 11th. You're fully aware that the people of Afghanistan were fighting against the Taliban, were standing up to the best of their abilities against the Taliban. And as you know that Iran gave a great deal of assistance and help to the people of Afghanistan. And you do know that that even most recently, the first government that came swiftly to the aid of the Iraqi government and people against Daish was Iraq.</s>AMANPOUR: So do you believe that you face a common threat and that you also are in the alliance in some way or another? I know that the United States informed your government that these strikes were going to take place.</s>ROUHANI (through translator): Well, I would like to distance myself from the word "coalition" because some countries haven't come together under the umbrella of this coalition. I'm not quite certain how serious they may be. But what I wish to share with you is that in reality all countries, all nations must feel a great degree of responsibility and therefore exert everything within their powers, on the scene, in order to combat the terrorism in North Africa, other parts of Africa, in the Middle East, has really -- the level of terrorism has really skyrocketed. It is relentlessly savage and that does not have mercy against women, elders, children or anyone. So it is a common threat for all of us and it is the same point that I touched upon during my talks at the U.N. General Assembly last year, which is The Wave initiative, a World against Violence and Extremism. And this requires a unison effort from all of us.</s>AMANPOUR: So you're fine with these strikes inside Syria and inside Iraq against Daish, against the Islamic State?</s>ROUHANI (through translator): You're fully aware yourself that terrorist groups are always on the move, are constantly and highly mobile. They're not an organized army that can be damaged heavily or considerably through aerial bombardments. We need a vast campaign of operations, two, three, four, a dozen, two dozen, three dozen of aerial bombardments. The aerial bombardments have more the form of a psychological operation rather than succeeding in the eradication of terrorism. We must pay particular attention to social activities, cultural activities, financial and economic activities as well as the educational side in every country so as to address the causes of the problem. So again, the aerial bombardment campaign is mostly, I would say, a form of theater for -- rather than a serious battle against terrorism.</s>AMANPOUR: These Daish, as everybody calls them now, the Islamic State, ISIS, ISIL, whatever, have come up inside a vacuum in Syria and Iraq for other reasons. How do you feel as the president of Iran, as the main military backer of a regime, the Assad regime, that the United Nations has said has killed 200,000 of its own people, tortured people, executed people? Why does Iran want to be associated with that kind of genocidal barbarism?</s>ROUHANI (through translator): In Syria, you're fully aware, that since the very beginning we've announced that what has been transpiring in Syria is a form of warfare between terrorists and the legitimate army of the country. They kept saying that these are opposition members and we will keep asking, who are these opposition members who have preferred to take up arms so swiftly and so savagely and violently rather than resorting to talks and negotiations? You do know that a group that goes back all the way to three years ago was fighting savagely against the people of Syria, it was the same people that we're labeling today as Daish or ISIL and ISIS. What we do with the government that is there, on the ground? And the Americans now are saying that we give warnings and heads-up to the authorities in Damascus, and the folks in Damascus keep saying that it is under our -- it can be under our authority with prior coordination. So what is really the foundation of this? We must carry on a serious battle against terrorism and put the fate of the nation in the hands of the people of that nation.</s>AMANPOUR: Well, as you know, the people of that nation, it all started when they wanted a little bit of reform. The moderate forces were on the verge of winning until Iran and Hezbollah and Iranian Revolutionary Guard came into Syria in 2012 and turned it around. So my question to you is, are you comfortable being the government that keeps President Assad in power through ground forces and all sorts of other military cooperation?</s>ROUHANI (through translator): In Syria, if the army of the Syrian people, the Syrian government had not stood up and fought against terrorism, if the people of Damascus and other cities had not fought against them, who do you think would have been the victor today? Let's assume no one would have rendered assistance. The victor would have been the same people that everyone is recognizing as terrorists today.</s>AMANPOUR: Mr. President, stand by for just a second. We're going to take a break and then we're going to come back with more of our conversation and talk about the nuclear deal that you're still trying to negotiate.</s>AMANPOUR: And while Iran remains hopeful of achieving a nuclear deal, what about those on the other side of the table? I've been speaking also here to other major players in this drama and here is what both the French foreign minister, Laurent Fabius, and the U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry told me this week.</s>JOHN KERRY, SECRETARY OF STATE: We've been very clear with Iran that we need to try to see some progress. We need to move forward. We're working very, very hard, Christiane, to make sure this historic moment is appropriately put to use but without -- and this is very important -- without compromising one bit what must be achieved in an agreement.</s>LAURENT FABIUS, FOREIGN MINISTER, FRANCE: Our position is simple to define. So far as civil nuclear energy is concerned, it's quite open to Iran. So far as atomic bomb is concerned, the answer is no. And everything must come from these principles. But if the situation remains like it is today, the gap is too big. And the question is raised to the Iranians, do you accept not to have a nuclear bomb?</s>AMANPOUR: When we come back, more of my interview with President Rouhani as we turn to matters closer to home. That's after a break.