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American Morning

Iran Forbids Coverage of Protests; Iran's Opposition to Stage Sea of Mourning Rally; Iran Accuses the U.S. of Meddling in the Country's Internal Affairs; Man Dressed Up As Dead Mother Indicted on Fraud

Aired June 18, 2009 - 07:00   ET

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

JOHN ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR: We're crossing the top of the hour now. Thanks very much for joining us on the "Most News in the Morning" on this Thursday, it's the 17th of June, I'm John Roberts.

KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Kiran Chetry. We have a lot going on today. We're going to be breaking down the top stories for you, stories that we're going to be showing you in the next 15 minutes.

ROBERTS: Yes, absolutely. We got all kinds of things to tell you about today. We may be witnessing the biggest uprising in Iran today since the Islamic revolution of 1979. Iran's opposition promising to flood the streets wearing a sea of black in the next 30 minutes.

However, witnessing all of that may be difficult. The Iranian government responding by suffocating the international media, limiting our live reports and keeping our correspondents off the streets. But we still have the pictures that they don't want out, because you just cannot suppress the voices of reform.

For a man who coined the phrase change, you can believe in, this is a bit of a cop-out. That is one of the knocks on President Obama this morning and it's coming from the left. What he did for gay rights and what critics say he still didn't do. We've got that coming up for you.

And meet a man who was accused of dressing in drag, pretending to be his dead mother. Authorities say he ripped off more than $100,000 of his dead mom's Social Security checks. You got to see it to believe it.

We begin the hour, though, with a story that we're not even allowed to tell you. Imagine that. A massive rally on the streets of Tehran scheduled to begin in the next 30 minutes or so. Opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi is asking his supporters to join him in a massive protest march. But the Iranian government is restricting CNN's coverage.

Our reporter in Tehran, Reza Sayah, permitted to file just one -- just one report for all of our networks for the entire day. Our crews forbidden to witness the situation firsthand. And for that reason, you're not going see a live report that we had planned from Tehran this morning. Instead, we go live to London and CNN's chief international correspondent Christiane Amanpour.

And, Christiane, the government there in Iran really coming down heavily on the foreign press.

CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, it has been restricting the press. Obviously, some of the Iranian television pictures do come out and so do the others over the Internet and the other electronic and e-mail means.

What's going to be interesting is to see whether these protests still have momentum, whether they will come out and as Mousavi has asked them to wear black in mourning for those who were killed over the last week. That, as you know, was after they had attacked a military building and then they were responded to by machine gunfire.

Now, the other really interesting and signal event in terms of watching how this unfolds is going to be to monitor closely what the supreme leader of Iran, Ayatollah Khamenei, says at Friday prayers, which is tomorrow, Friday, and he is unusually going to be leading that.

And according to various reports and various information that we're getting, that he might call together opposition leaders and government leaders and bring them all together for these Friday prayers and his speech in that process. So it's going to be very interesting to see what he says, how he describes what's going on and whether or not that makes the difference on the ground.

CHETRY: And is there any sense -- I mean, we have a really complex situation right now going on in Iran from policy to religion. But is there any sense on how they're trying to handle this situation and whether or not they expected to see this much continuing protest on that election?

AMANPOUR: Well, I don't think they expected to see anything like this after the election. I spoke to many people when I was there, both in Mousavi's camp and close to the government.

Did they expect to see or would they expect any unrest on the streets after the elections no matter who won given how heated the pre- election debate and rallies were? And everybody said, no, we don't expect to see that. And yet it did happen and, by and large, it was spontaneous. So this is very interesting.

In terms of how they're handling it, again, you know, despite what our parameters in our western democratic sort of prism is, what's happening on the streets of Iran in terms of that region is unique. There is democracy happening on the streets. Competing rallies out on the streets, protest, rallies, pro-Ahmadinejad, pro-Mousavi, and as yet, they've been allowed to continue so far. And I think this is very unusual and wouldn't be happening in any of the nations around that region, many of those nations that we cover, but have never seen this kind of spilling off on to the streets without a crackdown and certainly not able to report it.

CHETRY: All right. Christiane Amanpour for us this morning from London. Thank you for that -- for that look at what's going on. As you said before, the reason we're not actually able to report from Iran today is because of this clampdown on the foreign press there. ROBERTS: Yes. We're limited to one report for the entire day from our correspondent, Reza Sayah, there. So not sure when we're going to bring that to you but it will be at some point during the day.

CHETRY: Meantime, the opposition is turning to the Internet. Also uploading their outrage through sites like Twitter and Facebook. Your iReports are also playing a crucial role in telling the story. And our Isha Sesay has her eye on-line. She joins us now from our special Iran desk in Atlanta.

Good morning, Isha?

ISHA SESAY, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Good morning, Kiran. Well, the clock is ticking down to that huge day of protests in Iran. And here on the Iran desk, we are closely monitoring what could, as you have heard already from our viewers, could potentially be the largest demonstration seen in that country since the 1979 Islamic revolution.

Now, we also know that authorities are clamping down on protesters and their use of the Web making Twitter one of the all important tools in getting the message out, getting out all those details.

Now, Mousavi has described what is going to take place today as a ceremony of mourning. Let's read for you what some ordinary folks are saying. We believe these tweets are coming to us from inside of Iran. We're not going to actually show you the Twitter feed. We're not going to show the names. We don't want to endanger anyone. But here's some of what we're finding.

This one says, "Today, the sea of green will wear black in respect of those who have been killed by government." The second one, we also came across. "The sea of green is peaceful. We have no enemies."

And this is another tweet that I just got. It said interestingly enough, "Doctors will join the rallies today, some in white coats so people can go to them for treatment if heard."

Of course, we don't know how today is going to play out. What we're seeing as we monitor the Twitter feeds is a lot of directions on how to get to the rally, what to wear, how to behave. And a lot of speculation about whether Mir Hossein Mousavi himself will turn up at today's demonstration, which CNN, of course, cannot verify.

But there's a lot more happening beyond these actual tweets. We want to show you some of that. Here on the Iran desk, everyone is combing through these various Web sites. And Sarah, our producer, came across this that we want to share with you.

It is a support war. You see it there, it is all in green. Green, the color, of course, closely associated with Mousavi throughout this campaign and this is basically a platform for people to register their support, their support for what is taking place right now in Iran. It is growing. We will continue to monitor that for you.

And we'll have lots more for you the next time you check in with us here at the Iran desk, but we are fully on top of the story for you. Kiran, back to you.

CHETRY: Really fascinating to get some of those Twitter postings and tweets from Iran. Isha Sesay for us this morning, monitoring the Iran desk. Thank you.

ROBERTS: Well, President Obama is hearing it for not jumping in to the Iran crisis more forcefully. You heard what John McCain had to say when he had him on yesterday. But Iran, nonetheless, is blaming America for its post-election chaos.

This morning, it's saying that the United States is meddling too much in its internal affair since the election. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton says this is Iran's problem, not America's.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HILLARY CLINTON, SECRETARY OF STATE: The people of Iran deserve the right to have their voices heard and their votes counted. The outcome of any election should reflect the will of the people, and it is for the Iranians to determine how they resolve this internal protest concerning the outcome of the recent election.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERTS: Our Suzanne Malveaux is tracking the story from the White House this morning. Suzanne, the president seems to studiously be avoiding -- trying to, you know -- he's trying to avoid being drawn into all of this with the language that he's using. Let's listen to what secretary -- Press Secretary Robert Gibbs had to say about all that yesterday.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERT GIBBS, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: The president has been clear that this is a vigorous debate in Iran between Iranians about their leadership. While at the same time, the president has strongly maintained that there are universal principles, such as demonstrating in peace and not feeling threatened. The president will continue to express that -- those concerns and ensure that -- that we're not meddling as the president said.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERTS: So, Suzanne, we're hearing that from the White House and we're hearing exactly the opposite from the Iranian government. So what can the president do about all of this?

SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, you know, U.S. officials are saying it this way -- the president refuses to call this election illegitimate, that it is a fraud in any kind of a way. He is not going go there as one official put it this morning telling me he's not going to take the bait here. They are watching the developments on the ground just as we are, and they're seeing the unrest.

They realize that foreign press has been targeted. They say that they're not blaming the foreign press for the unrest there. So they are not going to actually involve, get themselves involved in this, at least not in this kind of public way. They don't want to be a distraction. So he is not really going to talk about it in that way.

He's going to talk about it in universal terms and say, look, the world is concerned, deeply concerned about the kind of unrest that they see on the streets but they are not going to be engaged like that. The one thing they are doing, John, they're doing very much like we are and that is reaching out to Twitter, using these social networking sites to try to get as much information as possible about what's happening on the ground because it is very difficult to know, John.

ROBERTS: Definitely. We're suffering the same problems here. And as we said, our correspondent there, Reza Sayah, has been limited to one report for the entire day. So getting the information out certainly is difficult. Has the president's focus changed?

MALVEAUX: Well, I don't think the president's focus has changed. Obviously, he's looking at what's happening there. They want to work with the Iranian regime. They want to work with the government, whoever ends up on the other end of this.

But obviously, we saw him yesterday. It was an extremely busy day and he was focusing on the economy, and that's something that he's keeping in the forefront. There's a lot on his plate, a lot on the agenda. I think this is just one of many things that he is actually dealing with at this time. I don't think that it's actually changing his focus. It is simply trying to keep all of the balls in the air at the same time, John.

ROBERTS: All right. Suzanne Malveaux for us live from the Brady Press Room at the White House this morning. Thanks so much, Suzanne.

CHETRY: Also new this morning --

MALVEAUX: Thanks, John.

CHETRY: Also new this morning, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is going to have that surgery in the next few days after she fell on her try the White House, ended up breaking her elbow. She has to trim back her schedule as a result cancelling several events and appearances including one with Angelina Jolie this morning for World Refugee Day.

And for the first time we may be hearing from a 9-year-old boy in the middle of a five-year international national custody battle. We brought you the story earlier in the week here on AMERICAN MORNING.

His dad, David Goldman, lives in New Jersey. His mother died in childbirth, and he is now with his stepfather in Brazil. Brazilian family's lawyers claim the boy said he would break down totally if he was forced to go back to America.

Again, we spoke to his father a few days ago. He has not yet responded to this. But he told me at the time that he believes his son is purposely being told to feel this way about him and that this is parental alienation that's taking place right now.

The biggest community of Iranians outside Iran is right here in the U.S. And you're going to hear from a person inside what's called little Tehran about how frustrating it is watching your homeland implode from the sidelines.

It's 12 minutes past the hour.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHETRY: Fourteen minutes past the hour now. Getting information out of Iran is getting tougher by the day. Our reporter in Tehran literally has seconds to tell the story before Iran pulls the plug. And there's a real source of frustration for hundreds of thousands of Iranian-Americans who are living in some of the biggest communities, Iranian communities outside of their nation, many of them in Southern California. It is actually the biggest community of Iranians outside of Iran.

And our next guest, Maryam Azizi, is part of L.A.'s so-called Tehrangelist (ph) community. Dr. Azizi joins us this morning from Los Angeles.

Thanks for being here.

DR. MARYAM AZIZI, IRANIAN-AMERICAN LIVING IN LOS ANGELES: Thank you for inviting me.

CHETRY: Well, we're expecting this mass rally, the so-called ceremony of mourning that's going to be taking place, to begin in about 20 minutes and we've already seen tens of thousands of people out there protesting these elections. What has been the reaction to those expatriates like you watching this at home?

AZIZI: Well, actually it saddens me to look at what's going on and the brutality and the violence. But at the same time, it shows that people are -- they have come to the boiling point where they are showing their frustrations and suffering of steady years of suppression. And now they are coming out and they are talking and they are actually showing their emotions. Unfortunately, all the violence, of course, it saddens everybody.

CHETRY: And I know you want to protect your family in Iran, but you have been able to be in touch with your relatives there. They've sort of been telling you what's been going on. Talk about what they're calling this wall of soldiers. What are they describing?

AZIZI: Well, they're Revolutionary Guards and the militias, they are all over the town, of course. And they're inhibiting people from going through streets and, of course, they don't want any rallies and they're just trying to quiet down the people, which is not going to happen anymore. And Mr. Mousavi may have been a cause to start this, but he's not going to be able to finish this. So this is going to go on and get worse by the day.

CHETRY: And when you say that he started it but won't finish it, are you talking about just the slow evolution that seems to be taking place right now in terms of those political freedoms or in terms of the demands to have more political freedom. They're saying that this isn't going to begin or end with one candidate?

AZIZI: You see, for so many years, they have been -- the government has been trying to put a silencer on people's mouths and say we're not able to talk. Right now, it's an opportunity, opportunity for them to speak out and to show their emotions. And Mousavi is an excuse to do so.

And, remember, I agree with President Obama when he says that Ahmadinejad is no different than his opponents. And I agree with him, poisonous snakes are lethal no matter what the texture is.

CHETRY: So you don't think that either one of the candidates is necessarily going to change things for the better. What do you hope to see? What is your ultimate wish for your home country?

AZIZI: What I hope to see is the change in government. That's what everybody wants. That's what we hear from Channel One TV in Los Angeles where the viewers call and all of them -- almost all of them, they're asking for a change of government. The change of candidates or a change of -- to revote, that doesn't change anything. It would be from one branch to the other. It would not change anything.

And I hope your viewers will know that what is going on right now is because of the frustration that most of you have not seen. We have seen that. The media has right now opened up the eyes and opened up to Iran to see what's going on. But we have been looking at this brutality and the violence for the past many years.

CHETRY: It's very fascinating. Right, we are getting a look for the first time at what has been going on for a while in Iran and certainly with the people. The head of the --

AZIZI: Thank you.

CHETRY: Yes --

AZIZI: I'm sorry -- if I may add something --

CHETRY: Sure.

AZIZI: We're -- another thing that I really want everybody to know is that as an Iranian, where I'm coming from, I stand with a flag that has been lying in the sun in the middle of it. That's where I'm coming from. And that's what my flag is.

And as a member of the movement named Mohaseem (ph), which means "together we stand," we try to stand together as Iranians without looking at ethnicity, religion, or political views. We stand together and we try to change the government. Therefore, we asked President Obama and we ask that all the other foreign countries to cut their relations with Iran and that's the biggest help they can ever do with the Iranians.

CHETRY: Some very provocative thoughts this morning from Dr. Maryam Azizi. Thanks so much for joining us. We appreciate it.

AZIZI: Thank you.

ROBERTS: Well, we are now at 19 1/2 minutes after the hour. You remember the movie, "Psycho," right? Norman Bates dressed up as his mom.

Well, there's another maybe psycho out there except he's not wielding a knife, he's wielding a pen. Susan Candiotti will be here to tell us all about this fellow. Yes, that's him on the left. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHETRY: Well, it's one of the strangest crimes to cross our eyes in weeks, maybe months. And the suspect's mom probably wouldn't be too proud of him today. Susan Candiotti explains.

SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: John and Kiran, good morning. Thomas Parkin and co-defendant Milton Mhilton Rimolo are each indicted on 47 counts of fraud and face up to 25 years in prison in a case that can be best described as very, very strange. And no, we're not making this up.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CANDIOTTI (voice-over): For putting on a wig, lipstick, dress and painted fingernails to allegedly pose as his dead mother, Brooklyn's D.A. gives Thomas Parkin first price in the scam department.

CHARLES HYNES, KINGS CO. D.A.: For creativity, this comes out as number one.

CANDIOTTI: Creativity apparently motivated by greed. Parkin is charged with multiple counts of fraud and forgery. He allegedly began dressing in drag following his mother's death six years ago allowing him to live rent free as her in her $1 million town home. Authorities say Parkin pocketed more than $100,000 in her Social Security and housing assistance benefits.

He allegedly faked her death certificate by giving a funeral home a phony Social Security number and even used her monthly benefits to buy a fancy tombstone. An inscription reads, "Everyone's talking about the lady in red." Parkin chose a red dress last April to renew his mom's driver's license at the DMV. The man next to him is also charged in the scam posing as the old woman's nephew.

And in an amazing display of nerve, prosecutors claim Parkin went to them last month to file a fraud claim against a man who bought his mom's home at a foreclosure auction.

HYNES: Note the case went from strange to truly bizarre.

CANDIOTTI: Bizarre because Parkin, dressed as his mom, agreed to a meeting with investigators about that fraud claim.

HYNES: It's seen (ph) even too absurd for a Hollywood movie. Investigators met someone dressed as a 77-year-old woman, complete with lipstick, painted nails, because the impostor was Thomas Parkin.

CANDIOTTI: Investigators say they can't help but compare him to Norman Bates who dressed up like his dead mom in Alfred Hitchcock's "Psycho." But with Parkin, authorities say it was all about money. His defense attorney had no comment.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CANDIOTTI: In court papers, prosecutors say Parkin told him he held his dying mother in his arms and in his words, her spirit went in me. If so, one investigator said, he had an odd way of showing it -- John, Kiran.

ROBERTS: You think mom would approve?

CHETRY: Not sure. But when they were giving that press conference with the Kings County D.A., did you see the guy in the background with a moustache, he was like could not stop --

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Cracking up.

CHETRY: Yes, smirking and laughing. I mean, it must be this type of thing that officers have to deal with, you know, from the completely tragic to the totally insane.

ROBERTS: Yes.

ROMANS: Full comic relief for those prosecutors.

ROBERTS: That was kind of a little bit of both of those things. Wow.

ROMANS: There have got to be easier ways to make a dime, you know. I mean, come on, that's a pretty elaborate way to get some money.

ROBERTS: Wow, scary.

Christine Romans here "Minding Your Business" this morning. And Chrysler emerged from bankruptcy and now ramping up production again.

ROMANS: Yes.

ROBERTS: This is good to see.

ROMANS: That's right. Most of Chrysler's workers are going to be able to go back to work by the end of the month. They're going to start making the Dodge Grand Caravan, the Jeep Wrangler, the Chrysler Town and Country. Kiran's ride is a Chrysler Town and Country, which the babies -- you know, very cool.

CHETRY: The most incredible car.

ROMANS: Sterling Height, Michigan, Toledo, Ohio, Fenton, Missouri, Warren, Michigan -- these are the Chrysler plants that are reopening. A couple more in Mexico and a couple in Canada as well, so a lot of folks will be going back to work. You know, they had been working -- getting money, either a combination of jobless benefits and then also some money through the unions -- I can't speak, sorry. So they have been paid.

ROBERTS: You're stuck with that same problem everyday.

ROMANS: Yes, I know. It's a problem.

CHETRY: You leave us for two days and this is what happens.

ROMANS: I know. It's a good thing that my career doesn't depend on it.

So, you know, look we're talking about jobs. Going back to work for some of these folks for the first time since that bankruptcy. They have been completely idle. So they're going to start making some Chrysler vehicles.

ROBERTS: All right. Loosen up those jaw muscles for us this morning and give us our "Romans' Numeral" for today.

ROMANS: It is $7 billion. And it has to do with Chrysler. It has to do with your money. It has to -- see, now, I'm giving it away. It has to do with Chrysler coming out of bankruptcy and getting back to work. It has to do with --

CHETRY: That's how much they have to repay, still have to repay the government?

ROMANS: That's how much they're not going to repay the government. That's your money that they're not going to repay. So they're coming back. They're giving a fresh start. They're going to start opening up these plants again, but that's the taxpayer money that we gave away for free. We're not getting it back.

Unlike the banks that gave money back --

ROBERTS: How do we get a deal like that?

ROMANS: I don't know.

ROBERTS: How can we say, hey, mortgage company, we just think that we're not going to pay you back your last $100,000?

ROMANS: John wants his bailout. John wants his bailout. Where's my bailout?

ROBERTS: This is my bailout, you know.

ROMANS: That's right.

ROBERTS: All right. Thanks, Christine.

ROMANS: You're welcome.

ROBERTS: Christine Romans "Minding Your Business" this morning.

Twenty-eight minutes now after the hour.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROBERTS: It's now half past the hour and we're tracking the breaking news out of Iran this morning. A rally is slated to start right at this moment in the streets of Iran. Supporters of opposition candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi are taking to the streets.

Amateur video that you're seeing here is from yesterday and Iran's government trying to keep pictures and information like this from getting out. They're even severely limiting the number of reports that our correspondents can give today.

CHETRY: Also, the president called it a time bomb. A new poll showing that more of you are worried about the rising cost of health care. Almost half of those polled by the University of Michigan say they are concerned about being able to pay doctor bills in the future and nearly 25 percent are afraid of losing their coverage completely in the next year.

ROBERTS: Plus more of your paycheck is going into your gas tank these days. AAA reporting the price of gas is up for the 51st straight day with the national average for regular unleaded now at $2.69 a gallon.

And staying with our top story right now. Supporters of opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi are filling Tehran's streets promising to rally by the tens of thousands. It's a story that the Iranian government is trying to keep a lid on.

CHETRY: Yes, Iran is keeping CNN crews off of the streets, limiting all of our global networks to just one live report for the capital for the entire day. I want to talk more about what exactly is going on. We bring in author and Middle Eastern scholar, Fawaz Gerges, and also in London, our chief international correspondent Christiane Amanpour. Thanks to both of you for being with us.

Christiane, let me start with you. One of the interesting things when we talk to an expatriate, Dr. Miriam Azizi who lives in Los Angeles, in a place where they actually call Tehrantula(ph) was saying - it was very interesting to hear her. She said she agreed totally with President Obama when he said - when he suggested that there might not be that much difference between the two candidates. Is that an opinion that's shared by the people that you've been talking with in Iran?

CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, clearly not. Because there would be no division on the street otherwise. You know, as you said Tehrangeles, the United States has one of the highest population of expatriates, of Iranians. Many of them highly professional working in the high-tech and all the other industries along the West Coast mostly. But they are exiles and by and large opposed to the Islamic republic which is why they're exiles. And most people don't believe people who are outside of Iran said there's any difference between the different sides in Iran.

However, within the system, there are differences between the reformists and the more hard line. And some of those differences were on display during the televised debates between Mr. Ahmadinejad and Mr. Mousavi. For instance, Mousavi made a policy difference. He said, for instance, my supporters don't want us to be spending money on Hezbollah or the Palestinians. They want us to spend money on what is important to Iranians here at home. That is the policy difference. So it's very much more nuance than what it might look from the outside.

In terms of new development, Press TV, Iran's Press TV is saying that a group of reformist clerics have asked the government for a petition to rally over this weekend. And that could, if they get that permission, it could bring a really religious flavor to the rallies that are already on the streets in Tehran.

ROBERTS: Yes, Fawaz, when we look at Mir Hossein Mousavi - I was listening to (Afshim Moulavi) who we had in the program the other day, talking about this, and he says this is not a radical who wants to fire bomb the Iranian hierarchy. This is think more of Mikhail Gorbachev, a man who is part of the system who wants to change the system from the inside. Is that the way that you see him?

FAWAZ GERGES, MIDDLE EASTERN SCHOLAR, SARAH LAWRENCE COLLEGE: Yes. But remember, John, politics has a logic itself. Mousavi has become a symbol for the reformists movement even though he started as a moderate conservative. Now he represents, he means a great deal to young voters, to female voters. Let's look at his (inaudible). He said he wants to change Iran's foreign policy on social freedom. He wants to give women more freedom. Ahmadinejad has done the opposite. He cracked down against women activists. In terms of economic policy, he talks about more of a, you might say effective and rational economic policy. He criticized Ahmadinejad for denial of the holocaust. He said it's not our business.

ROBERTS: So does he represent a threat to the Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Khomeini or would he work together?

GERGES: Really, one of the least talked about, as you know, Mousavi served as a prime minister in the '80s. Ali Khomeini was the president of Iran. And there was a great deal of clashes between Mousavi and the current Supreme Council. So it's a great deal of personal tensions between the Supreme Leader and Mousavi. But remember, Mousavi threatens the hardliners.

He presents a different discourse, a different narrative. He talks about the new relationship with the United States. He talks about a new relationship with the west. He talks about woman rights - his wife, John, his wife, Sarah, terrifies the hard liners within the mullah and this is really the situation.

CHETRY: And she certainly energized the Iranian women.

GERGES: Oh, electrified, I mean, the women vote. And she talks about basically giving women a vote.

CHETRY: Right.

GERGES: She talks about women representing themselves, organizing themselves. CHETRY: I want to bring in Christiane Amanpour one more time. And Christiane, as we've been talking and covering this story, seeing the pictures of these mass rallies, perhaps there is some people here in the U.S. who wonder why does what's going on internally with Iran's politics matter to me at home? Can you sort of shed some light on why this is something that we should care about here in the states?

AMANPOUR: Yes, because Iran is in that very central location where many of the issues that are important to the United States are, whether it's Iraq, whether its Afghanistan, of course, it's nuclear program. And beyond that, just the 30 years of hostility that have gone on between the U.S. and Iran over the last 30 year since the Islamic revolution. At a time when there is a new American president, Barack Obama, who has said that we would like to have a new beginning in relations with Iran based on mutual interests and mutual respect and he has offered dialogue in a different way than President Bush did.

So dialogue versus isolation. This is all relevant to that agenda. And I think that the, you know, the whole business about the revolution and all of that. But we ask the Mousavi camp. They were very, very clear about saying we are not trying to cause a revolution. We just want reform from the inside. And the Iranian government has had two opportunities, one with Mohamad (Hatemi). The hardliners did not let him pursue his agenda and now with this demand for reform by Mousavi and his supporters. So there is a conflict between the very hard line elements of the Iranian establishment and the conservative yet more pragmatic element of the establishment, who want reform inside and want to reach out to outside including to the United States.

ROBERTS: Christiane Amanpour for us this morning. Fawaz Gerges here in New York. Thanks for being with us, both of you. We really appreciate it.

CHETRY: Also new this morning, Billy Joel and his third wife are separating. The 60-year-old singer has been married for five years to Katie Lee Jules. She is 27 years old. They put out a joint statement saying they still remain caring friends who admire and respect each other.

A lot of teenagers apparently using their cell phones to cheat on test, even though there's a ban on cell phones in most classrooms. There's a new survey finding that a quarter of all teen text messages are sent in school. More than 1,000 teens who were surveyed said - half of them say they know kids who are storing information or texting it to cheat on exams.

And PETA has a problem with the president. The commander killed a fly on camera. And now the people at PETA, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, sending President Obama a message as well as a package. We'll let you know what's in both. 38 minutes past the hour.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(MUSIC PLAYING)

CHETRY: Beautiful shot this morning as we listen to a little bit of Tom Petty here. Clear and right now in Dallas. A little bit later. Sunny and going up to a high of 98. See it's summer somewhere. Not just here.

ROBERTS: Real hot down there in Texas these days.

CHETRY: Yes, it is.

Well, some of the top videos on cnn.com right now. I don't know if I buy this one. You can fall asleep while getting tattoos all over your face. But anyway this, is what this 18-year-old Belgian girl says. She said that she asked for three small stars by her cheek and when she woke up, she had 56. She said she's planning to sue. The tattoo artist said this was not lost in translation. It was after her dad saw her face, she came up with the story but who knows. He's saying that he's going to allow here to get them removed. He's going to do the laser removal and only charge her half price.

ROBERTS: She fell asleep when she was having that many stars tattooed on her face.

CHETRY: Yes. All right, well.

ROBERTS: It must have been really tired.

CHETRY: This could be a UFO. Denis Smith from Norfolk, Virginia took these pictures of a black ring hovering in the sky over an amusement park, either that or he dropped a rain drop on the camera lens. I don't know, I'm just saying. The park said it was a smoke ring that was produced by a ride. Okay. (inaudible) exactly what it is but it was definitely, she says, a sign from god.

And a battle of the titans at the world's toe wrestling championship. This is in Ashbourne, England sponsored shown by Lamicil - just kidding. Alan "Nasty" Nash defeated Paul "Toeminator" Beech. Oh, goodness - for the men's competition. By the way, Twinkle toes upset Toeminator's wife Heather Beech to win the women's title.

And those are some of the most popular videos on the internet.

ROBERTS: The Toeminator. They have such interesting -

CHETRY: Twinkle toes.

ROBERTS: ... you know, athletic competitions in Britain. I particularly like the one they chase the wheel of cheese down the hill.

CHETRY: That's right. That takes a lot of athletic prowess as well to tumble continuously.

ROBERTS: It's pretty hilarious to watch.

Well, here's one that had a lot of us saying this morning, are you kidding me? PETA is on the president's case. for what? For swatting that fly. It happened on Tuesday during an interview with a reporter. The group, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals saw it and was completely bugged by it. Have a look at what happened.

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PRES. BARACK OBAMA, UNITED STATES: Our - I'm sorry, I'm going start over. Hey, get out of here.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's the most persistent fly I've ever seen.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Nice.

OBAMA: Now, where were we?

That was pretty impressive, wasn't it? I've got the - I got the sucker. What do you think, Gibbs?

ROBERT GIBBS: That is very good.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's right there. You want to film that? There it is.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERTS: So the president has got good reflexes, but according to PETA, not good judgment. PETA now sending the fly swatter in chief one of these, it's called a Katcha Bug. It's a device that lets you trap it and release flies unharmed. So we haven't heard from the White House yet whether they'll be practicing catch and release with flies in the future but they now have the technology to do it.

CHETRY: That's right. And not just flies, you use it for spiders. You can use it for those little silver fish things that - they just come out of nowhere.

ROBERTS: I have difficulty catching spiders because they do good work. But flies? Not so much. 44 minutes after the hour.

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ROBERTS: We're back with the most news in the morning. We're amazed, you'll remember last year by the video of a tornado tearing up the pig farm. But this has to be the best tornado tape ever. It happened yesterday in Nebraska, a terrifying twister tearing up a county near Aurora. Local storm chaser A.J. Fable was just about in the middle of it all. And obviously got the thrill of his life.

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VOICE OF A.J. FABLE, STORM CHASER: It is now a half mile wide, it's huge. We got debris coming up. We got structural damage. We got damage off of this building. It's tearing this building apart. Debris in the air. It's tearing this building apart, literally in front of my eyes. Look at this. It is tearing this building apart.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You're approaching the twisting storm.

FABLE: I'm literally 400 yards away from it. It just ripped the roof off of this building. This is truly incredible. It's June 17, 2009. Debris is everywhere. It is huge! Debris is in the air. You can see it swirling around. That's pieces of a building - way too close.

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ROBERTS: Oops, I'm way too close. You can tell - when a person says - it's June 17, 2009 - it's way up with that. Rob Marciano spent a few days with some storm chasers a couple of weeks ago. Trying to get that close. Rob, this guy does it - wow, A.J. Fable. Big kudos to him.

ROB MARCIANO, CNN, METEOROLOGIST: And definitely documenting the data, as you mentioned, in case, you know, he wasn't able to survive.

CHETRY: Right. But you know, it might have booted him out of the car to get this picture with the high-tech, you know, little gizmos you had there opening up the door and saying, all right, dude, you're just a little too hyper for us.

MARCIANO: Or we would have put him in the vehicles that get super close and that would have killed two birds with one stone - you know, figuratively, of course.

CHETRY: Yes.

MARCIANO: Severe storms again, the threat guys in the same spot, making a little bit further to the east. Will include places like Chicago and southeast towards Illinois. Where they saw those storms yesterday across Nebraska, they have since moved up to the north and east. A pretty good line moving through Sioux City right now. That's got a little bow into it. So severe thunderstorms with heavy and high winds, I should say. Another thunderstorm watch in effect for southern parts of Illinois. That's in effect until 1:00. Chicago, you'll see rain and thunder. Just plain old rain across parts of the northeast. That will slow down travel. It will probably also slow down the first round of the U.S. Open. And so golf fans, keep that in mind.

Hour plus delays possible in some of the bigger cities from New York to D.C., over to Chicago. High of 64 in the Big Apple. Cool and wet. Back up to you guys.

ROBERTS: All right. Rob, thanks so much for that. Good to see you this morning.

CHETRY: All right. Coming up in just a couple of minutes, there are some 220, or more than 220 detainees still at Guantanamo Bay. Only six months now to figure out what to do with them. So what are the options? Jeanne Meserve is going to be joining us in a couple of minutes to talk more about the plan. 49 minutes past the hour.

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CHETRY: 52 minutes past the hour. Welcome back to the most news in the morning. We're now down to about six months to figure out what to do with the 229 detainees still locked up in Guantanamo Bay. President Obama has promised that he will shut down the prison there by January. And now we're finally hearing about some sort of plan. Homeland Security correspondent Jeanne Meserve is getting some answers for us this morning.

JEANNE MESERVE, CNN HOMELAND SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: John and Kiran, as you know, there's been a tremendous human cry over the possibility of bringing detainees from Guantanamo Bay into the U.S.. Now some new detail on what's going to happen to them.

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MESERVE (voice-over): With Guantanamo Bay slated to close in only seven months, the Justice Department is doing a case by case review of more than 200 detainees still held there. On Capitol Hill, the attorney general was asked, how many would end up being tried in the U.S

ERIC HOLDER, ATTORNEY GENERAL: We've gone through about half of the detainees at this point. I don't think we're going to have a very huge number.

VOICE OF SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM (R), SOUTH CAROLINA: Yes, would you say less than 25 percent? 25 percent or less?

HOLDER: That might be about right.

GRAHAM: Yes.

MESERVE: That would mean 60 or less would be put on trial in the U.S. one has already been transferred to New York. Four Chinese-Muslim uighurs released to Bermuda last week are among the 50 to 60 detainees approved for transfer or release to other countries. Iraq, Saudi Arabia, and Chad have taken five, Italy will take three more. Holder is confident the U.S. will persuade other countries to take the rest. That leaves the fate of about 100 detainees unknown. It's expected that many will be held indefinitely without trial.

HOLDER: Anybody who poses a danger to the United States or who has committed an act against the United States for America's interest will be held, will be tried. And the president has been clear about that. This process is designed to protect the American people.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MESERVE: The big question, will some deem to be an ongoing security threat be held here in the U.S.? FBI director Robert Muller and many members of Congress have expressed grave misgivings. But the attorney general pointed out that the Bureau of Prisons are already has 216 inmates with a history of or in to terrorism. John and Kiran, back to you.

ROBERTS: All right. Jeanne Meserve for us this morning.

Hey, you know, we've done an awful lot of coverage on the home crisis in America and one of the worst places in the country where home prices have declined 50 plus percent. Well, there's a new program out there that may actually help move some of those houses. And if you're a first-time home buyer, Phoenix may be the place to be.

Our Ed Lavandera's got the story coming right up. Five minutes now to the top of the hour.

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ROBERTS: And good early morning to the folks in Phoenix. Right now it's fair and 82 degrees. Later on today mostly sunny and the high there is going to be 101. The heat is on there in Phoenix.

CHETRY: But it's a dry heat.

ROBERTS: Yes, we always give you that caveat. It's not like it's humid. The temperature might not be the only thing that's heating up in Phoenix. The housing market there might soon start to show some signs of life. Bargain basement prices are beginning to attract families back into the market. And there's a new program to help folks get into those homes. Many of them first-time home buyers. But there's a catch, you've got to go to class first. Would you do that? CNN's Ed Lavandera's got that story for us.

ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: John and Kiran, the home foreclosure crisis has taken a devastating toll on the Phoenix-Arizona area, but a new federal program is hoping to help turn things around.

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LISA LOCASCIO, PROSPECTIVE HOME BUYER: Probably after I walk through it, I did, this is the living room.

LAVANDERA (voice-over): Lisa Locascio wants this house. She's 30 years old, on the verge of becoming a homeowner for the first time, but it's not a done deal yet and she's nervous.

LOCASCIO: So, we'll see. Hopefully the bank will say yes.

LAVANDERA: Locascio is trying to buy this home with help from something called the Neighborhood Stabilization Program, a financial assistance plan that helps people buy foreclosed homes from banks at a slight discount.

(on camera): Would you be surprised if they'd say no?

LOCASCIO: I'd be disappointed.

LAVANDERA (voice-over): The program offers low-cost loans of up to $15,000 to cover down payment and closing costs, in return, banks get foreclosed homes off their books. To buy this house, Locascio would only need to put down about $1,500.

LOCASCIO: People that work hard and they just can't come up with the 3.5 percent down, it's good for them and it's fair to put them into a nice home or what not and give them a sense of stability.

LAVANDERA: But since the program rolled out a few months ago, not a single person has bought a house using this program in Phoenix. That's because there are requirements to qualify.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Right now, I only have money for Phoenix --

LAVANDERA: One is that prospective home buyers must take a class preparing them for home ownership and teaching them to live within their means. Hundreds have signed up.

JOHN SMITH, "HOUSING OUR COMMUNITIES": We think about 1,000 families -

LAVANDERA: John Smith works with these families. He likes the idea, but says this program won't solve Phoenix' foreclosure crisis.

SMITH: It's just that we have so much foreclosed property in the Phoenix metro area. It's overwhelming when you look at the numbers.

LAVANDERA: Just a few hours after we interviewed Lisa Locascio, she found out the bank accepted somebody else's offer. So her search goes on.

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LAVANDERA: The Neighborhood Stabilization Program hopes to help at least 1,000 families. But in a city that sees close to 8,000 foreclosures a month, it's not clear what kind of difference this will really make.

John and Kiran.

ROBERTS: Any difference will certainly be appreciated.

CHETRY: And there's some who work in this field. Even Ryan Mack yesterday who works in the banking and home loan industry said people need to be educated so there needs to be more education out there so you understand what it is you're getting into. I mean often times you see that pile of papers, you sign away everything.

ROBERTS: You know, coming home a little smarter every day is not a bad thing.

CHETRY: Yes.