Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

Coverage of the Situation in Iran; Police and Protestors Clash

Aired June 20, 2009 - 15:00   ET

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

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN CENTER: Here is what some of you have had to say. This from Bernadette, "I have been glued to the TV since 5:30 am this morning, the tension is high to say the very least. I feel that President Obama is handling the situation in Iran just right. He shouldn't in any way shape or form play into the Republican game."

And also, this from Ian, he says "What bothers me is the harsh criticism Obama has received for his soft response on the situation in Iran."

And in a moment I will give you the response coming from the White House today.

Meantime, I'm Fredericka Whitfield. CNN is continuing our coverage of today's breaking news out of Iran. Here's what we know right now. Authorities stepped up their drive to end anti-government demonstrations today using tear gas and water cannons against the protestors. The facebook page of opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi called on Mousavi's followers to stage a general strike if he is an arrested.

It also quoted Mousavi as saying that he is prepared for martyrdom. That quote cannot be confirmed independently however. Witnesses say demonstrators fought with police in open defiance of Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Some of them even chanted death to Khamenei. State TV reports a bomb exploded at a shrine to the founder of the 1979 Islamic revolution.

It showed these pictures. Initial reports said three people were killed. New reports say only the bomber has died. We have not been able to independently confirm what has taken place outside of that mosque.

All right. We have got a host of reporters from all different corners. Christiane Amanpour is in London and Susan Candiotti in New York and from Washington, D.C. we also have our Kate Bolduan. And in Los Angeles where a rally is under way, that is where our Ted Rowlands is and our Ivan Watson is also here in Atlanta at the Iran desk, he is going through all kinds of information that is coming in so many forms here into the CNN World Headquarters. And Josh Levs is also keeping a track of Iran minute by minute through twitter. Because people are expressing themselves in so many different ways. Let's begin with you Josh.

LEVS: Fred, let me tell you, you know when I was on a few minutes ago. We looked at some of the latest tweets. We are specifically looking at one from outside of Iran, because we are taking pain not the to show the names of these sources who are inside Iran. I have a way to show you. Zoom in on the computer. Show you what is going on. I grabbed the latest tweets about Iran. Right here in this shot. Zoom in on the board. Maybe not.

I will tell you what is there. Read to you some of the things that they are saying lately. The whole city is shaking with very loud screams from rooftops, that's just five seconds ago. This one, proud my family/relatives were active in protests today in Tehran. I'm told many people are beaten. President Obama calling on Iranian government to stop unjust violence now.

Another one. Throughout history more people have died for what they believe or don't believe than what is true. Fred, that is half a minute ago. Something incredible is coming also half of a minute ago. And one more here. Iran, up until now about a stolen vote. Now it is about a revolution. Freedom to the people. All that, everything I showed you, Fred. Came in less than a one minute period via twitter. Following this very closely, following your tweets. You can weigh in on this discussion as well. You can weigh in to my page, Josh Levs, CNN or twitter. We're going to continue to look at the latest tweets about the Iran election. But anything involving that. Fred, we will keep popping in showing you the latest that some people are sending via twitter which you know has played an historic role in what is going on.

WHITFIELD: Right. Even though there are so many restrictions of communication. It certainly hasn't silenced a significant number of people whether it be in Iran or elsewhere. Thank you so much. Josh, appreciate it.

Iran's government placing so many restrictions on reporters as well, getting information clearly has been very difficult. CNNs Ivan Watson is monitoring the social networking sites. He will be joining us momentarily to give us an idea what he is seeing on the social networking sites as well as what kind of new images are also coming in. We are getting those by the minute as well.

All right. Let's talk what is taking place in Washington right now. We mention that there are rallies happening in Iran, well also in the U.S. and in New York and in Los Angeles. In Washington, D.C., what you are not seeing right now, I don't think, apparently a number of people collected on Wisconsin Avenue, they made their way through the city, through Georgetown and then finally made their way right outside of the White House where some where between 1,500 and 2,000 by last count had converged right outside of the White House.

In the purview of the president who is spending the weekend at the White House he has released a statement. In fact, reiterating that he is being very careful about being too involved in what is transpiring in Iran. However he did say, just reading the words of the president being, conveyed by the office of the press secretary in this written statement. The Iranian government must understand that the world is watching. We mourn each and every innocent life that is lost. We call on the Iranian government to stop all violent and unjust actions against its own people. The universal right to assembly and free speech must be respected and the United States stands with all who seek to exercise those rights. Kate Bolduan is at the White House as she can explain a little bit more on why the White House felt now is the time to release this much more elaborate statement. Because the White House has been very careful about saying very little. This is about the most elaborate, the most verbose that they have expressed. Kate.

BOLDUAN: Well, a first we are hearing from the White House today, Fredericka. According to administration official, the president has been receiving intelligence briefings throughout the day on the situation in Iran. Some of the statement we have heard him say before. President in previous interviews has said the world is watching. And he, as he states in the section that you read, in saying he is calling on the Iranian government to stop all violent and unjust actions.

Talking about, kind of talking about trying to stop the violence and also supporting the Iranian people, as he has said before, the universal principle of being able to let their voices be heard. And not suppressed. One possible key phrase, key element of this statement, a little farther down, the president talks about bearing witness to the Iranian people in their belief in the truth and in truth and in justice. And he says, we will continue to bear witness.

And that seems to be an interesting phrase. And seems to go along with that delicate and careful position. The administration has tried to maintain since the Iranian elections took place and as the demonstrations and protests continue. Fredericka, a position that has been criticized by some on Capitol Hill as they think the president's response has been too muted. But the White House says they believe it is a delicate and a correct balance to be striking here in trying to not inject themselves into the domestic politics, the internal affairs of Iran, Fredericka.

WHITFIELD: And so Kate have you noticed, realized outside the fence there, there have been a number of protestors but even as it pertains to business activity there at the White House have you seen much traffic involving some administration officials who made a Saturday visit or do you suppose most of this dialogue is taking place via phone with the president?

BOLDUAN: Well we have heard one administration official saying that in these intelligence briefings that the president has been meeting with senior advisers, most recent of which happened in his study right next door right adjacent to the oval office. The demonstrations did go on outside of here. Didn't seem to impede any of the normal business happening here on a Saturday afternoon. But it was definitely a large demonstration. Unusual for what we would see on a typical Saturday here at the White House. Many of the people chanting, freedom for Iran, no more dictators. Where is my vote? The kind of things we've been hearing in similar demonstrations across the country.

WHITFIELD: Maybe unusual today to have so many people. But we know that the White House right there at Lafayette Park, used to seeing protests on a fairly regular basis whether it be a few dozen or dozens. All right. Thank you so much, Kate Bolduan. Appreciate it. Still in Washington, both houses of Congress have voted overwhelmingly to condemn the crackdown in Iran. Some members are just slamming the president saying the U.S. response should be much tougher in their view.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. JOHN MCCAIN, (R) ARIZONA: It is unfortunate in a way that this resolution is required since the administration does not want to quote, meddle, and has refused, the president has refused to speak out in support of these brave Iranian citizens.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: The White House has welcomed the congressional resolution calling it consistent with the president's language. All right, let's talk about more images that are streaming out of Iran. Our Ivan Watson at the Iran desk right here in Atlanta in the newsroom. He is receiving a lot of new images.

Also, a lot of social networking conversations have been taking place. People have been trying to share as much information as they can about what is taking place in Iran since our reporting is rather restricted in country. Ivan.

WATSON: Restricted, it is illegal right now. According to this fax that our team in Tehran got from the Iranian government today. We are barred from reporting on the ground in Tehran unless we get prior permission from the Iranian authorities. We haven't gotten permission. That's why we are working here with the team here at the international desk to try to get as much information as possible from Tehran.

Our hands are tied unfortunately. We have been combing the, social networking sites. Look at this iconic image of what has been taking place on the streets. We pulled this off of twitter. Security forces, riot police using water cannons against demonstrators, some of whom are clearly are armed with clubs. I would like to show you something else here, this is video that we pulled from youtube, along -- a video pulled from youtube. Basically let's take a look at it over here. It shows you how tumultuous the events have been today.

Let's listen to what they're saying here.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(Speaking foreign language).

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WATSON: People chanting death to the dictator. Not the first time we are hearing that at these demonstrations. You can see the crowd running forward there. Fires burning in the streets. One demonstrator wrote me and said the reason that demonstrators were setting fires was to try to combat some how the tear gas that was being fired at protestors to try to disperse the crowd. Let's keep listening to this. More gunshots in the street. You can see the crowd; some earlier in the video were picking up stones and rocks for some of these clashes. And here off camera we hear somebody yell "they're using real bullets. They're using real bullets." They say. This gives you a sense of the madness that was out in the streets today. And the rage from some of these demonstrators as well. This is clearly shot from the demonstrator's side. One of those young men just walking past holding a stone. And probably down that street are some of the security forces. That are facing off in these clashes with the demonstrators in the streets.

You know, and there, we see helicopters. Security forces overhead and some of the crowd. The members of the crowd yelling, military helicopters. This is a view from the ground evidently of the clashes today. Now watch this. Watch this. Graphic images sorry for your viewers, didn't give an advanced warning. This appears to be one of the demonstrators shot and the crowd trying to pull him to safety. Yelling what happened to him? What happened to him? A little bit later. They're yelling put him in the car. And it just gives you a sense of the madness that was taking place on the streets today.

And again these are graphic images. And they're not the first time that we have seen demonstrators injured, injured in the streets of Tehran. As a result of today's now bloody and very possibly deadly clashes. Between these opposition protestors and the security forces. Remember this demonstration was banned by the authorities on Friday in a sermon given by the supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamonei.

A man yelling with a bloody hand through the crowd. The women here are screaming what happened to him? And then, they're killing my brothers. Fredericka, chilling images. The crowd yelling they're killing my brothers. Clashes in the streets, demonstrators going up against the security forces. Who have tear gas, water cannons, guns, and helicopters overhead? And, according to latest report, we have gotten from one of our sources in Tehran, that source describing street battles taking place all across the Iranian capital. Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: That was powerful imagery being met by your words there in that translation. Now the helicopters overhead you mention that one of the people was calling out military helicopters. Is that sort of a tactical thing in terms of surveillance? Or is it being used as a threat, would you know?

WATSON: I think a mixture of the two for dealing with these uncontrolled protests in the streets. We have also heard from some of the demonstrators that the security forces were blocking off the subway stations to stop demonstrators who wanted to get to downtown Tehran to participate in this rally stop them from even coming out of the subway stations.

Also reports that the cell phone networks were completely shut down in downtown Tehran today. That is a tactic I have seen used before by the security forces to try to stop dissent in the streets.

WHITFIELD: Before I let you go, Ivan, we will check back with you again later, do we know the story behind how this video made its way on youtube?

WATSON: No, we don't. And this is one of the limitations that we have. Because we can't be here in the thick of things right now. Because we are banned from reporting in the streets, we do have reporters in Tehran.

WHITFIELD: Uh-huh.

WATSON: We have to rely, to a great part on some of the video posted by ordinary citizens of the city.

WHITFIELD: Incredible effort too, being made by citizens who want to get the images out. Want to get as much information out about what is taking place in their homeland. Ivan Watson thanks so much, we will check back with you momentarily.

In the mean time, Josh Levs also hearing from many of you and many people in Iran, by twitter. Minute by minute. Josh.

LEVS: You know the situation, Fred. It is hard sometimes for us to know if the person is inside Iran, or not inside Iran. Some are in Farsi and transplanted. And also we are seeing a lot of people retweeting; it's called rt on twitter. Taking tweets that they are getting from Iran and sending them out. We are not sharing the names of any sources we are in communication with via twitter in Iran. So what we are doing is we are copying it to another document, removing those tweeter names. Enough setup.

Let's get to the screen. What is going on on twitter? I have one vote. I gave it to Mousavi. I have one life I will give it for freedom. Here, people, lot of people on twitter saying it is time to right to your embassy. A lot say write to your embassy. Encourage them to take in injured protestors. Some people talking about, the unbelievable action here, some people talking about multiple sources for example here. Confirming that people are being taken to hospitals. Again because of the media blackout in a large sense we are following these very closely. Seeing what information we can get. What information we can match. Some people talking about the potential numbers of dead. Here, this is one of the biggest on twitter, Fred. I have about 100 of these over the past few minutes, people posting these maps to embassies.

WHITFIELD: Letting them know how to get there.

LEVS: Accepting the injured people. So that tells you a couple of things, first of all it tells you how important twitter is sharing. It also tells you again, how many people in Iran are managing to get information from twitter. Even with the clamp down there has been. A lot of people saying, look you are in Iran right now. These embassies are taking injured people. These are places to go. Clearly sent around for a reason. So very interesting to follow that angle of it. I will repeat. We invite all of you to weigh in to this discussion. My face is Joshlevscnn. We are following twitter.

WHITFIELD: Are you also astounded Josh at the volume of information, inquiries that people are conveying via twitter? LEVS: I should have pointed this out. I am glad you said that. Everything I just showed you was within one minute. Every time I refresh my screen, the whole screen changes. And that is just the Iran election tweets. The 20 came in. Twitter playing a huge role here.

WHITFIELD: All right. Josh Levs thanks so much. Appreciate it. And international correspondent, Christiane Amanpour spent a pretty significant amount of time in Iran in the past weekend and she has done so even prior to that. Now she is back in London. She is with us now to give us her take on what is transpiring. Christiane, it is pretty extraordinary that this reporting of what is taking place in Iran is taking on a whole new kind of tone. Our reporting is being enhanced by people risking their lives to get information out by any means necessary.

AMANPOUR: That's right. Just to talk about those embassy reports as well. We had heard that here in London. For instance the British embassy was taking people in. But we called the foreign office and they said that wasn't true. We have been trying to confirm those reports about people being sent around to embassies to try to take shelter or wounded go there to see if in fact that is correct. What I think is the most, certainly analysts are confirming, the most dramatic reality of today is the big protest or the big image we had of the huge crowds in one of those amateur videos.

Because that is a direct defiance of what happened at the Friday prayers yesterday. Certainly a land -- a line in the sand, a red line has been crossed by the people of Iran as they have directly now confronted the Ayatollah. This used to be the red line in Iran. Many, many times I have covered protests. I have covered political protests. I have covered what people have said about the system. They have been remarkably free in what they have said about the system. Although they have told us there was a red line that they could not cross that would be direct criticism or confrontation of the Ayatollah.

They could criticize their government, the government, other leaders, other Ayatollahs, but not the supreme leader. Today if you look at some of the images and you listen to some of the sound that is coming out. You can hear it in one of the videos. That is a dramatic shift in all that we saw. Even in the protests that we witnessed ourselves after the election. And that we were in the middle of. Even though they said death to the dictator.

This is now something that has shifted. And this after he came to Friday prayers and basically put his own self on the line. At the very end when he addressed people and there were those tears and he wiped away tears and the religious, the devout in the audience, wiped away tears this was considered the ultimate, ultimate dare for people to defy him. Don't defy me he said. This was the ultimatum. Yet they're in the streets today. So something dramatic has shifted inside Iran today different than any other day as we have seen progressively these protests take to the streets after that disputed election.

WHITFIELD: Christiane, while you are underscoring these differences which are very profound, I am hearing all kinds of different words from various analysts, who are using the word like turn-around, and like you said defiance. No one is quite willing to go to the direction of saying this is a revolution in the making. What would be the difference? Why is that language, what we are seeing, not quite what we would see in a revolution?

AMANPOUR: Well, I don't think, I'm not making pronouncements on that. I am just talking about what we have seen. I am being a reporter here the I am talking what we have seen. I'm talking about some of the significant red lines. And I'm talking about what we may see in the next several days. It really again, every day now is going to be critical. Why are we on television today? It is because of yesterday's speech by the Ayatollah; everybody is looking at today as a signal of where this is going. Would people come out into the streets in defiance of that clear warning that clear ultimatum yesterday?

The answer is yes, yes they did. Now they tried to get few some of those locations where rallies had been called. They couldn't get there. Because of the heavy ring of steel by the riot police. They couldn't get to those locations that were assigned for the protests today. They went other places. Almost like sort of, trying to find an opening to get to. That's what happened. Those that have been dispersed have instead found out elsewhere. We have seen water cannon description told by state television. We've seen what could be either tear gas canisters or smoke grenades being launched to disperse. We have seen the helicopter overhead.

We have seen the big pictures. And we have heard now, direct challenges to the Ayatollah in at least some of these protests. Talking and connecting with people in other parts of Tehran which is mostly peaceful. Nonetheless they can hear shouts on the street. They at least they were able to several hours ago. They can hear people and see people raising the v for victory line. And where is the leadership of this reform movement. Are they leading it? Are they accidental leaders of it being swept along on a wave of popular discontent which is certainly now visible in the streets of Tehran and perhaps a little bit also according to the pictures that are coming in in the city of Shiraz and another major city in Iran and we will wait to see how this plays out over the next several days.

WHITFIELD: Cristinane Amanpour, very bold and very rich challenges being made to that Iranian government. Thanks so much Christinane Amanpour. A special report by Christiane this evening, 7:00 Eastern Time here on CNN as well.

The anger, the sentiment, over the disputed election being expressed in so many different ways not just in Iran but also in this country. Seeing lots of different protests from Los Angeles to New York to Washington.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Many Iranian-Americans are angry about Iran's disputed election and the crackdown on protestors there in Iran. Here in this country many are staging protests in several U.S. cities. Rather than the word protests let's say they're demonstrating. They have come out in large numbers from Los Angeles, Washington, to New York and even Atlanta. President Obama has a pretty good view of one of those protests taking place right outside of the White House in Washington, D.C. Demonstration began on Wisconsin Avenue this morning when it was much smaller. Then it made its way down Wisconsin Avenue, through Georgetown and then eventually, ending right here outside of the White House.

These pictures right here are not right outside the White House instead at a different location. And in New York we understand a few hundred people have gathered. And that's where we find our Susan Candiotti as well. Susan what is taking place? What part of New York is this happening?

CANDIOTTI: Fredericka, we are across the street from the United Nations. Very hard of course to hear what you are saying. Occasionally, people will lead these protestors in different chants. Such as stop the killing. Death off to the dictator. You have people here of all ages. Some of whom currently are visiting from Iran. Many of whom, most all of them, have relatives currently living in Iran. You see people holding all kinds of signs. We have been seeing, throughout the United States, and across Europe. With messages such as, death to the dictator and stop the killing and free political prisoners.

Joining me now, is some one who has come here from Pennsylvania to attend this protest today. Here is Professor Mehdi Noorbaksh, from the University, Harrisburg University. Your father-in-law is someone important to the revolution tells me who he is?

PROFESSOR MEHDI NOORBAKSH, HARRISBURG UNIVERSITY: He is, he was the foreign minister of Iran after the Iranian revolution he resigned as protest to the hostage crises. They took him from the hospital bed, Wednesday, took him to the Iranian prison and developed a complication, took him back to the hospital. He had surgery today. He is in the hospital. We are concerned. Don't know where it goes from here.

CANDIOTTI: Must imagine the contrast from many years ago during the time of the revolution and the protests you are seeing today. Give us some perspective on how times have changed. What you make of this now?

NOORBAKSH: I was involved in the process of the Iranian revolution. This is a much more mature movement. This is a movement that is not concentrating on one person. If you look at their slogans, if you look at the way they're handling themselves inside the country, it is a much stronger movement in a sense, in the context. A younger generation in Iran -- 65 percent of the people are under 35.

And this is a movement, which is of course generated on the foundation of the resentment of the Iranian people, especially the younger generation that demands freedom, demands definitely their vote to be respected in the Iranian, of course, election.

CANDIOTTI: Professor, thank you very much. We'll be speaking with you in a bit. I wanted to speak with Sonia here. You have relatives in Iran, in Tehran now, your family is located there now, what have you heard about their safety and do you know anyone who may have been injured during the protests?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I don't know anyone right now who was injured. But I did see Basij and police from the house of my father, and you know it's just -- it's...

CANDIOTTI: What do you think about what's happening?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I just think it's unjust and people need their freedoms to speak their minds and be able to vote and, you know? I mean it should be just more people should be heard.

CANDIOTTI: Thank you very much for join us. And you can see that some people have no problem being identified, others, such as "Sonia taking measures to cover her face. She is very concerned for her family and that if she is identified that perhaps, something might happen to them.

This is a protest going on for at least, more than an hour. They expect it to be going on for quite some time to come. One thing clear, everyone who here is saying that if you are asking them to predict what is going to happen in the days and weeks to come, they will tell you if someone gives you a prediction they don't know what they're talking about because things are so fluid right now in Iran. Back to you -- Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: All right, Susan Candiotti. That's right, things are changing by the minute, by the hour and we're just trying to keep up with it. All right thanks so much, Susan, in New York, appreciate it.

Outside the U.N., there, meantime, protestors or demonstrators are also out in force in Los Angeles, right outside the federal building. And L.A. is home to a very large Iranian-American community and many have turned out there and that's where we find our Ted Rowlands.

It just got under way, I guess officially at the top of the hour. Right? Pretty big turnout?

TED ROWLANDS, CNN NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Yeah. Yep, and boy the turnout is much greater than even organizers thought. They were hoping a lot of people would show up and sure enough, hundreds and hundreds of people have come out here to the west side of Los Angeles and they've basically filled up this intersection with not only posters, but chanting as well. And we're being told by this officer here to make sure we stay, stay on the street. Let's walk down quickly this -- along the line here.

We are getting a lot of different opinions, as we heard Susan from New York. Basically, the same thing. people are -- a lot of people hoping that this is the beginning of something that will be -- not just ended in a few weeks, few months, but something that is just the beginning. And that's your view is it not?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes it is. I believe this is the beginning of the end. And the Islamic republic of terrorism has absolutely demolished the morale and everything that the Persian people, the Iranian people believed in. They are massacring people in the streets. They're killing.

ROWLANDS: Why is it? Why do you think this is the beginning of something that will be an extended campaign if you will? And why are you confident that -- that the folks that are protesting now will lose steam as they lose leaders, as they lose momentum day in and day out, how long can this go on? And what can really happen?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This will go on for as long as it is necessary to get the job done.

ROWLANDS: Fredricka, when you look around here, there's -- Southern California has more Iranians than anywhere in the world except in Iran. And we have varying opinions. A lot of people here we've talked to said they're a little pessimistic and here's is an example of it. This gentleman here says that nothing will change, no matter what happens. Why do you say that?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Absolutely. They are the same people. There is no difference between Ahmadinejad and Mr. Moussavi, because the Iranians they have been suffering for 30 years, they're going to be the same. The best thing to overthrow the government. All over the world is going to be happy because they are the one is providing our money to Hamas, to Hezbollah, everybody in the world because of the Iranian, because of this regime. The best, overthrow the government. That's the best thing.

ROWLANDS: All right. Well, lot of different opinions, Fredricka. A lot of voices hoping to be heard. And a lot of people saying that they that they wish the United States would take a little bit more of an active stance. But again we've heard varying opinions on that. Bottom line, this has struck a nerve with Iranian-Americans across the country, including here in Los Angeles.

WHITFIELD: All right, Ted Rowlands, thanks so much there in Los Angeles outside the federal building in a very busy, busy downtown L.A.

All right, meantime, our Josh Levs, is also checking the sentiment via Twitter, because, people, minute by minute, are sending in new ideas, new thoughts.

JOSH LEVS, CNN NEWS CORRESPONDENT: They're piling in like crazy, and as you and I have been seeing over the past hours, every few seconds you see a new one.

Let's bring in some graphics here, I'm going to show you some of the recent ones that came in all within a period of a minute. And we're going to start off -- oh, you want to start off here. OK, we can start off right here.

You're seeing this one which says, RT, which means someone is re- Tweeting about base allegedly being burned by protestors. I want to go up a little bit. Here, look at this one, "For once, we in the West are seeing Iran as the hearts of the Iranian people not just despotic leaders threatening the world."

All over the last minute. This one, "Our new friends in freedom start 200 years ahead of where we did." Interesting take, Fred.

I want to point to this, as well. This is a good example. A lot of people Tweeting with numbers that they're hearing about how many people may be wounded, how many people may be dead. Now, we cannot match that information, as we have been pointing out, but because of the media crackdown, people are turning to Twitter more and more.

"Is life so dear or peace so sweet as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery?" That was from Patrick Henry, a quote from Patrick Henry. You can see a lot of people here weighing in with their views or in some cases, they believe that they're sharing information that they're getting from the ground.

And this is where things get tricky. We would love to be there and know factually which ones are right, which ones are not. We can't do that with all the crackdown that's happened in Iran. However, as I was pointing out before, more and more people are turning to Twitter, a lot of people are getting information that way, sharing their views, in some cases from Iran.

By the way, if you are just joining us, the reason it looks different, we're removing the names of people before we show them on the air, because we are not sharing the name of any Twitterers inside Iran that we communicate with, because we don't want to put them in any danger or any compromising situation.

So, keep them coming, here. My Twitter page is JoshLevsCNN, one word. We're going to keep checking that. And Fred, we'll be back a little later this hour wit again, some of the latest minute-by-minute, all, everything I just showed you, all within a one minute period -- minute-by-minute Tweets on this election and the fallout.

WHITFIELD: Perfect, all right, thanks so much, Josh. Thanks for bringing those to us.

LEVS: Got it.

WHITFIELD: All right, Iranian protestors, demonstrators taking to the streets in defiance of their supreme leader in Iran. How far will they go?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: As we continue to watch what's taking place in Iran, one key question right now, will the protests in Iran continue or will Iran's supreme leader prevail in this intensifying standoff. Joining us now from Washington, Middle East expert, Reva Bhalla.

All right, Reva, we've heard from the ayatollah yesterday, saying no one should be in defiance and if you are, you're breaking the law. But, clearly thousand are taking a stand by being openly defiant. Either they don't care or there is another message trying to be conveyed here. How do you see it? REVA BHALLA, FOREIGN POLICY ANALYST: Yeah, sure. Clearly a number of red lines have been crossed and that's significant, but I think it's important to keep something in perspective. To see why the demonstrations aren't likely to sustain themselves in the long run...

WHITFIELD: Why they are not likely to sustain themselves, you said?

BHALLA: Correct, right.

WHITFIELD: OK, why?

BHALLA: One, we have to look at the numbers. The numbers are dwindling in the demonstrations. The demonstrations do not have organized leadership and that's a result of the state suppression tools that in effect right now. And this is a very experienced regime with repressing public dissents like this. This is something that IRGC is on command ready to move in to break up these protests. So far they have done a pretty decent job of that, so far.

And while these may carry out over the next couple days, it's difficult to see how they will sustain themselves in the long run. And secondly one thing to keep in mind, to put this in perspective is, remember who has access to this technology, who knows what Twitter is, what FaceBook is, who are able to disseminate this information. And this is coming from, you know, most urban professional elite which is a significant portion of the population, but is it representative of the masses in Iran.

WHITFIELD: And it may be representative of a lot of young people, but if we're talking about an Iran's population, half of which are under age 25, they're on board, young people are on board with the social networking and they are proving to be pretty darn powerful to convey to the world what is and what isn't happening, right?

BHALLA: Well, at the same time, we do have to remember that Ahmadinejad is a legitimately popular president. That really cannot be denied and I think that's something that a lot of people are forgetting is that he does carry real support among the religiously conservative population in the countryside also in urban areas.

And again this, there's a difference between protesters on the street calling for an overthrow of the clerical regime and still very substantial support within the clerical establishment to maintain the pillars of the Islamic revolution, so it's not...

WHITFIELD: Is still the case that a great number of the working class people are very much in support of Ahmadinejad?

BHALLA: Yeah, and you have to again, if you're comparing this to the '79 revolution you're not seeing additional social groups add on to these demonstrations, you're not seeing the bazaar merchants, you're not seeing the lower classes, you're not seeing the masses come into this. And again, that's reflective of Ahmadinejad's support, also reflective of the state's suppression tools.

WHITFIELD: And you think the working class people kind of represent the majority of the Iranian people?

BHALLA: Well, of course the population is divided and these demonstrations are certainly bringing that to light, but again it's very easy to have this sort of a distorted view from the information that's coming out. Again, red lines have been crossed, that is significant and I think that's more of a significant problem in the longer term for the regime.

WHITFIELD: Wow, so, pretty powerful word you used. This is a distorted view of what's taking play, the kind of information coming through social networking, whether it be Twitter or even YouTube, FaceBook. You're saying this should not, no one should be fooled, this is not representative of this sentiment, the overall sentiment or what really could and is taking place in Iran?

BHALLA: I think people have to maintain their perspective, certainly. I mean, anybody can list themselves as in Tehran and blog. And that certainly has been the case. And, yes there are some legitimate messages coming through and that sheds light on what's going on, but a lot of this can be exaggerated.

You know, there is back and forth on Moussavi leading protests and saying he's willing to be a martyr. There is no way to confirm that. There's a lot of pressure on the opposition leaders and right now the regime wants to try to fuel disappointment among these demonstrators and show that they don't have a leadership currently. And so, we'll see in the coming days.

WHITFIELD: Reva Bhalla, thanks so much from Washington. Interesting perspective, there.

All right, our Josh Levs continues to watch what's being Tweeted, minute-by-minute. Are we going to Josh right now?

OK, Josh, what do you have?

LEVS: I think we're going to josh right now. Thanks Fred.

WHITFIELD: I'm on board now.

LEVS: Plus, you need a second to breathe, huh?

Yes.

WHITFIELD:

LEVS: OK, so let's do this. We're following the Tweets minute-by- minute and what we have now for you is a series of graphics that's going to show you kind of a good cross section of what happens within one minute on Twitter. Here's the first one we're starting with.

The Embassies in Tehran accepting wounded. This is one of the latest Tweets that you're seeing on Twitter, people talking what's going on there. And let's stay there for a second. That is a good example, because we are not on the ground because of all the media restrictions, we cannot be sure which are or are not. But, that's a good example of the kind of information people are sharing on Twitter, partly because they can't get...

WHITFIELD: That was actually what I was going to say, I was going to underscore that point that Reva just made and that's the mantra that we live by as journalist we look to double, triple, quadruple check everything and we can't necessarily on Twitter or any of the social networks and so everyone has to know you got to take some information with a grain of salt, because it is unconfirmed, it really is a kind of one-way street, it may be one perspective.

LEVS: Exactly, I want to hyper-emphasize we're showing what people are talking about on Twitter, not saying it's therefore factual, but people turning there.

Let's get to the second one. This is really an interesting descriptive. It's a R.T. means re-Tweet, someone re-Twittering something they got inside Iran, here. "You can hear people shouting on their roofs. The strength is tripled compared to last night."

Now, let's go to the next one, here. This is about election council, allegedly official claiming there had been fraud, again this is an allegation we're seeing on Twitter. Let's go to the fourth one, here I'm going to show you. Another R.T., which is another re-Tweet and it says, "I realize now I do not fear death, I fear my daughter will not be free when I die."

This is the kind of thing going on, on, on Twitter right now, Fred. And lots of people weighing in, including a lot of you. My page is JoshLevsCNN, one word, you will find it. We're following your Tweets, Tweets from Iran. We're not showing names from Iran. But we're going to keep sharing this information minute-by-minute -- Fred.

WHITFIELD: All right, that's the spoken word. Thanks so much, Josh Levs. We've also got some visuals that are pretty powerful and they too have a message. Our Ivan Watson will be joining us with more on that.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Welcome back, I'm Fredricka Whitfield in Atlanta. Now the latest on Iran. President Obama is calling on Iran's government to stop all violent and unjust actions against its people. He was reacting to reports that Iranian authorities used teargas and water cannons on protesters, today. And then opposition leader, Mir-Hossein Moussavi is preparing for possible martyrdom.

Amateur photos and videos show protestors clashing with police and setting fires. Witnesses day some demonstrators taunted Iran's supreme leader, chanting, "death to Khomeini."

And Iranian media say a bomber was killed outside a shrine to Ayatollah Khomeini, the leader of the 1979 Islamic revolution. State TV showed these pictures. Early reports said two other people died, as well, but the latest report said there were no other casualties.

All right, with neither side showing any sign of backing down in Iran, in Tehran in particular, what's at stake for protestors and for the government. For some analysis, we turn to Fariborz Ghadar, he is a distinguished scholar at the Center for Strategic and International Studies and a professor at Penn State University, also was also a high ranking official in Iran's commerce ministry under the shah.

Good to see you, Professor.

FARIBORZ GHADAR, CTR FOR STRATEGIC & INTERNATIONAL STUDIES: Nice to see you, Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: When you look at these images, is this the Iran you know?

GHADAR: It is quite changed from a few weeks ago, but the amazing thing, Fredricka is, how little the people asked for and what they got in return. If you look at what's happened, there were four candidates handpicked by the supreme leader, all of them (INAUDIBLE) have roots in the revolution, they are the fathers of the revolution. And yet, when one of them is selected, only offering a little bit more freedom to the woman and a little bit more freedom to the young people and some adjustment to the economic policies that have been a failure, you see this massive, you know, force by the...

WHITFIELD: Putting it that way, Moussavi, the former prime minister, putting it that way, then do you feel as though this election was a ruse, that there really was never an intention on -- of any of these brothers of the revolution rising and unseating Ahmadinejad?

GHADAR: One really doesn't know what the real results of the election was. There's no checking, no balances on the whole situation. But, what the result is afterwards is highly suspicious that that may have been, that their votes have been thrown away, and that's what the people are objecting to. If there's no concern about that, I don't see why they don't either have a re-election or have a complete count of everything, but I think a re-election is what the population is asking for.

Nobody is asking for a regime change, all they're asking for nip and tuck on the policies of the administration. I'm amazed that they're stamping down so harshly on the population, when so little is being asked.

WHITFIELD: There have been words used such as this defiance really is an insult to the ayatollah and if that is indeed the case, do you see that his power is being in any way impaired, has it been jeopardized by this defiance?

GHADAR: I would think so, because I mean, I've got three kids and if you constrict them very much and don't let them express their opinion, sooner or later they will do things you didn't intend to happen. And that's what's happening with the younger population in Iran. They've been constricted, they're been restrict, and their liberties taken away from them. And while this started being an issue of election counting and ballot counting, I think it's basically grown to be something more significant. And that's why you've got this massive population in the streets and they can't really address it and they're basically scared about it. And now you've got this paramilitary groups in the street and we're going to have a game of cat and mouse for a period of time until we basically decide who's going to give up quickest.

And one fear, their they clamp down too quickly, you might very well see civil disobedience in the form of strikes and if the strikes occur in some key industries, like the petroleum industry, or the oil industry, you could you see some real damage to the economy and the ayatollahs will regret what they've done.

WHITFIELD: How do you see the global economy being impacted by this? Because, clearly, we've seen an evolution of Iran, just within the past, say, six years, but then in a more expedited way, in the past week-and-a-half to 10 days, we've seen a different Iran by the minute based on how people have reacted and based on how the government has reacted. How might this impact global economy?

GHADAR: That's actually a very good question. It's two elements, how has the global economy impacted Iran and how will Iran impact global economy? If you look at what's happened during Ahmadinejad's four years, the oil prices shot up through the roof and the government of Iran had more money than they knew what to do with it.

And despite that, the economic situation was mishandled to such an extent that we've got high inflation and high unemployment. Now what they're saying is oil prices have dropped and (INAUDIBLE) even getting more difficult.

So, the global impact has actually had a major impact on the revenue capabilities of the government and basically restricting and constricting the capabilities of the new administration, whether it's Ahmadinejad or somebody else.

Now, if we see -- and the second part of your question was what impact will it have on the global economy.

If you see substantial uprising in the oil and gas secretarier, particularly the oil sector, you may in fact see a shock on our prices, but that's not here yet, but if they continue to persist in this manner and try to squash the limited amount of requests that the people are having, you may very well see that the civil disobedience will show up in strikes.

WHITFIELD: Wow.

GHADAR: And in fact, Moussavi, in fact, Fredricka, Moussavi in fact said that if you arrest me, I'm going to call for a strikes.

WHITFIELD: We'll have to take it one day at a time, won't we? Professor Fariborz Ghadar, Penn State professor, thanks so much, appreciate your time and your insight and your intelligence on this. Appreciate it.

GHADAR: Pleasure being here.

WHITFIELD: All right, Ivan Watson is at the Iran desk here, in Atlanta and he's taking in a number of different types of video from various sources and information.

What do you have for us?

IVAN WATSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Let me first remind our viewers why we're doing all of this reporting from outside of Iran. It's because we received this fax, our team in Tehran, from the Iranian government, banning us from working in Iran from sending any dispatches without prior approval of the Iranian authorities, all of those requests have been rejected. That's why this team is working so hard here to try to figure out what is happening.

The latest we've gotten from sources in Tehran is that the people have gone roofs again for another night, and they're chanting "Allah O Akbar," "God is great," that is as a show of defiance against the Iranian authorities. And we've seen that night after night in Tehran.

Look at this image that we pulled from one of the social networking sites of what appears to be clashes taking place in Tehran, earlier today. And we see that some of the demonstrators have clubs, here, water cannons and that fits with some of the reports we've gotten from the protestors themselves.

Then let's go to this FaceBook page, this is for Mir-Hossein Moussavi, he's the opposition candidate who according to official results in these very disputed elections, got second place. And according to his latest posting, "It has been reported that apparently some kind of liquid-like acid is being poured on people. This was being posted immediately for the sake of the safety of fellow compatriots."

Now, very difficult for us to confirm, of course, our hands are tied, reporting-wise, on the ground in Tehran, but we have heard other reports of some kind of boiling liquid coming from security helicopters flying over the demonstrators today. Again, very difficult for us to confirm and this site is not foolproof, it has been hacked, but this is something coming from the opposition leader's FaceBook site.

Now I'd like for to you listen, right now, to take a look at some of the video that we have pulled from the social networking sites, of some of the chaos in the streets of Tehran, today. Listen closely, here.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: [speaking foreign language]

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: [speaking foreign language]

CROWD: [speaking foreign language]

WATSON: You hear gunshots there and then the crowd chanting "Death to the dictator." OK, and that's a direct challenge if not to the president-elect, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, but possibly also to the supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khomeini. And that is breaking a massive taboo in Tehran, it is not accepted to criticize the supreme leader, the most powerful man in that country. Let's keep watching at what appear to be demonstrators in the streets of Tehran, facing off against security forces.

Earlier in this video, we saw images of them picking up stones, apparently to be thrown at the security forces. And they seem to be facing off down that street that we're looking at right now with Iranian security forces. And we hear a man yelling off camera, "They're using real bullets," he's yelling this in Farsi, and I'll have to warn our viewers, we're going to see some very disturbing images in the minute to come, bloody images, so you may want to turn away from the TV, because these are street clashes turned very I haviolent, bloody and quite possibly deadly, today. And these are not the only images we've seen of these clashes or of these security helicopters flying overhead. I referred to them earlier in this report, Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: Yeah. And still unclear what they're -- I guess there were conflicting information coming out of the purpose of those helicopters whether they had some kind of hot liquid to pour or whether they were surveillance, et cetera.