Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

Riots Erupt in the Fallout of Iran's Presidential Election; No Sighting Yet of Opponent Mir Hossein Mousavi; Violent Clashes Continue in Iran; Program Tried to Increase the Number of Black Americans in Engineering

Aired June 14, 2009 - 18:00   ET

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

DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, everyone. I'm Don Lemon.

Breaking news coverage tonight on the fallout over the Iranian presidential election -- the kind of fallout Iran has not seen since the 1979 Islamic Revolution. The man many people thought would become the president is asking for the election results to be thrown out. Right now, that doesn't seem likely.

The apparent winner, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, held a massive victory rally in Tehran today, to celebrate his landslide re- election. You can see tens of thousands of people turning out to cheer the results.

But supporters of challenger Mir Hossein Mousavi are not ready to concede.

Pockets of Mousavi's supporters today made their displeasure clear. Many believe the election was rigged, especially after Mousavi appeared to be leading the vote count. Mousavi, who has not be seen in public, has posted a letter on his Web site asking that the election results be annulled to, quote, "restore public trust."

CNN's chief international correspondent Christiane Amanpour asked President Ahmadinejad about Mousavi's welfare. The president responded by comparing Mousavi supporters to sore losers at a soccer match.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: 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 being arrested?

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

As I said, even in a soccer match, that there be -- 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 a 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 of people who participated in the elections and these 40 million people will safeguard the elections, based on the Iranian culture. There is no partisanship on the basis of 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 -- will not lead to any hostility among the people. And you go to the streets, you see the people who are friends with each other. And in Iran, no one asks the other to whom you're 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. And 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 Mousavi's safety.

No, just the first question. Last night, you said that you were the president of all Iranians, including the reformists --

AHMADINEJAD: Yes, I did respond to your question. I said that people come out of a stadium, 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 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 am not happy with a person violating the traffic rules.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: Ahmadinejad responding to our Christiane Amanpour today.

The Iran election is a complicated story with many moving parts and far-reaching geopolitical consequences. CNN's global resources and correspondents are focused on every single aspect of this story to bring you the most current and important information from Tehran to Washington, to reaction in major cities around the world.

Mousavi supporters are raising their forces. Ahmadinejad supporters are raising theirs as well. And now, Ahmadinejad is finally talking, defending his win.

We go now to a full report to our Christiane Amanpour who's on the ground in Tehran.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

AMANPOUR (voice-over): Sunday, the streets of Tehran belonged to the supporters of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Hundreds of thousands of them filled one of the capital city's main squares and surged into the surrounding streets for a rally that was organized to celebrate Friday's elections, and the result that gave him a controversial landslide victory.

Overhead, helicopter footage told the story, and the president told the flag-waving crowd they should be proud of their historic voter turnout, and of the results.

AHMADINEJAD (through translator): Today, we should appreciate -- we should appreciate the great triumph of the people of Iran against the united front of all the world arrogance.

AMANPOUR: Just hours earlier, at a press conference, he defiantly addressed the street protests and widespread complaints of fraud and cheating.

AHMADINEJAD: Our 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.

AMANPOUR: Referring to the country's nuclear program, a combative president said no foreign power would, quote, "even dare think of bombing Iran's nuclear sites." And he warned other governments that he's watching their reaction to his re-election.

Despite the huge crowds out for him this day --

(CROWD CHANTING)

AMANPOUR: Angry supporters of the defeated Mir Hossein Mousavi were out again, too, in much smaller numbers, nonetheless, full of grievance.

At Tehran University, students waved fists and two fingers through the locked iron gates and they yelled "cheats!"

(on camera): The police presence on the streets and in some areas the running battles that they're having with the protesters, people are still allowed to be on the street. They continue to gather. There is no indication that there will be any curfew or any more stringent punishment.

(voice-over): Hundreds of regular and riot police are out, but for the most part, they maintain wary vigilance, charging protesters when they venture too close. But it's the non-uniformed revolutionary vigilantes on foot, and in waves of motorbike advances, who are causing most of the injuries.

This young man shows us his baton bruises. Another weeps in fear after escaping a beating through an open door. The streets remain jammed with traffic, honking their protests. Others wave and join in from the side.

This woman had a message for President Obama. "I just want him to know that this was not a vote for Ahmadinejad," she says.

Despite saying he was now president of all Iranians -- whether or not they voted for him -- when asked, Ahmadinejad failed to guarantee Mousavi's safety. Later, police issued a statement saying they had not arrested him, and a letter on Mousavi's Web site says that he's asking the authorities to nullify the election results, while also calling on his supporters to refrain from any violence.

Christiane Amanpour, CNN, Tehran.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LEMON: Iranians have been very passionate about this election, and some of the best sights and sounds have come from our iReporters. Look.

What you're looking at was a street scene yesterday in Tehran when emotions were especially high. The crowd was chanting "Ahmadinejad, shame on you, let go of the country." Now, for security reasons, we've agreed not to identify the iReporter who filed this report.

Tamping down on the dissent, if what we're hearing from international broadcasters is true, the Iranian government is trying to do damage control in the wake of the protests, arresting journalists, slamming signals -- jamming signals, I should say, et cetera. So, alternative ways to get the information outside the republic are being utilized and boy, can we attest to that.

Our inbox literally blew up with the onslaught of responses, hundreds and hundreds of submissions via Twitter account, also, on MySpace and Facebook. I was up pretty late into the evening answering some of them last night. And we -- believe us, we hear your voices around here, and we want to get your responses on the air, but we also want to be accurate about exactly what we are reporting.

So, with that said, we are witnessing some historic fallout from this presidential election in Iran. Technology -- specifically, social networking sites, they're playing a bigger role than ever in getting the story out of the country, and to the rest of the world as well.

I want to turn now to our senior Middle East affairs editor, Octavia Nasr. You see her here. She joins us now live with the technical angle out of this.

Before we get going here, we said that Internet service had been cut down or had been jammed at least but Twitter is getting out and a lot of those responses are coming there.

OCTAVIA NASR, CNN SR. EDITOR, MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS: They're managing to stay on Twitter which is very interesting. Indeed, SMS text messaging has been gone since election day. Cell phones were out since after the election day, since yesterday. What's left is the Internet. Very slow in most parts but Twitter seems to be working fine.

So, we've been getting tweets from people inside Iran and people around the world are engaging people inside Iran, keeping them going, asking them questions. And we're getting some of the first breaking news really on Twitter, because you have campaigns there. So, it's very organized. They're sending out messages, really, mobilizing their followers, telling them where to meet, when to meet and so forth. Very interesting world indeed.

LEMON: It is and I'm looking at some of the responses now, even as you're speaking. And as we were doing, you know, we led every single newscast with this yesterday and as we were doing it, we went on and on with experts and you were on, where people are saying where is the coverage on Iran and I'm on Twitter going, well, you must be watching the wrong channel because we have been, you know, broadcasting it. But a lot of people are really upset about this issue and it's an emotional issue.

So, when it comes to these sites and the social networking sites, this is uncharted territory here, right?

NASR: It is. It's unchartered for all of us, really. So, what Iranians have found, this started really around campaign time. There was a time when President Ahmadinejad was doing so well, no one thought that anyone stands a chance.

And then we started hearing from the campaign of Mr. Mousavi. They started posting pictures, started posting messages, started garnering support, and that worked very, very well. As a matter of fact, when it worked very well, Facebook was down, that page of Mr. Mousavi was down. Well, now, it's back up and it seems that Iranians found their voice on the Internet.

So, now, many people are saying, could there be a revolution on the Internet? It's very possible. People are mobilizing and they're getting together online (ph).

LEMON: And it's younger Iranians here.

NASR: Yes, younger on both sides.

LEMON: Yes.

NASR: For Ahmadinejad and Mousavi.

LEMON: I want to talk about this, because, as we know, we have the two American journalists who are in North Korea. But then, we're also hearing there are international broadcasters. It's important to get the information out. But it may be slow in coming because of the restrictions of broadcasting there and being live there.

But I want to talk -- I'm hearing journalists are being arrested, are they being caught up in the protests as well?

NASR: We're hearing that. Yes, they caught up in the cross- fire.

LEMON: Christiane was reporting some of that.

NASR: Yes, absolutely, she's right. And al Arabiya, for example, the Arabic network, someone showed up at their door, officials and said that you're closed for a week. They don't know why. They don't know the reason. But this is all part of the filtering. They're looking to see who is reporting what.

And officials there in Iran feel that some media are inciting the violence. That's what they're saying, that's their claim. So, they're using that excuse to shut them down.

Many reporters talked about being harassed, being caught in the cross-fire. So, this is a dangerous, dangerous story, but at the same time it's very exciting.

For a country that is trying to speak up, this is the first time Iran has seen this since the revolution, since the Islamic Revolution. So, you have people standing up, saying, "I want my vote to count," and they're not going to let go. As a matter of fact, Mousavi now is saying that he wants -- he wants to annul the results.

LEMON: I want to talk to -- we have very short amount of time here, because, as you know, as you were talking, I'm looking at the social networking sites. And, you know, we don't base our news coverage on that at all.

You have to be concerned because there's no filter about what's accurate, what's not, what people are covering and what's not. So, you know, even though this is the only thing that's been shut down, should there be a grain of salt when it comes here as to what is accurate on these sites?

NASR: Well, you shouldn't get on the site now and start believing everything you read or everything you hear. People, like myself, have been on Twitter for awhile. People who follow me know that I'm there, that I talk to people, I have contacts.

You build a rolodex of sorts and then you know who to trust on what, and, of course, you don't take everything and run with it. Everyone on Twitter will tell you that. As a matter of fact, one of my contacts inside Iran said yesterday he said, "We don't know what to believe anymore. We don't know what's truth from fiction." And I said to him, I said, "Golden words because it is indeed a problem. You shouldn't believe everything you hear."

So, what we do, we basically try to match information. Someone's tweet something else, I'll sent it out, anybody else is hearing this. And then, we'll report it ands we'll tell our audience what we're hearing. We will say this is from inside Iran, this is, you know, going through censorship or this is what our reporters on the ground are seeing and reporting back to us.

LEMON: Yes. And again, I want to point out, because of the restrictions there, it's not necessarily live coverage. You have to wait until it's brought back and then fed, and the information is filtered through all of those things.

So, it's not as immediate as it might be here in the States where we can have a helicopter up or something live going. It has to wait a second before you see the pictures. The information comes fast but the pictures come a little bit later.

Octavia is going to be monitoring our social networking sites, of course. If you can hang around and look through some of that stuff, we'd really appreciate it. We'd like to get Octavia back on the air.

We appreciate it. Thank you very much.

NASR: You bet. Any time.

LEMON: We're going to monitor continuing coverage, this developing story, the fallout in Iran today regarding the presidential election. We're going to be on for the next two hours with live coverage with the international resources of CNN.

Also tonight from Berlin --

(CROWD CHANTING)

LEMON: And then to Los Angeles.

(CROWD CHANTING)

LEMON: Protesters around the globe take it to the streets and the White House reacts to the latest developments. Our special look at Iran's election fallout -- moments away.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: Back to special coverage of the Iran election fallout.

Across the globe, Iranians have taken to the streets to protest the contested victory of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. In Berlin, protesters gathered outside the Iranian embassy chanting and holding signs in support of opposition candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi.

About 200 Iranians lined the streets of London outside the Iranian embassy waving banners and chanting "Where is my vote?" Mousavi supporters don't believe the Iranian government's decision that Ahmadinejad won 62 percent of that vote.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We want to let the world know that this is not the result of our election. This is absolutely fake. They've been cheating and we won't stay calm.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What happened to our world? We want our world back to the right man, who is Mr. Mousavi.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: Well, from Los Angeles to New York, protesters came out against the Iranian election result. And there you see there at the top of your screen, CNN's Kara Finnstrom. She joins us live from Los Angeles.

What have you been seeing there, Kara?

KARA FINNSTROM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Don, Los Angeles has one of the largest expatriate populations of Iranians in the country. And just up a block from us here, earlier today, there was a huge protest. Police estimated that between 800 and 1,000 people turned up -- some carrying signs, others waving flags, some protesting by chanting and going on marches up and down the streets.

There were two very different groups here today -- all believe that the election was stolen. But one of the groups, ardent supporters of Mousavi, supporters of a complete regime change. And there was some very clear tension between those two groups here today.

Protests clearly not just taking place here in Los Angeles, also in New York today, between 150 and 200 people gathered on the lawn of the U.N., sat there, chanting. More chanting is taking place in Washington, D.C., where about 150 people took part in protests. And in Dallas, about 100 to 200 people took part in protests there, some waving those signs asking, "Where is my vote?"

And, Don, we also heard from people here today, that they are looking for some type of response from the U.S. They were saying that they would like President Obama to come forward and say that he believes these elections are not valid.

LEMON: Kara Finnstrom in Los Angeles -- Kara, we appreciate it. Thank you very much.

Iran's contested election and the subsequent protests have been closely monitored in Washington. For that, we want to go to CNN White House correspondent Elaine Quijano. She is live with the very latest.

Good evening to you, Elaine. It has been a real busy day in D.C., and a wait-and-see approach. That's a perception offered by Vice President Biden.

ELAINE QUIJANO, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, you know, that's exactly right, Don. You know, White House officials are obviously being cautious in their comments about Iran. They don't want to be seen as in any way interfering with the process, but they're also not leaving any doubt, they are skeptical of these results.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) QUIJANO (voice-over): As Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad celebrated what he called his re-election, Vice President Joe Biden made clear the Obama administration has doubts.

VICE PRES. JOE BIDEN, UNITED STATES: We don't have all the details. It sure looks like the way they're suppressing speech, the way they're suppressing crowds, the way in which people are being treated, that there's some real doubt about that.

QUIJANO: Despite reports of voting irregularities, Vice President Biden did not signal the administration would back away from efforts to engage the Iranian government. But he insisted the U.S. position on Iran's nuclear program will not change.

BIDEN: Our interests are the same before the election as after the election, and that is: We want them to cease and desist from seeking a nuclear weapon and having one in its possession and secondly, to stop supporting terror.

QUIJANO: Analysts say, if Ahmadinejad remains in power, the U.S. will have no choice but to deal with him.

KARIM SADJADPUR, CARNEGIE ENDOWNMENT FOR INTERNATIONAL PEACE: It's going to be very difficult for the Obama administration to say that, "No, we want to speak to different interlocutors in Tehran," given the influence has on major issues of critical importance to U.S. foreign policy, from nuclear proliferation to Iraq and to Afghanistan.

QUIJANO: But with Ahmadinejad's history of anti-Israeli rhetoric and statements denying the Holocaust, Israel could grow impatient.

FARIBORZ GHADAR, CENTER FOR STRATEGIC AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES: I think we need to basically make sure that our allies are calm enough and not do anything rash.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

QUIJANO: Now, domestically, there is also pressure on the Obama administration to get tougher with Iran. In a statement, Senator Joe Lieberman said that the Iranian regime had made a, quote, "mockery" of democracy, and he called on President Obama and lawmakers to express solidarity with the Iranian people -- Don?

LEMON: Elaine, we appreciate it. Thank you very much.

So, how will this impact the Obama administration, especially the olive branch the president extended just 10 days ago? CNN's senior political analyst Bill Schneider is live in Washington with some insight on that.

Hello, Bill.

WILLIAM SCHNEIDER, CNN SR. POLITICAL ANALYST: Hi, Don.

Well, the president did make his statement in Cairo about how he intends to engage with, reach out to the Iranian regime. Here's what the president said 10 days ago.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PRES. BARACK OBAMA, UNITED STATES: There will be many issues to discuss between our two countries, and we are willing to move forward without preconditions on the basis of mutual respect.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHNEIDER: Mutual respect, the president said. Well, the problem is, that his vice president, Joe Biden, today, said he had real doubts, the United States government -- this administration has real doubts about the legitimacy of that government that has presumably been elected in Iran. There are questions about the legitimacy of its election.

And the real shadow over this is how do you reach out to and engage with a regime whose legitimacy is very much in question in its own country. How do you make a deal with people like that? Well, that issue is going to be brought up by a lot of critics of the reach out -- the engagement policy to Iran, both domestic critics in Republican side and international critics in places like Israel.

LEMON: What might have the biggest, I guess, impact here on whether or not this election, Bill, might be contested? And if it is, if there will be monitors next time, would that be the Obama administration or would that be the international community as a whole? Explain that one to me.

SCHNEIDER: I'm not sure any outside influence is going to move the Iranian authorities, because ultimate sovereignty in Iran rests with religious authorities -- not the president of Iran, but with the religious authorities. And Ayatollah Khamenei said that he would not contest the results of the election. He thought the election produced the correct result.

And unless some international force has some sway with the religious ayatollahs who run Iran, I'm not sure what the international community is going to be able to do except increasingly isolate Iran.

LEMON: Yes, that was my next thought. If the grand ayatollah has signed off on it, then, what is there to do? We shall see.

All right. Bill Schneider, we really appreciate your insight on this.

And now, we want to go to our viewers and our -- people who have been responding to us. Here's what Eric Grant says, "Just now on CNN to Twitter, 'Trust us, we here at CNN hear you.'" Uclabruin says, "Best believe, I'll be in the streets of Burbank tomorrow, letting my voice be heard." And then Uclabruin and says again, "Best believe, I'll be in the streets tomorrow," that one was in there twice.

Jasama32 says, "So what it is with all of the criticism that CNN has received recently on the Iranian election, lack of coverage of protests, i.e." Well, Wlperie says, "Either the election was fix or more than half of all Iranians are nuts. Something just isn't right here."

All right. Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, iReport.com. We really appreciate your responses and your insight and it's our -- it's our chance to thank you for watching by getting you on the air and your opinions as well, because they do count.

We're going to continue to monitor the situation going on in Iran. We have two hours here of live coverage of the fallout of the election, the presidential election there.

Also, anti-Ahmadinejad protests turned violent. We'll hear from one of our producers who was caught up in today's street violence -- next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: Now. back to our breaking news coverage of the Iran election fallout. I'm Don Lemon here at the CNN world headquarters in Atlanta.

We want to welcome our international viewers joining us now on CNN International.

Iranians are protesting the results of the presidential election across the globe. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad claimed victory during a news conference in Tehran this morning. Meanwhile, there's still been no sighting of political opponent, Mir Hossein Mousavi. Today Ahmadinejad declined to guarantee Mousavi's safety in response to a question from CNN chief international correspondent, Christiane Amanpour.

Meantime, thousands of flag-waving Ahmadinejad supporters jammed the streets of Tehran to hear his victory speech. Ahmadinejad insisted the nation was united and stood together against unnamed foreign enemies.

For a complete analysis of today's events in Iran, we go to Karim Sadjadpour, an associate at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, and a leading expert on Iran. He joins us from Washington.

Yesterday, things were unfolding and starting to unfold, and we noticed overnight, Karim, that they got even more heated in Tehran, and even also here in the united States and around the world, with these protests. Is this a done deal, though? Because the grand ayatollah has signed off on this and many people are saying this is all for naught.

KARIM SADJADPOUR, CARNEGIE ENDOWMENT FOR INTERNATIONAL PEACE: I don't think it's a done deal yet, Don. I think people still feel very cheated in Iran. And this is unprecedented in Iran's 30-year revolutionary history that you have revolutionary elites so divided. In the past, it was a divide between the regime and the society, but now you have serious divides between revolutionary elites as well. Someone like Ashamed al-Sonjoni (ph), who is really one of the founding fathers of the Islamic Republic, is now in the opposition camp. So I think until they decide what their strategy is, this certainly isn't a done deal just yet.

LEMON: So take us through this, though. Let's say they decided what their strategy is or the next step would be reaching out, what, to the international community, to NATO, to the Obama White House? What would be next in this, Karim?

SADJADPOUR: I think their strategy is going to focus internally. They genuinely feel that they were cheated in these elections. They genuinely feel they had the majority of votes and majority of people on their side. So they haven't yet called people into the streets. They want to try to resolve this peacefully, politically in a meeting with the supreme leader, Ayatollah Khomeini. But his resistance, and they continue to deny them any political outlets, it may well be that they decide to take this to the streets. Again, this would be unprecedented that you have individuals who have real revolutionary clout and credentials themselves and Grand Ayatollahs, Senior Ayatollahs also on the side of the opposition, calling people into the streets. I think surely they don't want to let it get to that, but if we reach a political impasse, it's within the realm of possibilities.

LEMON: Karim, from what I've gathered from my vantage point in the U.S. and watching, listening, and paying attention to the social networking sites and our reporters on the ground, it appears that young people are more involved and more energized about this issue, these protests, than they had before. How much of a difference will that make in possibly contesting these election results?

SADJADPOUR: Well, Don, this is a very young population, Iran's population is about two-thirds under 33. Very few of them remember the revolution, so they have no particular loyalty towards this regime. And they really -- you saw the last two weeks or so, how they invested their civic participation. Many of them in Mousavi's movement. And really, this wasn't about one individual. This wasn't just about Mir Hossein Mousavi, but this was a referendum on Ahmadinejad's government. And I think they genuinely feel cheated now.

And it's not easy, Don, if you're a young Iranian to go out into the streets. You risk getting beaten up. There's video now on YouTube showing people getting beaten to the pulp. So I admire these young Iranians and the fact they're continuing to come out in droves of thousands and tens of thousands. They genuinely feel cheated and they are not going to let this rest just yet.

LEMON: All right, Karim Sadjadpour, an associate at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and a leading expert on Iran. He'll be back with us at 10:00 p.m. eastern tonight on CNN here in the United states.

We appreciate your expertise.

SADJADPOUR: Any time, bro.

LEMON: Supporters of challenger Mir Hossein Mousavi are still taking to the streets of Iran two days after the election. I spoke with CNN Senior International Producer Sam Desta about the violent clashes that he is witnessing there. And on at least one occasion, he got caught up in the violence.

Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LEMON: So, Samson, you thought you were going to a press conference for Mousavi and it ended up being a protest, is that correct?

DESTA SAMSON, CNN SENIOR INTERANTIONAL PRODUCER: That's correct. We did get some information today that Mir Hossein Mousavi would be holding a press conference. Remember, we haven't seen him in two days, since he cast his vote Friday. This was going to be an opportunity for us to go and listen to what he had to say. So we went to this undisclosed location, and when we arrived we found that the building was shut down, and we were told that Mousavi would not be appearing. And around the building I saw about 200 or 300 protesters, pro-Mousavi protesters were who were chanting his name. And when they found out his appearance had been canceled and that the building had been shut down, they got very, very angry, very agitated, and started throwing rocks at cars that were passing by, smashing the windows. And it was at that point that riot police moved in. And then you had this sort of cat and mouse game between the two sides.

But at one point it got really, really ugly when the riot police moved in, started firing tear gas at us. And they came at us and they charged at us. And three riot police came at me. The first one passed by me. The second one passed by me. and the third one really got me in the arm with a mighty stick.

LEMON: Samson, was this the biggest protest to that point that you had gone to, that many people?

DESTA: No, it was not. Remember, there was somewhat of a peaceful march yesterday, with thousands of people showed up. And it was somewhat peaceful until the riot police moved in. And even then, you saw a few scuffles.

Late last night I went out to one area in Tehran and that one got a bit ugly. You had pro-Mousavi protesters that were out. There were burning buses. They were smashing windows. And they were facing off with a group of individuals who are described as vigilante, because they were not wearing uniforms. They were plain clothes, carrying baseball bats. They were carrying metal pipes. And they were just beating up anyone that was in that area. Today, I went to a second -- sorry, go ahead.

SAMSON: Samson -- you said there was a second protest that ended up being more violent than any you had witnessed?

DESTA: Yes, yes, absolutely. Up to today, this is probably the most violent that I've seen, that we have seen. Went to an area in midtown, where we saw hundreds of pro-Ahmadinejad protesters. The difference here is that these protesters again did not wear any uniforms, anything that would identify who they were, except for the Iranian flag that they were waving. But they were on motorcycles. There were some on foot. but again, they had weapons. No uniforms, but they had weapons, such as metal pipes. and they were actually just driving around, intimidating people, beating up people, anyone that was in the street, anyone that was in the road, anyone that dared to chant "Mousavi, Mousavi," they were beating them senseless. So that was the most violence that we saw today.

LEMON: Samson, being on the ground and being a producer, you have been in the region for awhile. Do you get the sense that this is going to escalate, that the protests are going to continue, or are you seeing a sense of calm now? Are they backing down or is this backing off at all?

DESTA: Well, you know, these people we saw today were very, very passionate about being heard. They wanted to make sure their votes were counted. They wanted to make sure their voices were being heard. And that's what they were telling me throughout the day. They kept saying we want change, and because of that, we voted for Mousavi. We did not vote for Ahmadinejad. And they do believe that they have cheated. And a number of them said to me, look, you know, they may quell the protests today, but we will be back and we will fight for our votes. This is what I've been hearing today.

And just one additional thing. This is very interesting. A number of students came up to me today and said that they want to appeal to President Obama. They said, is he going to accept this result, because if he does, then we are doomed. So I heard a lot about appeals to Obama and the international community today from university students.

LEMON: Samson Desta, thank you.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LEMON: We will continue to follow developments on the ground in Iran and our coverage there. Also our Christiane Amanpour is in Tehran. We will check back in with her as well.

Also, an apparent about-face for Israel's prime minister, but with plenty of tough conditions. Will his two-state proposal be accepted? More of our live coverage coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: Welcome back to our live coverage of the situation in Iran. But also we are following another story, developments from the Middle East. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says Israel will entertain the prospect of peace with Palestinians if they demilitarize. This is the first time Netanyahu is openly considering the concept of a two-state solution for the Middle East conflict.

Take a listen to his comments from earlier.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) BENJAMIN NATANYAHU, ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER (through translation): We have to recognize this and insist with great assertiveness on the situation on principles for the Jewish people in the state of Israel. One is recognition. The Palestinians have to recognize the state of Israel as the country of the Jews. And the second element is demilitarization. A Palestinian entity must be demilitarized and the Israelis have to have a real defense edge over it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: The suggestion to demilitarize, Palestinians say, no way. A chief Palestinian negotiator says Netanyahu has left them with nothing to negotiate while the Palestinian lawmakers accuse Netanyahu of trying to create a, quote, "ghetto state."

We're following developments coming out of Iran today, live coverage on CNN. We're live until 8:00 p.m. eastern, live two hours every Sunday night from 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. eastern. And we're going to continue to devote the worldwide resources of CNN to fallout of the election in Iran.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: We have a question for you. Did you know only about 5 percent of engineering graduates are African-America? But a program right here in Atlanta is trying to change that.

Here's CNN's Soledad O'Brien with our latest installment of "Black in America II."

Soledad?

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Don. Every year an organization called First for Inspiration, a recognition of science and technology, is what that stands for, holds the mother of all robotics competitions. This year at Atlanta's Georgia Dome, a very special group of kids is competing, and we were there.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

O'BRIEN (voice-over): In the world of robotics competitions, this is the Olympics. 348 teams from seven different countries.

ANNOUNCER: From Mexico City.

O'BRIEN: ... on four playing fields in Atlanta's Georgia Dome.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's a very exciting atmosphere for us.

O'BRIEN: Each year, teams of high school students are challenged to build robots that accomplish certain tasks. This year's competition, called Lunacy, honors the 40th anniversary of the first lunar landing.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The whole point of the game is to -- they have a service that's supposed to simulate being on a moon. You have to get these moon rocks to the opponent's trailer and they get points.

O'BRIEN: It's a first for this team from Atlanta.

ANNOUNCER: And the rookie team down here on the blue side machine right here, we've got team 3091.

O'BRIEN: These robo rookies have made it here thanks to a program started two years ago by 100 Black Men of Atlanta, an organization providing opportunities to kids from underprivileged communities.

The program goes way beyond teaching these inner city teens how to build robots.

MILTON JONES, CHAIRMAN, 100 BLACK MEN OF ATLANTA: They're learning about teamwork. They're learning about ways to innovate and how to overcome obstacles. And all of these are just important life skills beyond the science and engineering base.

LONNIE JOHNSON, FORMER NASA ENGINEER: I got one thing to say to y'all. I'm just proud of you.

O'BRIEN: Former NASA Engineer Lonnie Johnson is a team mentor. His most famous invention, the super soaker, gives him celebrity status with these budding engineers.

JOHNSON: I never thought about barriers as a reason for stopping.

O'BRIEN: Johnson gave the kids lab space at his own company to build their robot, which they named Linex after the robot he built in high school.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Where was your brain located?

JOHNSON: The batteries were actually in the base. It brings back fun memories of building a robot myself and overcoming obstacles and being successful at it.

RAY SINGER, PROGRAM DIRECTOR, 100 BLACK MEN OF ATLANTA: They don't have these types of opportunity in their neighborhood. Just being an opportunity to work in a tool shop, to work with someone and mentor, Dr. Johnson, to show them it can be done if you put the work in. We've seen our kids' math, science, reading scores go up, ultimately which is going to get them in better universities.

O'BRIEN: Currently 5 percent of engineering graduates are African-Americans.

SINGER: At the end of the day, that's what we are trying to create, more engineers, more teachers.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm thinking about Georgia Tech.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm starting to look into maybe understanding programming. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I want to create machinery that benefits everyone, not the rich class, not the low class, not the middle class, but everyone as a whole.

O'BRIEND: There success is an inspiration for these future roboteers (ph).

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I want them to see engineering is cool, science is cool, being smart is cool.

O'BRIEN: Of course, winning awards is also cool.

ANNOUNCER: The Rookie All-Star Award goes to team 3091.

O'BRIEN: Another life lesson they'll never forget.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

O'BRIEN: The team you just saw is in New York at the Annual Convention of the 100 Black Men Organization. They are trying to get more robotics teams started for kids in other cities around the country. So not only is the program helping to improve academics, it's also helping to create leaders -- Don?

LEMON: All right, Soledad, thank you very much.

We are following live coverage of the fallout of the presidential election in Iran. More coverage coming up moments away.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: We're following our top story here on CNN, the situation in Iran. This is what you have to say about.

Wlperry says, "I know you have to make everyone happy. But I'm already sick of the Iran election cover. Let's talk about North Korea."

notCOB says, "Government has refused permission for a Mousavi march tomorrow."

Mira_805_queen says, "Hey, Don, some people on Twitter would rather sit on here and cause drama. Some of us appreciate your hard work at CNN."

Roadup says, "Watching you now and thanks for stepping up the coverage. Classic CNN returns."

We want to know what is on your mind, Twitter, Facebook, MySpace or iReport.com. We will get it on the air

We continue to monitor the developing story from Iran's election fallout. We will be talking to an Iranian journalist in Tehran about what she is seeing and what she is hearing.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) (EDGE OF DISCOVERY)