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CNN Sunday Morning

Ahmadinejad Holds Press Conference; 11 Killed in Pakistan Attacks; Experts Confirm Memphis Storms Were Tornadoes; Family Fights to Keep Business Out of the Toilet

Aired June 14, 2009 - 06:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

BETTY NGUYEN, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, everybody. From the CNN Center in Atlanta, this is CNN SUNDAY MORNING, June 14. Good morning, everybody. I'm Betty Nguyen.

T.J. HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: And hello to you all. I'm T.J. Holmes. Six o'clock in the morning here in Atlanta, Georgia; 5 a.m. in Beaumont, Texas; 2:30 p.m. in Tehran, where we are waiting on Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. And we are also for that camera crew to get it together. All right.

To a highly anticipated speech in a highly contested election. A lot of headlines coming out of Tehran, and about that election. A lot of people hit the streets. Some of the protests turned violent. We have got that story covered for you this morning.

NGUYEN: Absolutely. Let's start with it.

Ahmadinejad won a second term yesterday in a controversial landslide victory that has sparked protests and demonstration all over Tehran. You're looking at some of that right now.

Well, he is expected to deliver his victory speech in front of thousands of supporters. And again, we will bring you live coverage when it happens, and our very own Christiane Amanpour is there monitoring the situation. We will speak with her live momentarily.

HOLMES: Also, take you to Pakistan now, where at least 11 people were killed in separate attacks today. The deadliest was in the northwest frontier province. A bomb exploded at a market, killing eight people. Twenty others were wounded. A police official says the attack was retaliation by the Taliban for the military's ongoing offensive against militants.

NGUYEN: Well, America not just a black and white country. We know that. Well, that was the message though from former President Bill Clinton. And he gave that to the Arab - American Arab Antidiscrimination Committee.

Last night, he expected the group's global leadership award in Washington. And he spoke about how America is becoming more diverse in the ways the countries are becoming interdependent.

Let's get you to that tension over the disputed Iranian election. Well, it does run deep, and the Pentagon is reminding U.S. forces to remain disciplined and prudent. HOLMES: The U.S. military not on higher alert right now, just yet. Supporters of hard-line President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad celebrating his victory meanwhile.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(SHOUTING)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: The official results gave President Ahmadinejad a landslide, which was not expected to be the result.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAHMOUD AHMADINEJAD, PRESIDENT OF IRAN (through translator): A new era has started - has been ushered in in the Iranian history. We are treading on a new path, although it's the continuation of the previous path. Still, it's on a higher level, and has a look at a more extensive horizon, a brighter horizon, with a greater momentum.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

NGUYEN: All right. So the main challenger, Mir Hossein Mousavi - well, he declared himself the true winner. And he told his supporters to "resist government lies and dictatorship."

HOLMES: Yes, they defied a ban on demonstration, clashed with police.

Our chief international correspondent, Christiane Amanpour, has more on the worst unrest Iran has seen in years.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Frustration boiled over and ran through the streets of this Tehran neighborhood after official election results delivered reform candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi a crushing defeat in Friday's election.

CROWD: Mou-sa-vi! Mou-sa-vi!

AMANPOUR: "Mousavi, Mousavi, get my vote back for me," they shout. "Death to the dictator," they shout.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (SPEAKING IN ARABIC)

AMANPOUR: Hundreds of riot police were deployed, and for an hour here, there were running battles with angry street protesters, as each side charged the other.

The protesters threw rocks and set garbage cans on fire, and many were beaten with batons. After awhile, the growing crowd surged towards the main square. There were more security forces and police, but here they did not intervene. And then the protesters set off down Tehran's main north-south avenue.

"We're here to protect our vote," said this man, "because we feel we've been insulted. Our vote has been insulted."

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We can change it, yes!

AMANPOUR (on camera): Shouting "God is great," the people have now joined thousands and thousands of supporters marching down this main artery that links north with south Tehran.

(voice-over): Hundreds more waved them on from the side streets, from windows and rooftops, from the overpass.

"Come over and support us," shouted the marchers.

As this was happening, the final election results were being broadcast by the Interior Ministry. Of 39 million votes cast, 24 and a half million were counted for President Ahmadinejad. And just over 13 million for Mir Hossein Mousavi.

And with that came the official seal of approval. Iran's supreme religious leader Ayatollah Khomeini delivered a message congratulating the people on their epic Friday election, on the record turnout and the result, saying the president was everyone's president.

But Mousavi, who had last night declared himself the winner based on his campaign's exit polls, also wrote an open letter to the people, calling the results "shocking," and vowing not to surrender - quote - "to such stagecraft, where the system cheats the people out of their vote."

By late evening, President Ahmadinejad appeared on state television to thank his supporters.

AHMADINEJAD (through translator): Well, I thank all, all who created this great epic, all those who voted for me or those who voted for other candidates. All contributed to creation of this great event, and I sincerely thank all of them.

AMANPOUR: There are plans for a victory celebration Sunday, as officials say that Ahmadinejad's surprising landslide, and the record voter turnout, proves that people can trust the process.

Christiane Amanpour, CNN, Tehran.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

NGUYEN: All right. Well, a statement from the White House says the administration doesn't know yet what to think of these results. Quoting here: "Like the rest of the world, we were impressed by the vigorous debate and enthusiasm that this election generated, particularly among young Iranians." And, "We continue to monitor the entire situation closely, including reports of irregularities."

Well, this is the top story on our Web site as well. For the latest on what is going on in Iran, do check out CNN.com.

Also today, on "GPS," Fareed Zakaria on the fight for the future of Iran. What is at stake? That's "GPS," today, 1 p.m. Eastern, right here on CNN.

HOLMES: All right. Let's tell you what President Obama has lined up for this week.

He'll be in Chicago on Monday morning to meet with members of the American Medical Association. Expected back at the White House Monday afternoon for a meeting with Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi.

Then on Wednesday, he welcomes South Korea's president to the White House. He also has two Democratic Campaign Committee fundraisers planned for Thursday.

And on Friday, he'll attend the annual Radio and Television Correspondents Association dinner.

Well, that's a lot of politics things. Iran's not going to be too far from us. We are expecting, again, the Iranian president to come out and make a speech to his supporters. Also expecting him to take some questions in Tehran, and then a victory rally to follow. We will bring you live coverage of that when it happens.

Meanwhile, we'll continue with some other domestic stories here.

It was two tornados - we do have confirmation now - that hit near Memphis on Friday. One of the worst-hit areas was Olive Branch, Mississippi. This is about 30 minutes south of Memphis. We were showing you some of this damage over the past - over this past weekend.

An F2 is what we're told struck and hit residents in this particular area.

Reynolds, we want to bring you in here. Reynolds Wolf standing by in our Weather Center right now.

An F2 - tell me how serious is an F2 tornado.

REYNOLDS WOLF, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes, an EF2 - Enhanced Fujita - Fujita, rather, is pretty strong. I mean, you're going to have some winds there that are going obviously be as strong as hurricane force. And that's the damage you're seeing here.

One of the biggest problems that you have with these storms are the tree damage. The tree damage, of course, knocks over power lines. The power lines, of course, knocks out power. Over 120,000 people without power as of yesterday. I'm sure they've had a few more people come back online. But still, what a mess. What a huge thing for people to deal with.

Right now, we're still seeing some scattered showers, a few storms still in that region. Now, Memphis, for the time being, is in the clear. But if you happen to look just a little bit farther back to the west, in Jonesboro, just north of Little Rock, some intense storms. These are going to be drifting off towards the east. So Memphis, you may be dealing with some heavy rain on Union Avenue, perhaps down on Beale Street. Could get fairly heavy, especially in the next couple of hours.

Back into Springfield and Bartlesville, north of that area, back into Wichita, some scattered showers and storms. And later on today, one of the key spots where we could be seeing this rough weather is not just the mid-Mississippi Valley, but perhaps into the central Plains, perhaps all the way into the Dakotas before the day is out, and into Nebraska. Severe storms possible, mainly into the late- afternoon hours and into the early evening.

Very hot still in Texas, where high temperatures today are going to be right back into the 90s in many locations. For Dallas, going up to 96. Houston, a little bit warmer than yesterday, 95. On the other side of the dividing line, in Kansas City, 74 degrees; 84 in Minneapolis; 77 in Chicago. D.C. with 81. Very muggy there along the Tidal Basin.

Atlanta and Tampa and Miami mainly into the 90s; 98 in Phoenix as we wrap things up. San Francisco and Portland, mainly into the 50s and 70s. Seattle with 73.

All right. You're up to speed. That's the latest on the forecast. Let's send it back to you.

NGUYEN: Hey, Reynolds, did I hear right? Summer officially starts - what? - next weekend?

WOLF: It's going to be weekend. I think the exact time is 1:43 - not sure if it's in the afternoon. I think it's in the - actually in the early morning.

NGUYEN: I got you.

WOLF: So we'll - we'll be sure to come over to your place. We'll bring streamers, party, champagne. It's going to be insane.

NGUYEN: I was just going to say, tell that to the folks in Texas today.

HOLMES: Yes.

NGUYEN: Because it already feels like summer there.

WOLF: Absolutely. Yes. They've got the party started awhile back. No question.

NGUYEN: All right. Thanks, Reynolds.

WOLF: You bet.

HOLMES: All right, Renny, thanks.

And like we mentioned here, we're not going to be too far from our breaking story we're keeping eye on over in Iran, specifically Tehran, where a lot of supporters of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and many supporters of the person he defeated in the election on Friday expected to hit the streets today, expecting to see a victory rally from the president, who has reportedly been re-elected, according to official results released by the Interior Ministry there.

Our - one of our - or the head of our Dubai - our Dubai bureau, actually, is in Tehran, has been working in Tehran for the past couple of days, covering this election.

Samson Desta is on the line with me now.

Samson, I know you've been out in the streets as we have seen some of these protests and some of this violence erupt now.

Tell me what you have seen. Also tell me what the current situation is in the streets right now.

VOICE OF SAMSON DESTA, CNN DUBAI BUREAU CHIEF (by telephone): Yes, T.J. We - we arrived in this area called Balai Square (ph), which is in the heart of Tehran, because we had information that the opposition leader, Mir Hossein Mousavi, would appear, or hold some sort of press conference or statement. Remember, we have not seen him in about two days, since he cast his vote on Friday.

So we arrived here about 45 minutes or so ago. We found a - a rather large crowd chanting, "Mousavi, Mousavi." When we asked what was taking place, we were told that the building where he was supposed to appear had been shut down, and this appearance had been canceled.

At that point, the crowd got very angry, very agitated. They started throwing rocks at cars, smashing windows. And at one point, we saw a large number of riot police arrive here. And there is a bit of a cat-and-mouse game between the crowd and the police; they were chasing each other back. The police were throwing tear gas; the protesters were throwing rocks.

And at some point, it got really ugly, where the riot police were actually beating people down. And we got hit - we got hit in the arm as well with - with their batons. They didn't make any difference between any - any - any journalists, any protesters, any tourists. They were just beating anyone that was in their way.

And at one point we had to retreat to an alley. And we were actually hold up in a - in a small area, where there were about 15 or so protesters. And some were - some were crying. Some had their eyes tearing from the tear gas. Others had difficult breathing.

And we left that little area to go back out and see what was happening. It looks like - it looks like the police have quelled the protesters for the time being.

I'm still hearing chants. I'm still hearing tear gas being fired. But we have to retreat now, because it is getting a little bit ugly.

HOLMES: And - and Samson... DESTA: T.J.

HOLMES: Samson, I want to ask you about reports we're getting - you talked about Mousavi reportedly or expecting him to come out and make a statement, and he did not. There are some reports that possibly he's hold up and hasn't come out, but also that he could be under house arrest.

Have you been able to get any indication of whether or not this is true?

DESTA: We - we have heard that since yesterday. A lot of these social sites, such as Facebook and others, are - you know, people are actually posting information.

Now we don't know if this - if this true or not. But a lot of people are talking about the fact that not only Mousavi but other leaders, other opposition leaders may be under some sort of house arrest or maybe in jail. In fact, one person told me today - one person who's here at - at this location told me that he thinks and he's heard that Mousavi is in jail.

Now, we have tried to - to make contact with his - with his campaign. And a number of people have told us that he remains in his house, but that he is free to come and go, but that he has to inform officials where he's going and why he's going.

So there are a lot of rumors at this point, that the opposition is being held perhaps in house arrest, perhaps remain in their house with - with limited movement. But we don't have any confirmation at that - at this point.

HOLMES: And Samson, one last thing here. You said it appears, at least where you are, that police have been able to quell whatever protests had erupted and violence had erupted in the area where you are.

However, what do you get a sense of, looking around, that police are preparing for today? Because we are standing by, waiting to hear from President Ahmadinejad. A large rally is expected. So really, a large number of his supporters expected to meet out in the streets. A lot of the supporters of Mousavi, who have already in the streets the past couple of days - what are police mobilizing for?

DESTA: Well, I - I think they are going to expect and anticipate for a - for a large demonstration to continue.

The reason why I'm saying that is because I've spoken to a lot of people, not just today, in today's protests, but late last night we went out to - in another area of town, where people were very angry, smashing store windows. There are - there was a large passenger bus that was set on fire, and there were a lot of clashes taking place between police and protesters.

And similarly today, again, people that I've talked to here, a number of students, are saying, 'We're not going to stop.' One woman, a student, told me, 'What we saw last Friday was a coup d'etat.' And this is what I'm hearing from a lot of students here, that, 'We want our votes to be counted. We did not vote for Ahmadinejad; we vote - we voted for Mousavi. That's who we want.'

One individual came up to me and said, 'We want to see how President Obama is going to handle this. Is he going to accept this, or is he going to do something about this?'

So there's - there's a lot of anger on the streets. And so I do continue - I do anticipate this to continue.

HOLMES: All right. Samson Desta on the scene for us, on the streets there in Tehran. Samson, you stay safe, buddy. We'll be checking back in with you. Thank you so much.

NGUYEN: And we continue to follow this story this morning. We are still waiting for Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to come out and speak at his victory rally today. It's supposed to happen around - what? - 5:30 Eastern. It was pushed to...

HOLMES: Yes.

NGUYEN: ...6:00 this morning. Now it's 6 - 6:15, and we're still waiting on that. When it does happen, we will bring it to you.

There's much more to come on this story. So you don't want to miss it. You're watching CNN SUNDAY MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: All right. What you're looking at here comes to us from an iReporter. You can see some of these demonstrations and rallies in the streets, scenes from the streets of Iran. We'll make the assumption that it is Tehran. A lot of the large demonstrations we've been seeing.

But you see a lot of that green down there? That's the trademark color of Mousavi, Mir Hossein Mousavi, who is the - the main opposition candidate of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who - it appears that Mousavi has been defeated, at least according to the numbers released by the government there in Tehran.

However, many of his demonstrators believe that this has been a fraud, that this election has been a farce in some of way, it has been stolen from there. We are expecting today - we're expecting - actually, over the past hour, we've been waiting to hear from President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Expecting him to make a speech, also to take some questions and to have a huge victory rally there in Tehran.

We've been waiting to hear from him. We have not heard from Mousavi. It's, like...

NGUYEN: Yes.

HOLMES: ...just only in a statement....

NGUYEN: We were expecting to hear from him...

HOLMES: ...as well.

NGUYEN: ...yesterday and he never came out to speak to the crowds. And as we just heard from our producer there on the ground, says there may be some reports that possibly he is being held under house arrest, maybe in prison. It -- it's unknown at this point. This is a very fluid situation, and a story that we continue to follow.

HOLMES: Well, yes. As you mentioned there, guards at his house. No one knows if those guards are his own, or if those guards are from the - the government.

NGUYEN: But no one's heard from him.

HOLMES: A lot of questions today.

NGUYEN: Big question.

HOLMES: We're still waiting to hear from President Ahmadinejad. Our Christiane Amanpour is there as well.

NGUYEN: Right.

HOLMES: Going to be monitoring his press conference. Expecting her certainly to ask him some questions.

When we get all that stuff in live, we will certainly bring that to you when it happens.

NGUYEN: Absolutely.

In the meantime though, we all know that every time you use the Internet, there is some risk involved.

HOLMES: Yes, now there's a list of the most dangerous terms you can search for.

Our Josh Levs here to show this to us. Good morning, Josh.

JOSH LEVS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you.

Had you guys seen this list? It's interesting.

HOLMES: No.

LEVS: There's some - some real surprises on it. It comes from McAfee, which follows Internet security all over the place. And you can see the CNN.com headline here, "What are the most dangerous search terms on the Internet?"

Let's get straight to it. I want everyone to see this graphic. Because what they did was, they studied what happens when you search for thousands of terms. And they found that these are, in their view, the riskiest: "Word unscrambler"; "lyrics"; "MySpace"; "free music downloads." It has a lot to do with popularity, and who - in some cases, who - what - what other type - kinds of things people are looking for once they use those search terms.

And what they found is, the results that you get more often, with terms like that, will lead to malware, which is stuff that's bad for your computer. So you get a list of results, you click on one of those results, and it automatically downloads stuff onto your computer that you don't want.

There's one more graphic here, too, which shows you categories of things - risky categories. People who are looking at things that are like screen savers or free games. Also, people who type in "work from home." In a lot of cases, if you're searching for anything in that category, you end up getting results that if you click on one of those results, you have a higher risk of getting some bad stuff onto your computer.

Now, it's also becoming a much bigger problem in this economy, as an expert told our Richard Quest.

Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DAVID DEWALT, CEO AND PRES., MCAFEE: One of the things we've seen is, as the economy has declined, we've seen the threat landscape increase. The amount of cybercrime we see, the cyberwarfare that's beginning around the world, it's just a - it's a - a real elevated threat landscape.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEVS: So Betty and T.J., this is something a lot of people are looking out for right now. It's certainly a big concern. It's a growing concern.

And if you're going to use one of those terms, just be extra careful when you click on one of the results, that it's from a source that you trust. A lot more info, CNN.com.

Back to you.

NGUYEN: All right. Thank you for that, Josh.

LEVS: You got it. Thanks.

NGUYEN: Also, making a home out of shipping containers?

See that guy right there? You know him, don't you? That is our man Reynolds Wolf welding. I don't know why they let him near one of those. But we're going to tell you what he's up to and how it can really help a lot of folks.

Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

NGUYEN: All right. With the recession putting profits in the toilet, one port-a-potty company is feeling the ripple effects.

CNN's John Zarrella has our "Money & Main St."

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Swinging high in the air, is a construction worker's best friend, especially when you work up in the nosebleed section.

This is Orlando's new Events Center. It will seat close to 20,000 when it opens next year. But right now, the only seats that John Sharp Jr. is concerned about are the ones in the 42 portable toilets he's placed on this job site for its 400 workers.

JOHN SHARP JR., COMFORT HOUSE: How's that chemical working? Did you like it?

ZARRELLA: With construction bottoming out, Sharp's company, Comfort House, is part of the ripple effect. Ninety-five percent of his port-a-potties were on construction sites, and business isn't flowing like it used to.

Profit margins are thinner. So he's had to lay off about a third of his workers. A seat of toilets in his storage area sit unrented.

But he says it's not a sign of desperation.

SHARP: We're not in a position where we feel the need that we have to liquidate anything, because we own what we have.

ZARRELLA: And that's part of the business plan, he says, that's helped his family survive and ward off the recession and the bottom feeders who see their port-a-potty sitting and thinking he's desperate to be bought out.

SHARP: Had we spent outside our means, had we grown and - and - and leveraged everything, financed everything, we'd be in a really tough situation. Good business model, storing money, saving money when you make money, keeping things simple.

ZARRELLA: This is the fourth recession for Comfort House. John Sharp Sr. has learned plenty from the first three.

JOHN SHARP SR., COMFORT HOUSE: My boat is a 12-foot john boat I use for duck hunting. And that's my yacht. And that's the - pretty much the extent of my extravagance. So we - we - we kind of live by that motto, the - the money that's made in the company kind of stays in the company.

ZARRELLA: And as long as these toilets stay rented, Sharp says, they all smell like money.

John Zarrella, CNN, Orlando.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) NGUYEN: And check out more stories affecting Main Street this Thursday morning on CNN's "AMERICAN MORNING." That's "Money & Main St., " 6 a.m. Eastern, on "AMERICAN MORNING."

HOLMES: Of course, the Iranian elections have been a big story this weekend. We'll tell you what Americans are saying about the election results.

NGUYEN: Yes, plus what's next for the president in passing his health-care plan. We are live in Washington.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: Well, welcome back to this CNN SUNDAY MORNING, everybody. I'm T.J. Holmes.

NGUYEN: Yes, good morning, everybody. I'm Betty Nguyen. Thanks for joining us.

HOLMES: We're taking a look at some of our top stories this morning.

We are waiting for a victory speech from Iran's hard-line president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. The main opposition candidate and his supporters accuse the president of using fraud to steal the election. The Pentagon reminding troops in the region to be disciplined and prudent but the U.S. military is not on any heightened alert.

NGUYEN: Not at this moment.

President Obama announcing that $73 million in aid will go to Zimbabwe. The pledge coming at a White House meeting with the country's prime minister. Now, the president praised the prime minister's courage in forging a power-sharing government with President Robert Mugabe. And due to ongoing concerns, the U.S. aid will bypass the government and go directly to the people.

HOLMES: Six Flags just filed for bankruptcy. In a letter to employees, Six Flags CEO Mark Shapiro says despite doing well last year, the company is struggling to keep up the $2.4 billion of debt it inherited. Shapiro said this is strictly a financial restructuring move. All 20 parks are expected to remain open.

Meanwhile, Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and his supporters are celebrating his re-election in Friday's vote today. However, not everybody, right now, is celebrating. And right now the White House is keeping an eye on things, right now.

NGUYEN: Yes.

HOLMES: Not exactly sure that he was the people's choice.

NGUYEN: That's the main point of contention there. And our Elaine Quijano is at the White House with the latest developments on this story.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ELAINE QUIJANO, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (On camera): In the White House response, there is no mention of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, certainly no congratulatory wishes or anything of the kind. Instead, the Obama administration is making it clear there is skepticism surrounding the results of the Iranian election. In a written statement White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said, quote, "Like the rest of the world, we were impressed by the vigorous debate and enthusiasm that this election generated, particularly among young Iranians. We continue to monitor the entire situation closely, including reports of irregularities.

Now, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton echoed those comments. At a news conference, she said the United States is continuing to watch the situation closely.

HILLARY CLINTON, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: We are monitoring the situation as it unfolds in Iran. But we, like the rest of the world, are waiting and watching to see what the Iranian people decide. The United States has refrained from commenting on the election in Iran. We obviously hope that the outcome reflects the genuine will and desire of the Iranian people.

QUIJANO: Now, ahead of the results, President Obama had said that regardless of the outcome, the U.S. would still try to engage with the Iranian government. But analysts say with Ahmadinejad still in power, it's not clear what new opportunities the U.S. will have to do that.

Well, Iranians all over the world voted in Friday's election. These are pictures of a polling place in Emeryville, California, are from an iReporter who asked that we not use his name. His wife is still in Iran and he said there are some 200,000 Iranians in the Bay Area. He says this polling station ran out of ballots after handing out about 800. Now another 600 ballots were brought in to the station several hours later.

Don't forget to send in your iReports to ireport.com.

HOLMES: And a reminder, we are keeping an eye on all things happening in Iran, in Tehran, specifically. We have our people on the ground, including our Christiane Amanpour, who is waiting to hear from President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, expecting a speech from him. Also to take questions from reporters and then followed by a victory rally. But supporters of Ahmadinejad also supporters of his opposition, all expected in the streets today in what has already been a violent couple of days after the -

NGUYEN: Still waiting for his opposition, the opposition leader, in fact, to speak, too. We've been waiting since yesterday for that. So maybe we'll see more on that portion of the story, as well. There are a lot of developments in the Iranian election. We have it right here on CNN. Don't go away. You're watching CNN SUNDAY MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) HOLMES: No more Marlboro Lights, no more Camel Lights on the shelves, no more flashy smoking ads, near a bunch of kids? Well, yes, because of a new bill on the president's desk gives the Food and Drug Administration power to regulate tobacco. Congress passes it Friday after years of fighting with tobacco companies. And under this bill companies would have to use bigger warning labels. They can't use terms like low-tar, light or mild. They can't sell candy or fruit- flavored cigarettes. Doesn't sound good anyway. Also they must obey tougher advertising rules. The president, who has struggled with smoking himself, actually, vows he will sign that bill.

NGUYEN: Here is a look at what the president has lined up for this week. He's going to be in Chicago on Monday morning to meet with members of the American Medical Association. He's expected back at the White House Monday afternoon for a meeting with the Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi. Then on Tuesday, he welcomes South Korea's president to the White House. He has two Democrat Campaign Committee fundraisers planned for Thursday and then on Friday, he rounds it out by attending an annual Radio & Television Correspondents Association dinner.

HOLMES: Also this week, he'll talk about healthcare reform on Capitol Hill. Some politicians say Americans should get the same coverage they have. Could that really work for the uninsured and what does it cover? Our Brianna Keilar talked to one congresswoman who knows all this first-hand.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Politicians on the stump have long said Americans should have access to --

BARACK OBAMA, (D) PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: A plan that makes sure every American has health care coverage that is at least as good as the health care coverage I receive as a member of Congress.

KEILAR: But what makes the coverage they get so great? We asked Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz, a mother of three, who spent last year battling breast cancer.

REP. DEBBIE WASSERMAN-SCHULTZ, (D) FLORIDA: The first major surgery, really major surgery was my double mastectomy. The submitted charges, just for my double mastectomy were $15,000.

KEILAR: But she only paid a few hundred dollars for that surgery, her first of seven. She estimates the total cost of her care is close to $100,000.

WASSERMAN-SCHULTZ: We are a middle class family and there is no possible -- that would have just been the beginning of a mountain of debt. I mean, I can easily see just from having gone through my own health experience in the last year how very quickly a family could be bankrupt.

KEILAR: Wasserman-Schultz's Blue Cross/Blue Shield basic plan is one of 10 nationwide plans and hundreds of smaller regional plans members of Congress and other federal employees can choose from. The government pays two-thirds of the cost of premiums and federal employees pick up the rest from about $1,300 per year up to $2,400 per year, depending on the plan. Sounds great, but could this kind of care be extended to the nation's 47 million uninsured?

BETH MCGLYNN, RAND CORPORATION: It does let people pick coverage that is what they think they need, and what they're willing to pay for that coverage.

KEILAR: Beth McGlynn, a top researcher for the non-partisan Rand Corporation, says another advantage is the program is already up and running nationwide. But there's a rub, the cost to taxpayers. McGlynn says perhaps the only way to pay for the change, or any health care reform, is to tax benefits employees now receive through their employer.

(On camera): We should point out that Congresswoman Wasserman- Schultz is a Democrat, and like most Democrats she favors a government-run insurance plan as part of health care reform. Republicans say this is the wrong way to go and they point out when you look at the options members of Congress have, they are all private insurance options. Brianna Keilar, CNN, Capitol Hill.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOLMES: The health care discussion continues later this morning on "State Of The Union" with John King. Starts at 9 a.m. Eastern Time. His guests will include the Health and Human Services secretary. You can join John King, starting at 9:00 Eastern, right here.

NGUYEN: We're also keeping an eye on the situation in Iran where riot police have had to hold back angry crowds. More demonstrations today that are planned. Also waiting for the president, Ahmadinejad, to speak today. So a lot going on there.

HOLMES: And a lot going on with your child's education. How is your child's school performing? The Secretary of Education Arne Duncan says it's time to raise the bar.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ARNE DUNCAN: You have to raise standards. I've talked a lot about we need more time. Our school day is too short. Our school week is too short. Our school year is too short. We need to make sure our children have the opportunity to be competitive in this new global economy.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: Stay here for my conversation with the education secretary as he lays out the administration's plan for America's schools.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) HOLMES: Better schools, better teachers, higher test scores? These are all lofty goals for the administration, right now, trying to improve America's public school system. I caught up with the Education Secretary Arne Duncan just a couple of days ago in New York to talk to him about some of these things. He says, right now he doesn't believe our schools or our students can compete globally.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

HOLMES (On camera): For every parent out there going that is going to be listening and to hear directly from the Education secretary, what kind of education is their child getting?

ARNE DUNCAN, SECRETARY OF EDUCATION: There are many children that are getting a phenomenal education, a world-class education. There are children who are getting a decent education. I worry a lot, there are certain children, in certain communities, who I think we are poorly serving today. In a country as big as ours, there's many different communities, there's a wide spread there. I worry a lot about the disparities.

HOLMES: What is the cause of that opportunity gap you just mentioned?

DUNCAN: Lots of things. In education, great talent matters tremendously. Great teachers, great principals, great mentors, great role models make a huge different in our students' lives. So what are we doing systemically to make sure the children who need the most help are getting that? I think we have a long way to go in that journey.

HOLMES: How much is it of the resources that child might have and that wealthy neighborhood you mentioned versus the quality of the teacher?

DUNCAN: The most important thing is to get great teachers and great principals into every classroom, into every school. There again, talent matters tremendously. Teachers in the toughest of communities who are doing a phenomenal job are changing students' lives every single day. So when we surround our children -- not just during the school day, but after school, weekends, again, mentors, role models. This is why I'm such a big fan of what the 100 Black Men are doing around the country. When our children have the opportunity to be surrounded by adults who care passionately about them and stick with them for the long haul, they'll do just fine. They'll do fantastic.

HOLMES: How many bad teachers are we looking at in this country? I know you don't have some hard number. But give us some kind of general idea, how many out there are just not doing a good job?

DUNCAN: Honestly, the vast majority of teachers do a phenomenal job. I think we're very, very lucky here. We have some teachers where it is not quite happening. And I think two things have to happen. When teachers are struggling we need to support them, we need to help them, give the professional development, give them the mentoring they need to be successful. But at the end of the day, if it's just simply not working, I think we need to weed those teachers at the bottom out. So for the vast majority of teachers who are doing a great, great job. The real challenge and a huge opportunity is over the next couple of years in the country, we have a baby boom generation that is retiring. We anticipate as many as a million teachers over the next four, five, six years are going to retire, or are eligible to retire. We need now, and I'm really focused on bringing in the best and brightest.

If we can bring in the phenomenal next generation of talent into education, we'll transform public education, not for a couple of years in our country, but for another generation, for 25, 30 years. This is a once in sort of a - it's literally a once in a generation opportunity. So, I'm really focused on how do we travel the country, how do we strategically attract the best and brightest to come into education?

Working with the president, the first lady, the vice president, his wife, we are starting this fall, we really want to travel the country and have an all-out campaign to make sure that if you want to serve your country, if you want make a difference, come teach with us.

HOLMES: The president mentioned, and talked about some of those standards and improving the standards, and teachers need to meet those standards. He said, if they don't at some point, there are a lot of other professions out there, maybe you should try one.

Now, is the president, his Education of secretary, going to advocate and trying to put in place some kind of a system and some kind of standards where if the teacher does not meet those by however much time you give them, are you going to be getting teachers out, firing teachers?

DUNCAN: We have to always try to look along the entire continuum. I would argue we don't do a good job on either side. I don't think we do anywhere a near good enough job of recognizing the great teachers, supporting them and learning from them, and helping them become master teachers and help them work with other people. So, at the top end, I don't think we do a good enough job of identifying talent. At the bottom end, we absolutely don't do a good enough job of moving out those where it's not working.

HOLMES: I want to link teacher achievement to student achievement, but if I was a teacher in Berkley, California, and the student performance there isn't going to match up with a kid in Little Rock, Arkansas?

DUNCAN: This is really being driven at the local level. I think that's very important. This should not be driven - this should not be federal standards, it shouldn't be national standards. We should be international standards.

Our children today, in Little Rock, aren't competing with children down the block in Little Rock, or in the state. Our children are now competing with children in India and China for jobs. Right now I'm concerned that our children in too many places are at a competitive disadvantage. We need to change what we're doing. We have to raise standards.

I've talked a lot about we need more time. Our school day is too short. Our school week is too short. Our school year is too short. We need to make sure our children have the opportunity to be competitive in this new global economy.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOLMES: How do you think that sits with students to hear the Education secretary say you're school day, your school week, your school year, is too short.

NGUYEN: My little sister is still in high school. She is not happy about that. Look, they study hard, I get it. But when you look at the test scores, you can see why we're, you know, hearing Arne Duncan and all these other people say they need to stay in school a little bit longer.

HOLMES: And the president mentioned in that press conference, or that town hall he had in Wisconsin, kids watch too much TV here and they play too many video games.

NGUYEN: Yes, they do.

HOLMES: So, it might be a matter of just keeping them in the classroom all day.

NGUYEN: And may be a few extra video games. That can be a teaching tool, right?

HOLMES: Maybe.

NGUYEN: Maybe that's the tweak.

Well, the Iranian president is scheduled to deliver his victory speech, but his victory rally may be drowned out by protesters.

HOLMES: And our Reynolds Wolf visited what some may call the largest - is this LEGOS, in the nation? Is that what this is, Reynolds? I can't wait to see this one. They're shipping containers turned into homes. If you can hear him answering me.

NGUYEN: Yelling across the room.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REYNOLDS WOLF, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Isn't that kind of weird? You live inside a house that was once made from containers that have been all over the world? Part of your house has been in China.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That's nice. That's as close as I'll get to the Great Wall of China, then.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) WOLF: Well -

NGUYEN: Cameras everywhere.

WOLF: It's amazing. I look over my shoulder and there's America, right there, looking in at us.

NGUYEN: All right, Reynolds, you have a really interesting story coming up. We talk about the mortgage meltdown and all of that and people losing their homes. But this is a way to get a home in a unique fashion.

WOLF: Absolutely. You're covering a lot of bases here. I guess, you could say, in some respects you're making a very inexpensive home, but at the same time, you're recycling. Recycling those giant shipping containers. We see them on the big boats, you see them on the back of trucks.

There's a couple of companies out there that are actually taking those and converting them into designer homes. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

WOLF (voice over): An estimated 18 million shipping containers are being used to carry products around the world. But because the U.S. imports more than it exports, many of those containers end up gathering dust. David Cross was a merchant marine when he thought of using shipper containers as a building material. Having seeing the containers weather storms at sea, he teamed up with engineer Stevan Armstrong to form the business S.G. Blocks.

STEVAN ARMSTRONG, S.G. BLOCKS: There's no question they're strong. The loading conditions that they see are incredibly greater than they'll ever see in a static environment, even an earthquake or hurricane type forces.

WOLF (on camera): Not all these are in pristine conditions. Some of these have a little bit of wear and tear. But the idea is to fix them up and some day the structure could be a house.

(Voice over): Reusing containers is often faster and cheaper than starting from scratch making homes more affordable than the traditional construction. The company built its first home in South Carolina.

(On camera): Is that kind of weird? I mean, you're living inside a house that was once made from containers that has been all over the world. I mean part of your house has been in China.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That's nice. That's as close as I'll get to the Great Wall of China then.

WOLF (voice over): According to Cross, it takes 95 percent less energy to repurpose containers than it does to melt them down. The movement is spreading with containers being used in designs all over the world. And Cross? He's happy to play along. DAVID CROSS, S.G. BLOCKS: All my children tell their friends at school that their father works with the biggest LEGOS in the world.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

NGUYEN: That's a good way of putting it.

WOLF: Yes, and that's what it is all about. You're taking these containers, some of them are in pretty bad shape, you fix them up, you make something out of them and relatively inexpensive. Plus those things are so strong. Because when they're on those giant container ships, those things are stacked like six or seven stories high. They deal with all the elements. Case in point, they've already been tested. You know they're going to be strong, you know they're going to be durable. You fix them up, you weld them together and viola, homes.

NGUYEN: And some of those homes are really pretty. I mean -

HOLMES: Yeah.

NGUYEN: I mean, a very modern design. Can you use more than one? Or, you know?

WOLF: Maybe.

NGUYEN: I would imagine. I mean, it's the whole LEGOS thing, right?

WOLF: Yes, you really can. You can stack them up fairly high. In fact, there is some military bases that have actually -- I can't think of any right off the top of my head. I think Fort Bragg, they actually have some buildings out there where they have taken these containers and actually made like dormitories.

NGUYEN: Oh!

WOLF: Yes, it's an amazing thing. But yes, they also sell them privately. You can go on many different websites. There are several companies that actually do this. And yes, you can actually buy a home. They've got some in Southern California, some in Redondo Beach. They're just amazing things. And you can do a lot with them.

NGUYEN: And it's a lot cheaper? How much cheaper?

WOLF: Right off the top of my head, it can be thousands less. But it also depends on what you're going to do. I mean, if you have a plan, you have blueprints for a certain structure and then you have to take these. It's going to be comparable. Plus, at the same time, you're doing something better in terms of the environment. You're reusing some materials.

NGUYEN: Right, recycling.

WOLF: So, yes, you have to look at it from that standpoint, too. So, it's a win-win. HOLMES: That's very interesting, Reynolds.

WOLF: Thank you.

HOLMES: We'll have to have you back.

WOLF: Thank you. All right. We'll have to do this again.

NGUYEN: You have another good one coming up, too.

WOLF: Absolutely. We have weather coming up, too. Interesting stuff, possibility of severe weather in the Central Plains later on today, so touch on that.

NGUYEN: OK.

HOLMES: Thanks, buddy. We'll see you shortly.

NGUYEN: Thank you.

WOLF: OK, guys.

HOLMES: Meanwhile, we are keeping an eye on what's happening over in Iran. Like we have been reporting this morning. We're expecting to hear from the Iranian president. He's scheduled to deliver a speech, his victory speech as it is being billed. His victory rally, however, may be drown out by protesters.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

NGUYEN: Hello, everybody. From the CNN Center in Atlanta, this is CNN SUNDAY MORNING. It's June 14th. Good morning, everybody. I'm Betty Nguyen

HOLMES: Hello to you all, I'm T.J. Holmes. It's 7 o'clock in the morning here in Atlanta where we sit. It's 6 o'clock in New Orleans, Louisiana. But it is also 3:30 in the afternoon in Tehran. We are awaiting the Iranian president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, expecting a victory speech in the highly contested election that we saw happen there on Friday.

That is our top story this morning. There is a lot of anger in the streets in Tehran. We've been watching the past couple of days. There have been clashes, riot police clashing with supporters of the opposition candidate. And we do get word, we can go live now. We finally do have the Iranian president. Let's listen in.

(BEGIN LIVE FEED, IN PROGRESS)

MAHMOUD AHMADADINEJAD, PRESIDENT OF IRAN (through translator): The people of the Iran rule over this country and people's elections are free and real. In fact, the people who rules over this country. The most glorious elections was held in Iran on Friday. In Iran, the people decide whom to vote for and no one can actually force the people to vote to any particular individual and, in fact, the people's vote is contingent upon people's will. In recent months, we have been witnessing people's eagerness and awareness. Every member of this nation considered their vote as belonging to themselves and considered participation in elections as a social duty and a national duty.

There are two issues that are of significance for our nation: Firstly, the massive turnout in the course of the election and the strengthening the pillars of national strength and also strengthening hope for the future; and secondly, electing the individual who will be able to better materialize their hopes and wishes.

Elections in Iran can be considered as a new model of popular rule on the basis of morality and human values and divine values. The liberal democracy -- a democracy that has no bonds with morality. In fact, take away two major elements from society. The first element is the people and people's role.

In countries that -- where liberal democracy prevails, several political parties with limited members dominate the people and, in fact, the people do not have any other choice. In fact, these are the people that are actually put aside, set aside, and politics turn into a professional process and, in fact, another point that is put aside is morality. When you eliminate morality, that would eliminate humanity and human beings will die and tyranny and injustice will prevail and that would lead to further rifts between different strata of the society and emergence of conflict.

The root causes of problems in today's world is due to the elimination of morality and the political relations in the liberal democrat system. In Iran, popular rule is contingent upon ethics and morality. It emanates from ethics and it strengthens ethics and morality and moral values. So, you see, after 30 years, here in the Islamic Republic of Iran, people's turn out and participation plays a more effective role compared to the early days of the revolution.

Moral values have further blossomed and have become more profound compared to the past 30 years. You see that the people of Iran pursued their sublime goals and objectives. The people of Iran are faithful and are loyal to divine values and humanitarian values. The people of Iran are smart, independent, acting on the basis of moral values and support justice and righteousness. The people of Iran hate lies and aggression and injustice. The people of Iran are humble.

And this nation has never encroached upon other country's rights, and at the same time, resists bullying measures and acts resulting from selfishness. The people of Iran -- the Iranian nation is brave and is not intimidated by threats. The Iranian people are -- act on the basis of moral values and, in fact, dislikes any irregularities in political and economic domains. The Iranian people does not change its dignity with anything else. The people of Iran called for a promotion and progress for itself and other world nations.

And, of course, in the face of those who want to hamper the progress of the Iranian nation, the Iranian nation will resist their policies and measures. The Iranian nation is of the view that the systems emanating from World War II -- resulting from World War II and those rotten systems are in contrast with the values of human rights, and they must be -- actually, the world is in need of new systems, systems based on humanitarian values, justice, friendship, equity and respecting the rights of other nations and peoples.

Today, all of us must press our hands in order to set up a humanitarian system in the world. The era of having a few countries making decisions for the fate of other world countries has come to an end. The era of several governments just pursuing their illegitimate goals and imposing their wishes has come to an end.

Today, everyone must play their role and share in the global management system and, in fact, such a system cannot be managed without all out participation. All people should have their constructive role in the global management system. Should they -- the Iranian nation is a model with respect to the management of the country -- a model of religious popular rule on the basis of humanitarian and moral value. And, of course, such a model can be used by other world countries, as well.

In the course of the recent presidential elections, the people of Iran faced a wave of psychological warfare and a propaganda ballyhooed by media that had not learned the lessons in the past. I can remember that, four years ago, some western media affiliated to the domineering and eudemonic system and the capitalist system that lacks culture. It did adopt certain stances against our nation and they actually launched psychological warfare propagating, prefabricating and faked news, seeking to divert the Iranian nation from its right path and even for certain -- for a period of time after the elections, they tried to actually tarnish the image of the great move by the Iranian nation.

Today, I can see that there are certain elements that have not learned their lessons from the past. Of course, there are certain governments that make other claims. We do not reject these claims, but we do not just consider those claims. We actually -- also attack significant practical actions. Some have made mistakes.

They expected our nation to give in to the propaganda. And, in fact, they are treading the same path today. They have made a mistake.

I recommend them that the world is in need of a change and that the world cannot be managed using this system and they should also realize that the people of Iran are smart and vigilant and the Iranian nation is aware of their objectives. The Iranian nation is after contributing to the progress of this country and seeks to contribute to the country's promotion -- promoting the country's status, and the people of Iran are after reforming the global political condition, and we are after establishing sustainable security and peace on the basis of respect, justice and purity.

It is clear that in such circumstances, the Iranian nation will not recognize a political interaction based on bullying. In fact, the Iranian elections showed that an idealistic and spiritual by the Iranian nation is deep rooted -- the third and fourth generations were actively involved in the elections. This means that the vigilance and self-confidence that was created 30 years ago in the first generation of the revolution still exists in the hearts, minds, the will and action of the third generation, more profoundly.

The move by the Iranian nation is a turning point in contemporary history and is model of national and human rule over their fate, and it's a model of human relations on the basis of love, friendship, respect, and justice. Iran's election that witnessed participation of more than 84 percent of eligible voters can be considered as great epic and also a heavy blow to the tyrannical pillars of the bullying systems in the world.

The Iranian nation showed that, today, it is more determined and has a stronger belief and further divides by the path of imam and Imam Khamenei and the martyrs and also the sublime ideals of the revolution. The Iranian nation showed that it still complies with logic, constructive interaction, dialogue and, of course, it will not permit others to make decisions about their fate.

I thank you very much. And I now take your questions.

(APPLAUSE)

MODERATOR (through translator): Thank you very much. I wish to mention a couple of points prior to the question. This press conference is broadcast by Press TV al-Alam, Iran's nationwide radio and also Iran's news international network and we have to conclude at 5:00 p.m. The president has to attend another meeting, and every journalist can raise one question and we will actually take into account the priorities.

Now, I would like to call on the Islamic Republic News Agency, IRNA.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): In the name of God, congratulations for your re-election. In your interview with Iran's news network, you mentioned the people's massive turnout. Now, what are possible changes of approach by the second government compared to the previous government, your first term in office? Thank you very much.

AHMADINEJAD: As I said, today, we believe that the Iranian nation enjoys abundant capacities and the Iranian nation deserves adopting major decisions and making considerable progress in different domains. In the first term, the government concentrated on construction of infrastructures, and in the second term, we are going to concentrate on development of different cultural, economic and political sectors.

The people of the Iranian nation indicated that it deserves a promoted status in the world community. In fact, this government must seek to materialize this demand by the nation -- that is building Iran on f the basis of justice and also eliminating the impediments to progress, particularly the impediments faced by the younger generation, and also insisting on the administration of justice for all -- and people from different walks of life.

So, this is the clear approach -- the clear approach for the future.

MODERATOR: Iran's International News Network.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): In the name of God, greetings to you. Congratulations for your re-election. I also wish to express my greetings to the viewers of Iran's International News Network, our audiences inside and outside the country.

Since several months ago, the foreign media have been following up news of the election, news related to elections and they tried to inculcate an atmosphere of disappointment and inefficiency of the system of the system of the Islamic republic. You see, in the course of the elections, there was a media hype and propaganda ballyhoo by foreign media. What is the reason for that?

AHMADINEJAD: The response is quite clear. As I said earlier, they have been carrying out such measures in the past 30 years. In fact, they believe in the top of democracy that would actually yield the results they favor. And if a nation comes up with other decisions, that would make them unhappy, and, in fact, they have no other choice. They cannot adopt any other choice or action other than this.

I'm wondering how come they are putting to question people's massive turnout. Close to 40 million people participated in the elections and the electoral system in Iran is quite consistent and precise since the elections belong to the people, the holding of elections and supervision over elections are done by the people themselves.

The members of the polling stations -- the people constitute members of polling stations throughout the country. And, in fact, the people also act as observers and there are certain individuals who are trusted by the people and they also contribute to the holding of the elections.

And, in fact, the country's election commission just supports the management system run by the people. This is the entire (ph) stuff of our electoral law. In fact, the people constitute members of -- members running the polling stations and also supervision, they are involved in supervision of the elections. Forty million people are participating in the elections, and, in fact, the people themselves have made a decision.

I'm wondering -- how can the foreign media put such elections into question. We have the election law, and they can tell us on the basis of which paragraph or article are they making such claims. They are just claiming that the election results have been contrary to their expectations. They do not know the people of Iran. They do not have a proper understanding of the people of Iran.

It's like a story of Mullah Nasr ad-Din. Mullah Nasr ad-Din wanted to get rid of someone and he said that you can eat some soup of the other side of the market and everyone were informed about this piece of news, and eventually, Mullah Nasr ad-Din saw all the people running. And he said, "What's happening?" And he was told, "Haven't you heard that you can eat some soup on the other side of the market?" And Mullah Nasr ad-Din thought and said, "Perhaps they are telling the truth." So, he decided to go to the other side of the market himself to have some soup.

So, the same is true about the foreign media and they just make claims, level allegations -- and, of course, such claims belong to three or four decades ago, and people's response is quite clear, and the 40 million people who participated in the elections are present right now. Close to 25 million people who cast their votes in my favor are also present right now. And they will repeat such epics in the future.

But I -- and I believe that from the 40 -- all the 40 million people who cast their votes, they oppose intervention by foreign media in Iran's internal affairs. And they will all say no to the foreign media.

MODERATOR: Mr. Mohammad Noon (ph), Arabic BBC.

MOHAMMAD NOON (ph), ARABIC BBC (through translator): My question is in connection with Iran's -- Islamic Republic of Iran's foreign policy and your second term in office.

You know that U.S. President Barack Obama is confirming that Iran must have access to peaceful nuclear know-how. You have reached this -- a voice of preparedness for engaging in a debate with Barack Obama. Thus, we predict that there's going to be a dialogue between the U.S. and Iran in the near future.

And what -- tell us about your practical steps so that that debate of such practical steps, you may ask the United States to take some steps in order to reach the point of normalization of relations.

AHMADINEJAD: We have announced our stance in the past and, of course, we are considering other countries' stances. And we are making an assessment of their behavior towards our people. But one month ago, I announced that I am prepared for a debate regarding the nuclear issue. We believe it belongs to the past.

As far as the nuclear issue is concerned, we nearly called for a global participation for collective disarmament, and based on our experiences, we voiced our preparedness for our management and participation for disarmament. So, there is no other issue remaining. But we believe that there are important issues in the world that must be resolved on the basis of participation, contribution, logic and justice.

The Iranian nation is a capable nation and can play an effective role in global equations and we are prepared to use all our capacities for resolving global challenges and establishment of sustainable peace and security on the basis of respect and justice.

MODERATOR: "Kehan (ph) Daily," Mr. Moqata (ph). UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): Congratulations on the birth anniversary of the Hazrat-e-Fatima, peace be upon her. The birth anniversary of Imam Khamenei, and also congratulations on -- for your re-election and hopefully we'll be able to proceed in the next four years for implementation and materialization of our objectives.

I intended to ask two questions. I am going to ask one question, even though I am wearing a suit similar to yours -- a coat similar to yours. Well, in fact, we should be happy about our -- the people's massive turnout in the election dates.

Now, speaking of the letter by Hashemi Rafsanjani to the supreme leader -- once again, reminded of the action by Ayatollah Montazeri at the time of Imam Khomeini, you see that in this connection to two of your rivals, candidates that were your rivals, have not congratulated you and they have also issued a provocative statements. They intend to create another -- they intend to actually create an event similar to the events several years ago, contributing to certain acts of unrest.

Now, in fact, since you have been re-elected as the president, what measures do you intend to take up in order to put an end to such a process and there are secret meetings that they are holding in this connection?

AHMADINEJAD: Thank you very much. I have to tell you that on Friday, the elections, the people of Iran emerged victorious and 70 million people were victorious, 40 million people are considered more victorious. And I believe that if the remaining number of people have the possibility to participate in the election, they would have definitely participated in the elections and, in fact, the people of Iran are fully committed.

Now, speaking of protests by certain individuals, these are not important, and these are natural. And there were certain individuals who had publicized their -- engaged in publicity works and they may be upset about their failure in the course of the elections. They may release letters and so on. And in the previous rounds, they were holding the elections themselves and they protested to the results of the elections.

So, this lacks any legal basis for us and the people, and it's not going to cause any problem. And, in fact, that can be compared to a soccer match and there will be 50,000 or 70,000 people who watched the soccer match and when the match ends up, the people may become excited and you see 40 million people participated in such a match and they were all involved. So such moves are not important and, of course, the government is pursuing its objectives.

And we have absolutely -- close to absolute freedom in Iraq. And you see that the people can freely voice their opinions and even put to question their own actions. They held the elections in the last round and they even protested to and objected to the election results on the previous round. So, what matters is the legitimate process, proceeding, and in case of any law based on the law -- election law, the documents can be submitted to the Guardians Council until the end of today and the Guardians Council is an independent body and it -- the Guardians Council is an independent body that actually merely takes into account the law and justice.

They can just inform the Guardians Council, and just releasing statements cannot resolve any problems. The elections -- the presidential election was held with the participation of close to 40 million people. And the election results are quite clear. And, in fact, no one can put the elections into -- put the elections into question, and, in fact, the elections have been quite lawful and popular and healthy.

Fars (ph) news agency.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): The 85 percent participation and 24.5 million votes have been cast in your favor. I wish to congratulate you.

Apparently, there are some news that -- on the basis of which the rioters and the extremists, in collaboration with the European Union, intend to stage a sit-in -- stage a sit-in. Now, please elaborate on this, your views on that and what would be the Iranian nation's reaction to such moves.

AHMADINEJAD (through translator): It seems unlikely that any person may be found in Iran. It is unlikely that you'll come up with any person who wants to just have -- collaborate with the foreigners, and they know very well that the people resist such moves.

There are many news and many different pieces of news and, of course, there was an absolute open atmosphere in the course of the elections. And you see that there was three -- I have three rivals competing with me. And more than -- and, in fact, they used the national media.

In fact, based on the election law, they had 20 days for the publicity works. But since three months ago, they were -- they were actually engaged in publicity works that the national media and, given the ordinary activities of the government, were not reflected by the media.

As there were three times allocated for my opponents for the debate that had the single chance of engaging in debates and, in fact, there may be rumors spread in such an atmosphere. The elections have come to an end and, in fact, the election day is actually over and now it's time for friendship and cooperation.

In fact, since we have an open atmosphere, the political discussions in the country, this is a free country and, of course, the issue of elections is vary important issue and, of course, such debate may continue for few days and they are insignificant issues.

Of course, there are judiciary -- in case certain individuals decide to follow through, carry out such a (UNINTELLIGIBLE), in collaboration with foreigners, the judiciary will fulfill its legal duties. In fact, people's properties were even destroyed. As I said, some people are sentimental or have become excited and they think that -- as I said, they compared it to a soccer match. And their team has not won in the match. So they should not worry about it.

"Tokyo Shinbon (ph) Daily."

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): Thank you very much, Mr. President. My name is Osita (ph) from Tokyo's Japanese navy. I want to ask you about the Nakuri (ph) issue.

Some western newspapers reported that Israel keeps military option on Nakuri (ph) site. Have you ever imagined that some countries would attack on your country, and now do you think you will wage the attack in your next four years? Thank you.

AHMADINEJAD (through translator): I ask you, who dares attacking Iran today? Who dares even thinking about this? These are certain statements made by certain media. No power is even able of threatening Iran. The situation in the world has changed.

Today is the era of nations. It's the era of logic and thoughts. It's the era of major changes and developments. And, of course, the Iranian nation is a powerful nation. And at the same time, it supports peace and brotherhood. And at the same time, defends its interests strongly and will make the aggressor feel remorse -- feel remorseful.

We do not consider any probability of any sort of an attack, such an action, and so you should not be worried about this. The world is moving towards justice and dialogue.

Iran's central news bureau.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): Congratulations for your re-election and your victory in the presidential elections and a victory attained by the Iranian nation for the massive turnout in the electrics. With respect to your activities in your first term, please tell us about the features and characteristics of your second term in office.

AHMADINEJAD (through translator): Thank you very much.

I think I did respond to this question earlier. The situation in the world today is different from that of four years ago, and four years ago, 28 million or 29 million people participated in the elections. And on Friday, more than 40 million people participated in the elections. And, in fact, the people's will is different from that of four years ago.

And of course, our nation's approach towards global issues is different. In fact, Iran is engaged in a constructive approach, contributing to dignity and pride.

Of course, our nation's will concentrates on eliminating impediments for the country's progress, issues related to housing, the housing sector, unemployment and job opportunities, production of science and so on. These are the issues that will be addressed. And in the next -- hopefully, in the next four or five years, we will not run into such difficulties.

And, of course, we are going to have a determining role to play in the international arena in order to promote peace, friendship and brotherhood in the international arena.

Al Alam (ph), television network.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): I congratulate you for your re-election. My question is about your trip to Egypt, in order to take part in the non-allied movement meeting. This -- this would be the first Iranian president after the revolution to travel to Egypt. Can this be considered as a move for strengthening relations, having stronger relations with Egypt and Arabian countries?

AHMADINEJAD (through translator): We have good relations with Arabian countries. We have -- our relations are based on brotherly ties. And, of course, there have been ups and downs in every relations in Israel, due to foreign interventions.

And our main approach is aimed at boosting brotherly relations, and an Arab leader will soon travel to Iran. I have traveled to Iranian countries. They have also traveled to Iran, and our ministers exchanged delegations.

I was interested to travel to Egypt. And in the past four years, I tried to have a relationship with Egypt, get rid of foreign intervention and witnessed considerable progress.

There have been certain events happening, but we are not favorable status right now. I do not intend to take part in the non- allied movement, as a new defense (ph). So that I will reconsider my travel to Egypt and participation in the non-allied movement meeting.

Let's move on to the journalist from "The Independent."

ROBERT FISK, "THE INDEPENDENT": Mr. Ahmadinejad, Robert Fisk of "The Independent."

I want to ask you about the issue of justice. Some weeks ago, you (UNINTELLIGIBLE) know the young woman of 22 -- in Iranian prison. She had been given a stay of execution for two months.

She was, nonetheless, dragged to the gallows screaming, pleading for her mother on the mobile phone to save her. And she was hanged.

Can you give us a guarantee that such terrible events will be prevented by the judiciary and by Iranian justice from ever happening again in the Islamic Republic of Iran?

AHMADINEJAD (through translator): Basically, we oppose the execution of human beings. We oppose killing human beings, and we even oppose killing an ant. But speaking of the judicial systems of every country, they abide by their own regulations and rules. In Britain, in the U.S., and in many other world countries, execution has been included in the law. We also become upset when a person is executed.

So in order to eliminate execution, you should do something in order to prevent people from committing crimes. And crimes -- and avoid committing crimes that would lead to execution.

The judicial system in Iran is an independent system and, of course, says -- basically oppose the killing of humans. I try to create a social atmosphere in such a way so as to avoid social crimes, and I recommend the judiciary to act in a more lenient manner. But as you know, the judiciary in Iran is fully independent.

I think there should be a meeting for dialogue among lawyers, in order to discuss the philosophy behind punishment. This can be an effective dialogue at the international level. I think our lawyers are prepared to hold dialogue with lawyers from Africa, Asia, Britain -- and Britain and reach a logical point of understanding. A logical result.

"Iran Daily."

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): Congratulations for your re-election and also the first anniversary. Some experts will dispute (ph) that there is a silent majority in the country that are not beside the system. And, of course, you see that the votes were cast in favor of a person who complies with the -- the basic pillars of the Islamic revolution. And I wish to know your analysis in this regard.

AHMADINEJAD (through translator): Well, those who actually put forth their analysis merely on the basis of their own mentalities, they are making a mistake. We had 46 million eligible voters, based on the report by Iran's Statistics Organization Center. And also the Civil Registration Organization.

So it's wrong to believe that the 46 million people -- over 40 million people who participated in the elections, all those people who have not participated in the elections to consider them as opposition forces.

There may be people who may not be able to participate in the elections. They may be on a trip and so on. In fact, no one makes an investment on those individuals who, for example, have not participated in the elections. This is ridiculous.

There may be, for example, in Germany, a candidate may say 40 million, for example, 40 percent wanted to cast their votes in my favor. So this is ridiculous.

In the previous elections, close to 29 million people participated. In this election, more than 39 million people participated in the elections. And you see that the -- speaking of the ratio of the votes, 65 percent to 66 percent of those who have cast their votes, they cast their votes in the favor of this government. In fact, they do not properly -- they do not have a proper understanding of our nation.

You see, there was a feeling of necessity to massively participate in the election. And I've seen that this is actually a wrong expectation that some believe that it's a selfish action to believe, for example, the 10 million who have not participated in the elections wanted to cast their votes in favor of that particular candidate.

In fact, the Iranian nation is open-minded and, in fact, the previous round, there was 17.5 million votes cast in favor of this government. And today, over 24 million people have cast their votes in the favor of this government. So in the previous round, this 17.5 million people cast their votes in favor of this government.

"The Spanish Daily."

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I was here during the Islamic Revolution. I was in Tehran when Khomeini came from (UNINTELLIGIBLE). I love you guys (ph).

My question is, are you thinking to level of -- to give more leaders to the (UNINTELLIGIBLE), because you know very well that your artists are very well known in all around the world, and your artists and your cinemas make it very -- it's one of the things where you are very proud all around the world. Do you think that you can develop with more liberty the arts and the cinema?

Thank you, Mr. President.

AHMADINEJAD (through translator): Thank you very much.

Iranian art and cinema are blossoming, and I assure that in this government, it will further blossom and flourish. And you'll witness further presence by Iranian artists in the international arena.

(UNINTELLIGIBLE), please translate my response again. Because he did not have a headset, please translate my response again.

"Economists" -- "The Economist."

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You've spoken about freedom, and what we see is that many newspapers are closed, many newspapers are censored, including this morning.

You've spoken about ethics. And what we've seen recently is police beating protestors.

You've accused the foreign press of a slanderous campaign against Iran. And in fact, we see with our eyes and we hear with our ears, and I think there are hundreds here now. And what we have seen is an election that millions of Iranians do not believe in. They don't believe the numbers.

What I'd like to know is, why haven't the full -- hasn't the full count of the election been released? And don't you think that this could damage the legitimacy of your own government, Islamic Republic, as well as the prestige of the supreme leader? Thank you.

AHMADINEJAD (through translator): In a country where 85 percent of people participate in the elections and more than 62 percent cast votes in my favor, and in a country where the people are united with regard to their national interests, all the pillars of the country have been based on people's vote. Speaking of legitimacy is not appropriate.

How do you come to the conclusion that people do not accept the election results? Did you contact 40 million people? You are just seeing a few individuals who you like to see. This is a mistake you're making. You give such reports to your governments and other countries. And also make the mistake, too.

If you want to see the people of Tehran, you can come to Baliasa (ph) Square in two hours. Or you can see the people at Shadik (ph) University three days ago.

And, in fact, the people you see in the streets, their numbers do not even reach the number of people who were in polling stations, and we -- in certain polling stations over 5,000 people casting their ballots. Two or 3,000 people like -- 2,000 or 3,000 people who go to a stadium watching the soccer match. So I think you should change your approach and do not repeat your previous mistakes.

The people of Iran are vigilant. Forty million people have participated in the elections, and the same 40 million people support the elections. And if you can be patient, you'll see people turn out on the 22nd of the month. That marks the anniversary of the victory of Islamic revolution.

You should not be worried about us. Freedom here is close to absolute. There is close to absolute freedom here, and you see they can see whatever they like is the reason. And they're not worried about being sued.

There are hundreds of dailies published in Iran. Two or three dailies, maybe just closed, or they are opened again, and these are something normal, and you should not be worried.

The Iran Radio journalists. This program is broadcast live by Iran Radio.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): Greetings to you, Mr. President, and also the listeners of Iran Radio and also the viewers who are watching this press conference.

Congratulations on the birth anniversary of Hazra Fatemreh (ph) and the birth anniversary of the Imam Promani (ph). I also wish to congratulate you for your re-election.

With respect to the 84 percent participation of the people in the presidential elections, from your point of view, what is the most important expectation of the people from you, and what's your assessment of the people's priorities? Thank you very much. Once again, I should congratulate the people for their victory on the eve of the birth anniversary of Hazra Fatemreh (ph) honor, which added to the glory and grandeur of this victory from last night.

AHMADINEJAD (through translator: There are three or four points concerning people's demands that is eliminating people's problems, and we have economic problems, problems in the field of housing sector, inflation. And the government must follow-up such issues in order to reach a favorable point.

And also eliminating impediments. Impediments that may hinder progress, access (ph) resulting from selfishness with certain rules or impediment (ph) structures and so on.

And another point is the administration of justice. The people want the implementation of justice. And also, the people want an end to acts of misuse with respect to people's public properties. In fact, the government must follow up such measures in order to meet people's demands. Thank you.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): Thank you very much. I wish you success.

AHMADINEJAD (through translator): "Jamajam (ph) Daily."

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): Greetings to you.

There are certain rifts that are created in the course of the election campaigns that are normal, and some believe, by making use of different potentials and different factions, that may even exist in other candidates' groupings. These rifts can be eliminated. Are such rifts important, or do you have any plans in the tenth government to actually eliminate such rifts?

AHMADINEJAD (through translator): Of course, such rifts will exist among the people. The people have been free to cast their votes, and you know, in a single family you may see the father casting -- just voting in favor of one candidate. And his children may have cast their vote in favor of another candidate. They are -- they are free to vote.

So last night I invited -- I called upon all groups to cooperate so to press our hands, in order to further build this country and contribute to the country's construction. And I had a meeting, and I have just taken note from the details of the meeting. And I invited all those who have the need -- new plans that can be helpful for the country's progress. We welcome such a move (ph).

The French European Radio.

BETTY NGUYEN, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, everybody. You are in the CNN NEWSROOM, and we are watching this press conference play out in Iran where it's 4:30 in the afternoon there. And you're seeing the newly elected president -- a re-election, in fact, for Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. He's taking a lot of questions this morning, and some of them really centered on whether this election was fair and legitimate. LEMON: A lot of protests we have seen in the streets. A lot of people have been -- a lot of supporters of his -- his main opposition candidate have been in the street, clashing with riot police, actually.

We're continuing to monitor what happens out in the streets, but we will continue to listen in to, again, the newly re-elected president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

AHMADINEJAD (through translator): We had earlier voiced our preparedness to engage in dialogue on the basis of logic and respect and justice. This is the characteristic of the Iranian nation, and the same is true right now, even prior to the elections, I announced that if I'm re-elected, I will invite Mr. Obama to attend a debate at the United Nations, because we believe that our views must be expressed and the roots of the problems in the world must be identified in order to come up with appropriate solutions.

It is quite clear that dialogue is the best mean for interaction. Of course, in certain junctures there were some who wanted to impose their wishes to the Iranian nation, of course, our nation do not give into such demands and wishes. It's natural that this government -- due to its clear performance and clear slogans and plans -- has been welcomed, massively welcomed by the people.

So, you see that the strength of the government is much more compared to a month ago. And, in fact, its capabilities have increased tenfold compared to three months ago; an experienced government that has been more welcome, more widely welcomed by the people after four years.

Of course, our logic is the same in dealing with global issues, but we're going to pursue such a logic with more strength and power.

MODERATOR (through translator): Jamijam (ph) International Network.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): Congratulations for your re-election. The fourth ticket of the revolution has been named as the decade of progress and justice. And also, the participation of our fellow countrymen overseas has increased over 300 percent. So, speaking of Iranians living overseas, how can they help your government in order to materialize these goals set by the government?

AHMADINEJAD: Last night, I invited all Iranians inside and outside the country to participate in the process of construction of the country in order to make progress with the goals of the Iranian nation. I'm going to repeat this again. The Supreme Council of Iranians has prepared conducive grounds for communication of Iranians overseas with the government structure and, in fact, this council has created grounds in over 36 world countries where there are more Iranians living.

And I hope that in such an interaction, we would witness further presence by our fellow countrymen overseas.

MODERATOR: Christiane Amanpour from CNN.

CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good afternoon, Mr. Ahmadinejad.

Last night, on your speech to the nation, you said that you were the president of all Iranians, no matter who they voted for. I would like to ask you what is the situation with your challenger, Mr. Mir Hossein Mousavi, and will you guarantee his safety? And why have opposition reform individuals, officials are being arrested?

AHMADINEJAD: The situation in the country is in a very good condition. Iran is the most stable country in the world, and there's the rule of law in this country. And all the people are equal before the law. And the elections as we have witnessed -- the presidential election has witnessed the people's massive turnout. As I said, even in a soccer match, the people may become excited, and that may lead to a confrontation between them and the police force.

This is something natural. A person coming out of stadium and may violate the traffic regulations, he will be fined by the police no matter who he is -- an ordinary person or even a minister. So these are not problems. These are not causing any problems for the people of Iran and for the millions of people that participated in the election.

And these 40 million people will safeguard the elections based on the Iranian culture. There is no partisanship on the basis of the western concept. In fact, the people are friends with each other. And they're going to cast their votes in favor of any candidate they like. And, of course, such a voting process will not -- will not lead to any hostility among the people. And you go to the streets, and you see the people who are friends with each other. In Iran no one asks the other whom are you going to vote for?

The situation is very good. And Iran is on the threshold of making considerable progress. And definitely, in the next four years, the status of Iran in the world will be further promoted. And we're going to witness Iran's economic and scientific and cultural progress taking place. Making considerable progress in the next four years, Iran will turn into a major economic power in the world, and it's -- of course, it's already a political power as well.

AMANPOUR: I may have missed the translation. I was asking whether you were going to guarantee the safety ...

(INAUDIBLE)

AMANPOUR: No, just the first question. Last night, you said that you were the president of all of Iran, including the reformists.

AHMADINEJAD: Yes, I did respond to your question. I said that people come out of a stadium and one person may be angry and he may pass the traffic light, violating the traffic regulations and he will be fined by the police. He is also a member of the Iranian nation. Of course, he's been fined for just violating the traffic rules. This has nothing to do with your question. I'm the president of all Iranians, and as I have been in the past four years. All people are respected. And all people are equal before the law. And I like all the people, all members of this nation.

And, of course, I'm not happy with a person violating the traffic rules.

MODERATOR: Mir (ph) News Agency.

(INAUDIBLE)

AHMADINEJAD: There are 100 people here. You have to be patient.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): I wish to congratulate you for the re-election and the birth anniversary of Hazrat-e-Fatima, peace be upon her.

I'm going to ask you two short questions. One, your economic priority, what would be your economic priority in the next four years? Are you going to go on with economic development plan?

And my second question is, contrary to western media, the American officials admitted the Iranian people's massive turnout. We also have the news that Obama has announced he's ready for direct talks with Iran and Syria, and American officials have even invited Iranian ambassadors for the American national day. What is your assessment of such an approach, and what is your response?

AHMADINEJAD: Iran, the Iranian elections and the Iranian people are not something to be overlooked or to be underestimated. These are all manifestations of dignity, capabilities and glory. Iran is the basic pillar for human civilization or it can be considered as one of the pillars of human civilization. Without Iran civilization and culture, it would be meaningless, and the global management would become meaningless as well.

It is quite clear that Iran's status is an important status. And, of course, without Iran's participation, there will be no strategy for finding solutions. Iran's solutions are material and culture-oriented solutions based on civilization, justice, and love. And this is what the humanity needs today.

We have always announced that we will actually depart for the U.N. Summit. We have voiced our preparedness for a debate. And the reason is that we have nothing to hide. We should openly talk about global issues so as to inform all the people and all-out participation.

I wish, someday, the U.N. would reach the point in order to discuss a single issue for three days, engage in debates -- instead of just adopting a decision inside a room. And there are hundreds -- 100 heads of state just delivering speeches and leaving the U.N. headquarters later on. This is not the U.N. This is not a discussion. This is not a debate. There should be a single issue raised, discussed by all countries, and the whole world should hear it. We have proposed this and will follow it up.

MODERATOR: "The Associated Press."

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): Your proposals were limited to debates with Obama at the U.N. Is your government prepared for direct talks with the U.S. administration regarding bilateral relations? Thank you very much.

AHMADINEJAD: We take into account proposals. You are not offering a proposal. You are asking a question. If we are -- if we receive proposals, we will look in to the proposals.

MODERATOR: "Javon (ph) Daily."

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): Greetings to you.

In the past four years, you have been setting as a priority the need for fighting economic corruption, and you mentioned this in your televised speech last nigh night. If you have any -- what is your practical plan for fighting economic corruption in your second term in office?

AHMADINEJAD: In the previous government we decided to amend the bylaws and regulations, and also, the circulation of activities. We started to make amendments in order to avoid any violations of laws and regulations. We did have many successes, and, of course, we achieved a great deal of success. Of course, any loopholes that could be misused have been eliminated, and now, we should actually move on to issues that maybe beyond the structure -- regulation structures of the executive branch.

MODERATOR: The Youth's Journalist Club.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): Greetings to you. You have been -- you have been re-elected in the course of the tense presidential elections. Now, are you going to have the ministers and officials of the previous government in the government?

AHMADINEJAD: I did mention my criteria just selecting my colleagues. It's what the people demand. Of course, it is in congruity with our views, and I do invite all those who consider themselves as being capable enough. And, of course, our colleagues in the government will be re-evaluated, and, of course, I have finished my evaluations. In fact, the managerial chain in the next government is not closed and is not limited to certain individuals.

MODERATOR: "Sunday Times."

MARIE CALVIN, SUNDAY TIMES: I'm Marie Calvin from "The Sunday Times." I've been speaking to a lot of women over the last week (INAUDIBLE) and as you know they came out in large numbers. (INAUDIBLE)

(SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

AHMADINEJAD: The rights are even superior to the rights of men. You should bear in mind that when a man passes away, his blood money is given to his spouse. And when a wife or lady passes away, the blood money will be given to the man. In fact, the family of -- the lady receives twice the man.

If there's any -- if you want to talk of discrimination, there's discrimination against men, because the blood money is not received by a person who has passed away. In fact, the people who are alive receive the blood money. This means that over legal apparatus has observed the livelihood -- has taken into consideration the livelihood condition of woman.

So, they receive greater amounts of money. But I should draw your attention to the fact that the legal system is a complicated system, and it has to be discussed by legal circles. That must be discussed at legal circles.

Despite this, we have approved of this issue in the government so that insurance companies would pay the blood money equally -- the blood money of male and female individuals equally, and we will go on with such procedures. That may be to the benefit of men as well. It is apparently to the benefit of woman.

In fact, we do not consider men and women as being in the opposite direction. We consider them as being complementary to one another, and we consider them as friends.

MODERATOR: "Arman Daily."

AHMADINEJAD: Only a question Mr. (INAUDIBLE).

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): In the name of God, I have to praise our nation's efforts. Tonight, there are celebrations everywhere, a celebration for the victory for Islam and the Iranian nation. I wish to recite a piece of poetry in connection with the celebrations.

Dr. Ahmadinejad, thank God Almighty, the people of Iran emerged victorious in this divine test, and the people of Iran expect two things from the government. One is sustaining their livelihood, and the other one is security. Due to the leadership of Ayatollah Khamenei, Iran is the most secure country in the Middle East. In other words, there is no country in the Middle East that may have the security similar to that of Iran regarding people's livelihood.

Since you are re-elected, hopefully, you'll be able to just create a better economic condition. Yesterday, a number of rioters created unrest. The people call upon the government to strongly counter these rioters and punish them based on the law.

Moreover, in the previous press conference I asked you about the law, the time when you're going to pass the law and transfer the law to -- reads the law at the parliament or the Majlis, regarding measures for fighting economic corruption, and you said that in your second term in office you're going to pass on this law to the parliament. Thank you very much.

AHMADINEJAD: I'm going to respond to your second question. Actually, we did pass a law to the parliament, and we will make an amendment to the law, and we will pass it on to the parliament or Majlis.

MODERATOR: "The Spanish Daily."

AHMADINEJAD: That law was related to the officials because the people can work, make efforts and have wealth and our wish is to have a wealthy nation. The law -- that law was related to the officials in order to prevent any misuse from government positions.

MODERATOR: The Spanish Daily (ph) News Agency.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Before elections you announced that your goal (INAUDIBLE) a new pack of proposals for the group five-plus-one. When this pack will be ready? When are you planning to present this plan to the five-plus-one group? And is there any change in this plan, in this draft plan before the election? Is there any change in the new plan after the elections?

Thank you very much.

NGUYEN: All right. We are continuing to listen to the press conference out of Tehran as we watched the newly re-elected president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, speak to reporters, answering questions, and some answers -- well, we're still kind of scratching our heads about that.

Our own Christian Amanpour, our chief international correspondent, asked him specifically about his opposition leader, Mousavi, whether Ahmadinejad can guarantee his safety, also asked about whether these reform individuals have been arrested and trying to get some response out of that. And the response, well, he said that Iran is basically the most stable country in the world. That's one of the many things that he said after that.

HOLMES: And again, he has in a lot, as a lot has been frankly incoherent trying to understand what this president is saying at times, certainly not giving direct answers to a lot of direct questions. You see our Christiane Amanpour. This was a short time ago when she finally got to ask her question.

But a lot of the debate or a lot of questions right now surrounding whether or not Mir Hossein Mousavi, who got 30-plus percent of the vote, who's the main candidate, who was opposing Ahmadinejad in this election, who many thought would win this thing given some of the rallies we saw and some of the support he was able to get, essentially was blown out in this thing, and that's what people are upset about there in Iran right now, saying this election was stolen.

But Mousavi, we haven't seen him come out. He put out a statement. But we have not seen this man physically since the election. And there's debate about whether or not he is being held or ... NGUYEN: House arrest.

HOLMES: ... not being allowed to leave the house. There are guards outside of a home where he is believed to be. But we don't know if those guards belong to the government or that is his personal security. So, that's what Christiane was trying to get at.

NGUYEN: And what's really interesting, too, is he was supposed to come out and speak to his supporters yesterday as we were getting word of the election results and he never showed up. So, the question today, obviously, is -- where is he? And is he in a safe place? Because no one has seen him at this point.

So, again, we are listening as the president -- the newly re- elected president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, has conducted his press conference for, what, the past hour and a half.

HOLMES: At least an hour. We were told he's about four minutes from having to leave. He has been going at this for a while. I don't know how much longer. We will stick with it.

But just to give you an update of what's happening there, a lot of topics that come up in questions, not a lot we got in the answers necessarily.

And if you have been watching, you see a lot of these reporters who step up to the microphone -- not something you're just seeing here in the United States where the reporters essentially get up and congratulate the president, praise what he has done before they ask a question -- well, not exactly a free press, if you will, over in Iran like we're used to seeing here. So, that is why you see some of the questions come out and some of the reporters, quite frankly, sound like they are supporters of the president when they ask a question.

NGUYEN: Yes. He also said, one other thing, too -- Ahmadinejad -- that he hopes the President Obama will be able to attend a debate at the U.N., because he believes the dialogue is the best means of interaction. So, that will be interesting to see if there is any kind of dialogue between those two, specifically.

But we're showing some new video that is coming into CNN. A lot of people are still in the streets. Obviously, a lot of people are discussing what exactly went down, and a lot of questions surrounding whether this election was, indeed, fair and legitimate. We had claims yesterday from the opposition leader, Mousavi, saying that this -- the ballots there were tampered with, and he's disputing the election results.

But today, we are seeing -- if we can get to these other live pictures that we have -- people are in the streets by the thousands right there, waiting for Ahmadinejad to come out at that support rally right there, that victory rally is that what they're calling it. Right now, he is obviously still answering questions in this news conference.

But we're trying to get at the heart of the matter as to whether these election results were fair.

HOLMES: And we are expecting and we talked to one of the our producers on the ground a little earlier, Sampson, who saw teargas and clashes and police using batons on a lot of people who are out there demonstrating against the election results. Well, today, could -- we could see some more of that today, because this is the first day that we have actually seen thousands come to the streets in support of Ahmadinejad.

The past couple of days, what we've been seeing is a lot of people who are supporting the candidate who essentially lost coming out and saying they are protesting the election results. So, they have been demonstrating for the past couple of days, clashing with police.

But now, with this big victory rally, we're expecting this to be the first day that thousands from each side are actually in the streets of Tehran. So, according to our people on the ground, our producer there, we talked to earlier live here on CNN SUNDAY MORNING, telling us that police certainly are mobilizing and getting ready for what could be an escalation of what we've been seeing the past couple days.

Again, not all of these demonstrations have been violent, but there have been, no question, some clashes. We've seen that, talking to our people ...

NGUYEN: Tires burning. Some ...

HOLMES: ... and also from the video we've been seeing.

NGUYEN: Yes, absolutely.

Ahmadinejad today has been saying that freedom here is close to absolute. That's one of his quotes. And then he went on in response to CNN's Christiane Amanpour's questions about reform individuals being arrested, also, the whereabouts of the opposition leader, Mousavi. He went on to say people can cast votes for anyone they like, and they will not lead to any hostility.

But again, we are seeing protests in the streets. But at the same time, to the left hand side of your screen, we are seeing a huge, well, what are support rally there, victory rally -- thousands waiting for Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to come out after this news conference and speak to them.

I would like, if we can, Tenisha, if we can re-rack Christian Amanpour's question. I think it was a crucial point in that news conference that is taking place right now. I want you to listen to her question and then the answer.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

AMANPOUR: You said that you are the president of all Iranians, no matter who they voted for. I would like to ask you, what is the situation with your challenger, Mr. Mir Hossein Mousavi and will you guarantee his safety? And why have opposition reform individuals -- officials been arrested?

AHMADINEJAD (through translator): The situation in the country is in a very good condition. Iran is the most stable country in the world and there is the rule of law in this country. And all the people are equal before the law. And the elections have witnessed -- the Presidential elections has witnessed people's massive turnout.

As I said, even in a soccer match, the -- people may become excited and that may lead to a confrontation between them and the police force. This is something natural a person coming out of the stadium and may violate the traffic regulations. He will be fined by the police no matter who he is; an ordinary person or even a minister.

So these are not problems, these do not cause any problems for the people of Iran and 40 million people that participated in the elections. And if these 40 million people will safeguard the elections based on the Iranian culture there is no partisanship on the basis of it's the western concepts.

In fact the people are friends with each other. And they're going to cast their votes in favor of any candidate they like. And, of course, such a voting process will not lead to any hostility among the people. And you go to the streets and you see the people who are friends with each other. And in Iran no one asks the other, to whom you are going to vote for.

The situation is very good. And Iran is on the threshold of making considerable progress. And definitely in the next four years the status of Iran in the world will be further promoted. And we're going to witness Iran's economic and scientific and cultural progress taking place.

Making considerable progress in the next four years, Iran will turn into a major economic power in the world and it's of course, it's already a political power as well.

AMANPOUR: I may have missed the translation. I was asking whether you were going to guarantee the safety -- no -- just the first question.

Last night you said that you were the President of all of Iranians, including the reformists.

AHMADINEJAD: Yes, I did respond to your question. I said that people come out of a stadium and one person may be angry and you may pass the traffic light, violating the traffic regulations and he will be fined by the police.

He is also a member of the Iranian nation. Of course, he has been fined for just violating the traffic rules.

This has nothing to do with your question. I'm the President of all Iranians and as I have been in the past four years. All people are respected and all people are equal before the law.

And I like all the people, all members of this nation. And of course, I'm not happy with a person violating the traffic rules.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

NGUYEN: So that was the answer to CNN's Christiane Amanpour's question. You decide whether she got a straight answer out of that. He went on to say a number of things referencing a soccer game and traffic violations, but at the forefront of that he said Iran is a stable country, the most stable country in the world and went on to say people can cast their votes for anyone they want and that it will not lead to any hostility.

HOLMES: We can't get that answer. Mousavi...

NGUYEN: Right.

HOLMES: ...his main -- main opposition, can he guarantee his protection? And he mentioned that he had been cited for traffic violations, saying that this man, Mousavi, is a citizen like the rest of the citizens and was cited for a traffic violation.

So he certainly did not clear that up and didn't get a straight answer about whether or not Mousavi would be protected.

We have Trita Parsi on the line for us here, we spoke to him just the other day, he's the head of the National Iranian American Council.

Sir, we appreciate you being on the phone here and calling in to us. Tell me what jumped out at you. Did anything jump out at you, or where did you able to decipher much of what he was saying?

TRITA PARSI, NATIONAL IRANIAN AMERICAN COUNCIL (via telephone): Well, what I saw, it was quite clear that I think that there's a little bit of a defensiveness on Ahmadinejad's part and he's trying to on the one hand present to say that it's a complete that this is a done deal. He is the President and at the same time, paint the picture that those who are questioning the results, those who are arguing that some irregularities took place are part of some larger western media conspiracy against Iran.

NGUYEN: But at the same time, though, when it comes to those direct questions, Trita, about reform individuals who have been arrested, about Mousavi and where he is, can he guarantee his safety, it seems like he deflected that and went on to a bit of a tangent talking about a soccer game.

PARSI: Yes. And this is part of the reason why people are sensing that the accusations of fraud may have some validity. If all things were done completely correctly, it should not be that difficult -- there's no necessity, then, to arrest or put into house arrest all the opposition leaders.

So the actions of the government, itself right now is fueling the suspicion and the conviction by many that a lot of irregularities were taking place.

HOLMES: Trita, given what you have seen from news reports, given what you know from your contacts and people you talk to surrounding this Iranian election, you just talked there on the end and maybe some validity to some of the irregularities in the voting. But is there a sense by some that if there were irregularities they wouldn't have shown up in such a wide margin.

I mean, this is a huge landslide victory. It's not like it was a close and maybe a tip one or another with some irregularities, but it was just -- there would have to be massive irregularities for a blowout this big, wouldn't it?

PARSI: Well, the thing is that is really strange about this is already two hours after the voting they announced 20 percent of the votes having being count, which is tremendously -- a tremendously speedy way of counting the votes.

And ever since the percentages essentially did not change, even though they started to count votes from various parts of the country, in which we know for a fact based on previous elections, that there is significance of how people vote depending on which part of the country they're in.

NGUYEN: And isn't it also suspect as to the fact that we are hearing reports of Web sites being down, different types of text messaging is not being allowed in or out of that country, this type of technology has pretty much been shut down in some form or facet.

I mean, doesn't that lead you to question as to what exactly is going on?

PARSI: Absolutely. It's just one more of those different things that adds to the suspicion. You cannot send any text messages to anyone with an Iranian cell phone. You cannot call them, people cannot call each other inside the country as much as they could before. Facebook has been down now for more than 24 hours, some Twittering is working but most of them has been shut down as well.

And again, if everything was done fair and square, why the necessity of these measures?

NGUYEN: All right.

We've got Trita Parsi with us on the phone with the National Iranian American Council there. Thanks so much for your time and your insights this morning. We do appreciate it.

HOLMES: And much interest as well from the White House about what's happens over in Iran in this elections. Our Mark Preston in Washington D.C. for us this morning.

Mark, good to have you with us. Of course, the president, the administration cannot come out and say, yes, we'd like to see Ahmadinejad out of there. But is there a sense in talking to people behind the scenes that they would like to get someone else in place there in Iraq -- in Iran excuse me?

MARK PRESTON, CNN POLITICAL EDITOR: Well, T.J., I think it's safe to say that they would like somebody who would -- that they could work with a lot easier than they have with the Iranian President.

But right now we know that the White House is being very cautious. We have not heard from them this morning. And we shouldn't be too surprised they have to assess what the Iranian President has said in the speech.

They have to assess the elections. They don't want the Iranian President right now to be able to use any actions by the U.S. government as propaganda. The U.S. government -- you know really wants this to play out; they don't want to look like they are getting involved in this election.

NGUYEN: And also, looking at how all of this has played out, is it also very difficult for the U.S., especially the Obama administration, to put out a statement right now and saying that the election results may be questionable?

PRESTON: Yes. And look, again, going back to the idea of them being cautious, we saw a statement from the White House yesterday. They talked about how they were happy to see a vigorous debate, but they were closely monitoring the election, including some talk of irregularities. I'm not sure how much farther they will go on that.

But look, this is something that's going to play over the next couple of days; we will not have any firm answers in the next couple of hours. But I will tell you, we do know that the White House and we do know that Congressional leaders are closely monitoring what is happening in Iran.

NGUYEN: All right.

HOLMES: All right, Mark Preston for us in Washington. We appreciate you as always.

We're going to turn now to a man we're going to see in the next 20 minutes, our John King is standing by for us who of course coming on "STATE OF THE UNION." You have got a little bit to talk about this morning, don't you John? Good morning to you sir.

JOHN KING, HOST, "STATE OF THE UNION": A quite a bit good morning to you guys and a busy morning to you guys down there in Atlanta.

We'll talk a bit more about these startling developments in Iran; President Ahmadinejad's claim of a free and fair election. We'll talk some about that.

And we're going to spend a lot time also on the emerging health care reform debate. This matters to everybody out there watching; the Obama administration pushing for a new health care reform initiative. We'll talk to the Secretary of Health and Human Services about what how much it will cost and what it will mean for your health care.

And three members of the United States Senate from the middle you might say, centrists who are critical to getting a deal through the Senate, especially if the president wants any Republican votes. We'll talk to them too about what it would take to get Republicans on board.

NGUYEN: A lot coming up on that show.

Also, Sotomayor we're watching too because she's getting very close as she starts those hearings.

KING: She's getting close, those hearings to begin in the middle of July is now scheduled. And by all accounts right now Betty and T.J. people say she's going to have tough hearings. Republicans cast a lot of questions about her views on affirmative actions, those statements we have seen about her Latina identity.

There is no indication at the moment that this nominee is in trouble at all. Sometimes these things go off the track if she doesn't perform strongly. But by all accounts right now, Republicans don't like that it's going to happen in July. They would have like more time to study but the Democrats have the majority, they the votes, and right now this nominee looks like a safe bet.

NGUYEN: All right. John King coming up at the top of the hour. We are looking forward to it. Thank you very much.

HOLMES: All right. John, thank you.

Meanwhile, we want to turn to Iran now. We were just watching the press conference with the Iranian president, newly reelected President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

Our Christiane Amanpour was in that press conference and got to ask him a question. She is now on the line with us live.

Christiane hello. What was it like in that room? And did you ever get close, do you think, to getting an answer to your question?

NGUYEN: Christiane, can you hear us?

AMANPOUR (via telephone): Hello?

NGUYEN: Hello. Christiane?

HOLMES: All right. Seems like Christiane is having a tough time hearing us right now. Christiane, this is T.J. Holmes and Betty Nguyen at CNN in Atlanta trying to hear us. I know you just got out of the press conference, a lot going on there in Tehran. But let me know. Can you hear me ok?

AMANPOUR: I can hear you.

HOLMES: We're live here Christiane. We wanted to ask you, we watched you live ask your question of the president and so all the other questions as well.

Tell us what it was like in the room and what stood out to you? And did you ever get an answer to your question?

AMANPOUR: Clearly I wanted to ask about the fate of the opposition leader, Mir Hossein Mousavi, because there are huge numbers of rumors swirling that he's under house arrest or not.

What we heard from sources close to him was that he was at his house, there was security around him, but he wasn't officially under house arrest. But we have had confirmed that several members, at least seven, perhaps ten, opposition figures have been arrested in the last 24 hours.

President Ahmadinejad seemed not to want to directly answer that. Instead, he answered with an allegory about traffic violations and infractions and passing red lights and getting fined. We, in the press, took that to mean that he was considering that those opposition leaders had broken the law or caused an infraction of the law and were being fined.

That's about as much as we can get out of the top leadership of the country at the moment in a public press conference on the fate of Mr. Mousavi and the other reform candidates and officials who have been arrested.

Further, his address now -- his press conference with the international press and the domestic press was very defiant. He not only -- of course, as he would -- defended these free elections and said that the choice of the people had prevailed. He took a large shot at the international press saying that the international press would come with their own ideas and their own agendas and had talked to just a few people and when the results didn't choose their agenda accused the system of being unfair.

He went on about how liberal democracy is confined to the ash heap of history. He said no other country other than Iran has an ethical system based on values. And he was exceptionally defiant in the way he talked about the elections and relations with the rest of the world.

He'll stand up to bullies, he said. "We will not allow any countries to dictate to us."

When he was asked specifically about the United States and about President Obama, he said that he had already offered to debate President Obama at the United Nations. And he did not take any other questions, even ones that were asked by another journalist, a direct question about whether there would be direct talks between the United States and Iran.

He just said that right now we're watching other countries very closely; we're watching how they are reacting to the Iranian election. And he kept saying that the arrogance of the world has got to come to an end. It was a defiant opening statement that lasted about 15 minutes in which he over and again repeated that this was the historic outpouring of 40 million Iranians where 39 millions Iranian votes were cast. That he got the majority and that everybody should accept that. And as he said, that was the end of the story.

NGUYEN: We also want to...

AMANPOUR: Thank you.

NGUYEN: ...welcome our international audience as well as we're broadcasting live right now on the phone with Christiane Amanpour, our chief international correspondent.

Christiane I wanted to ask you a little bit more about the questions that were specifically directed at the claims of voting irregularities. Ahmadinejad appeared to not really want to discuss those in detail. Rather, make just blanket statements saying that the election is real and free.

AMANPOUR: actually, he did answer questions by the correspondent from the "Economist" who asked specifically about arrests and the protestors in the streets being beaten and people questioning the result of the election.

He basically accused the international press of making the mistake of reading the situation incorrectly, and they're reporting incorrectly to their public and their government.

So he stood by what the official election results have been handed out say that he has won handily. And as you know, they gave him a win of 2:1 over Mir Hossein Mousavi.

He repeated over and again that mistakes were being made, that those opposition people were just talking to their own people and didn't have a real view of what the rest of the country would have voted. He went on basically accusing those who were watching, those who are reporting, and those in the challenging camp of not knowing what was going on in Iran and therefore being disappointed and claiming that it was unfair, unfree and that there had been cheating.

HOLMES: All right. And as we talk to our Christiane Amanpour, we're looking, Christiane, at live pictures of the area, the square, I believe, in Tehran where Ahmadinejad is holding a victory rally. We are seeing his supporters in the street. The first time we've really seen his supporters come out in force since the election. We have seen those...

AMANPOUR: I'm losing you slightly. I can't hear you but if you can hear me. I can tell you that they're planning rallies in support of President Ahmadinejad this afternoon.

They're going to bus certainly the local press over there to be able to take that and take those pictures. The protests in the street have somewhat calmed down from yesterday, but we are getting reports including from our own colleagues who are out in another part of Tehran that there have been protests and demonstrations out near an area where we had thought that Mir Hossein Mousavi might come out and address the people publicly or at least give a statement to the press.

There were some disturbances there. And we have also seen over the last 24 hours or so the government -- what can I say -- law enforcement plain-clothed people they send out on waves of motorcycles with sticks and batons to keep order. They've cracked some heads, and you know, beaten up some people. This has been going on for quite a while.

On the Iranian press, this is being portrayed as just a group of hooligans who are violating the will of the people.

Back to you.

NGUYEN: Christiane, as we watch this rally take place right now, I want to ask you about the legality of the election. There are, obviously, disputes and there claims of election fraud. Is there anything that will be done about that? Or is this pretty much a said and done deal and Ahmadinejad is the president of Iran?

AMANPOUR: well, of course, he did go on the television yesterday and made that statement. That he had won, and that he was thanking everybody for their vote. But there was a question in the press conference today, and his response was that if anybody can come up with any documentation, they have until today to take it to the Guardian Council. That was all he said about that.

But his main message, as I say, a very defiant one, was that the people have spoken. It was fair. The people's votes have been counted and their choice was clear. And that they had chosen him with an even greater margin than they did four years ago.

HOLMES: Christiane, thank you. Our coverage will continue here.

Again, this live picture you're seeing, a rally for President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad who has now claimed victory in that election, even though a lot of people say it's not over just yet. A lot of people want their votes back.

Our coverage, live coverage of what is happening in Iran today continues right after a quick break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: Welcome back to this CNN SUNDAY MORNING and what you are seeing is live coverage in at Tehran of a rally for the President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad who has just been re-elected.

A lot of people saying not so fast. A lot of people from the opposition -- his main opposition -- in the election saying the election was stolen from them and want their votes back. There was a landslide victory for Ahmadinejad, even though a lot of people, a lot of analysts thought that Mousavi, his main opponent, might actually win this thing. Huge rallies for Mousavi, a lot of people turning out in the streets but it turned out to be a landslide victory for Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who claimed victory a short time ago in a press conference with a speech and now big rally today in Tehran.

NGUYEN: A huge rally there. But a little bit earlier today protestors in support of Mousavi, the opposition leader, who a lot of analysts, as you just mentioned, thought either would win or this would be a very close election. Those protests, a lot of them, really got into confrontations with police there, riot police.

We want to take you to what our producer on the ground, CNN's Samson Desta, was able to see and witness today. Take a look.

SAMSON DESTA, CNN PRODUCER, DUBAI BUREAU CHIEF (via telephone): We found a rather large crowd chanting Mousavi, Mousavi. When we asked what was taking place, we were told that the building where he was supposed to be appear had been shut down and his appearance was canceled.

At that point, the crowd got very angry and very agitated. They started throwing rocks at cars and smashing windows. At one point we saw a large number of riot police right here. There was a bit of a cat and mouse game between the crowd and police. They were chasing each other back.

The police were throwing tear gas. The protestors were throwing rocks. At some point it got real ugly where the riot police rushed and beat people down. We got hit on the arm as well with their batons.

They didn't make any difference between any journalists, any protestors or tourists. They were just beating anyone that was in their way.

At one point we had to retreat to an alley and we rushed to hole up in a small area with about 15 or so protestors and some were crying. Some had their eyes tearing from the tear gas and others had difficulty breathing.

We left that little area to go back out and see what was happening. It looks like -- it looks like the police have quelled the protestors for the time being. I'm still hearing chants, I'm still hearing tear gassing fires but we have to retreat now because it is getting a little bit ugly.

HOLMES: Samson, I want to ask you about reports we're getting. You talked about Mousavi reportedly or expecting him to come out and make a statement and he did not. There were some reports that possibly he's holed up and hasn't come out, but also that he could be under house arrest.

Have you been able to get any indication of whether or not this is true?

DESTA: We have heard that since yesterday. A lot of these social sites such as Facebook and others are -- people are actually posting information. We don't know if this is true or not, but a lot of people are talking about the fact that, not only Mousavi, but other leaders -- other opposition leaders may be under some sort of house arrest or maybe in jail.

In fact, one person told me today -- one person who is here at this location -- told me that he thinks and he's heard that Mousavi is in jail.

We have tried to make contact with his campaign, and a number of people have told us that he remains in his house, but that he is free to come and go but that he has to inform officials where he's going and why he's going. So there are a lot of rumors at this point that the opposition is being held perhaps in house arrest, perhaps to remain in their house with limited movement, but we don't have any confirmation at this point.

NGUYEN: Our producer there on the ground in Tehran.

Showing you some live pictures right now of this, really, victory rally taking place for the re-elected president there, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Thousands have come out, but at the same time protestors are also in the street at this hour calling for a fair election saying that the election results are not just; that this was not a legitimate election and they want their vote back.

And as we heard from Samson, T.J., there are a lot of rumors swirling right now as to, one, what happens next, but also, what is taking place at this hour with Mousavi, who is the opposition leader -- the man who garnered some 33 percent of the vote. The same man who analysts at the onset of this thought would either win this election or it would be a very, very close one.

We were just looking at pictures right there of Ahmadinejad waving to the crowds. You know, this is an election that is disputed. It's one that many around the world are watching very closely, including the Obama administration as they are watching and waiting to make some kind of statement as well as to what happens next.

HOLMES: Yes. Ahmadinejad today -- a lot of people are concerned about this election. The world will be watching. One of the major issues, of course, with Ahmadinejad, as a live picture, again, him stepping out for his victory rally. We can take this picture now.

They've been waiting for him, and there he is. He has shown up and claiming victory. Not clear what kind of options the opposition has right now. Can this election even be challenged?

We know the Supreme Leader Khamenei actually came out and said -- essentially put his stamp of approval on this election and Ahmadinejad's re-election. So where do these protestors -- not these you're seeing -- but the protestors, the demonstrators who think this election was stolen from them? What options do they have? Where do they go from here.

Because right now, what you're seeing is what it is -- a victory rally and the president claiming he has won this election and certainly according to the numbers officially released from the Interior Ministry there in Iran, he has won it in a major fashion; some 62 percent of the vote. That is handily winning an election.

NGUYEN: He also spoke today -- Ahmadinejad did -- about what's to come now that he is the president once again. He mentioned that he does want to attend a debate at the U.N. with President Obama. He wants to begin dialogue saying that's the best means for interaction.

We will see if that will, indeed, come as we watch this election play out.

"STATE OF THE UNION" with John King, though, starts right now.