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COPYRIGHT 2008 Voxant, Inc.
Original Source: AMERICAN MORNING
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JOHN ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR (voice over): Breaking news. Reactor down.
CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Basically it means that the plutonium production is shut down.
ROBERTS: North Korea demolishes a symbol of its nuclear power overnight.
And united they stand.
SEN. HILLARY CLINTON (D), FMR. PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We will do whatever it takes to try to win back this White House.
ROBERTS: Clinton and Obama hit the road together today. But hard core Clintonites remain.
It's the most politics in the morning on this AMERICAN MORNING.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ROBERTS: And good morning. Thanks very much for joining us on this Friday, which is always a nice -- it kind of rolls off the tongue, doesn't it?
KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: It sure is.
ROBERTS: 27th of June. A lot of big news this morning including we're going to be talking with former British prime minister Tony Blair in just a few moments. Big climate conference scheduled for -- early next month in Japan and we'll be talking to him about what he thinks needs to be done to curb global warming before it's too late.
Sounding a real alarm bell here.
CHETRY: Global warming and our diminishing resources especially when it comes to oil. So we're going to talk all about that.
But we begin with breaking news. And a symbol of North Korea's nuclear ambitions blown to pieces.
According to South Korean media this morning, explosives brought down a plutonium cooling tower at North Korea's nuclear reaction. The implosion happening after Pyongyang handed over a dossier on its nuclear program.
And for that President Bush lifted some sanctions against North Korea and promised to take the communist nation off of the U.S. list of countries that sponsor terrorism.
These developments also are putting Iran in the spotlight. The U.S. and its European allies are also trying to get Tehran to stop its nuclear program but so far Iran has not stepped up to the plate.
CNN's Zain Verjee is live in Washington. And it's interesting to know, I guess, the differences in diplomacy and how they're dealing with North Korea versus Iran as it relates to the nuclear ambition.
ZAIN VERJEE, CNN STATE DEPARTMENT CORRESPONDENT: Exactly, Kiran.
Iran is really watching closely how the U.S. is dealing with North Korea here. Many diplomats are wondering if the North Korean nuclear strategy shouldn't be -- actually be applied as well to Iran.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
VERJEE (voice over): With North Korea the U.S. is flashing a diplomatic green light, lifting sanctions in response to North Korea's actions.
With Iran the red light stays on. The U.S. wants Iran to stop its uranium enrichment before it will sit down and talk.
CONDOLEEZZA RICE, SECRETARY OF STATE: If Iran cannot make the right choice, then it will face consequences.
VERJEE: Iran's president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is holding firm. Using the official Iranian new site to blast what he calls the U.S. language of threat and bullying.
Experts say leaders of both Iran and North Korea use the nuclear issue to cement their hold on power. But unlike North Korea, which is totally isolated and poor, Iran is rich in oil and a powerful force in the Middle East. It's getting even richer and insulated from sanctions, thanks to rising energy prices.
JAMES PHILLIPS, HERITAGE FOUNDATION: I don't think Iran is likely to follow North Korea's lead because it doesn't have the same need to lift economic sanctions. Its economy is much stronger. And it doesn't need international aid to the same degree that North Korea's embattled regime did.
VERJEE: Experts say Iranian leaders are running out the clock on this White House.
AFSHIM MOLAVI, NEW AMERICAN FOUNDATION: Iranian leaders like leaders around the world are playing a waiting game right now -- waiting out the Bush administration, waiting to see who the next president is going to be -- before they make their next strategic move.
VERJEE: And one of Barack Obama's foreign policy advisers says the administration missed the chance to engage Iran in tough negotiations.
WENDY SHERMAN, PRINCIPAL, THE ALBRIGHT GROUP: I think what we've seen in North Korea and what we've seen in Libya is, one, having direct talks between the United States and these very difficult countries does and can produce results.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VERJEE: The Bush administration also points to Libya as a success story where Moammar Qaddafi did eventually decide to give up his weapons of mass destruction -- Kiran?
CHETRY: Yes, and we want to let our viewers know that a little later in the show we will be getting video of that explosion of the cooling tower, that significant action that took place.
Exactly how significant is that, Zain?
VERJEE: Well, blowing something like that up really, many experts are saying, is mainly symbolic. But what it does do, in practical terms, it makes it a lot harder for North Korea to make the plutonium for nuclear bombs.
For the past few months North Korea has been taking a bunch of different steps at Yongbyon to disable the reactor there. So with this act today, the North Koreans is sending the U.S. a message that they're serious about getting rid of their nuclear program. But you know, Kiran, this is North Korean, and few in the U.S. government really trust them.
CHETRY: We've also been getting a little inside scoop on the inspectors. What have you learned?
VERJEE: Well, the inspectors were telling me that when they're at the facility at Yongbyon they stay in a guest house that's nearby. It's pretty basic. They've got some dining rooms, a pool table, people who visit tend to leave their books there because there's not that much to do.
There was a TV and a VCR. They're not sure if it's still there. And in order to communicate at all with the outside world they can only use North Korean land lines and faxes. So they can listen to what the inspectors are saying and know what they're up to.
So they were just giving us a little flavor of what it's like to actually be on the ground.
CHETRY: That is fascinating.
Zain Verjee for us this morning. Good to see you. Thanks.
And we also want to remind our viewers that CNN's chief international correspondent Christiane Amanpour was one of just a few journalists who actually witnessed the destruction of the North Korea's cooling tower and she is going to be joining us live a little bit later in the show. ROBERTS: Breaking news. Oil for the first time ever hitting more than $141 a barrel this morning. Even more alarming the president of OPEC predicts that oil could actually hit $170 a barrel before summer is over. And another economist predicting $7 a gallon gasoline by the year 2010.
Our Ail Velshi just back from the tar sands in northern Alberta. He's got the gloves and he's got the oil drum...
ALI VELSHI, CNN SENIOR BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Yes.
ROBERTS: It should not be full of sand this morning.
VELSHI: Well, I'm much smarter than I was. When I first got this barrel I didn't think to put oil in it. It would have been a little bit extra, I think, ever cost me 80 or 90 bucks to fill up. And now look where we are.
$141.71 is where oil hit just this morning. It's down in that range right now, still around $141.
I was up in the oil sands of northern Alberta and I was scooping around the oil sands, which is sand with oil in it in these gloves. Guess what, I'm keeping the gloves.
CHETRY: You also have the...
VELSHI: These are going to be worth about...
CHETRY: ... mosquito bites to prove it, too.
VELSHI: I have a lot of mosquito bites on my arms. We have -- we've had a busy, busy day. It was worth it because the price of oil has been going up, as you know. That's where it was yesterday.
Let me just show you what happened just yesterday in the price of oil. It settled at $139.64. And that,...
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