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Reported Iran Home Invasion; Amanpour Reports from the Streets of Iran; Blood on the Streets of Iran; iReport from Iran: Eyewitness to History

Aired June 20, 2009 - 23:00   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, everyone, I'm Don Lemon. You are watching CNN, the most trusted name in news.

New images in tonight to CNN, and I want to warn you, they are terrifying. The amateur video shows the uncertainty, the fear and the chaos gripping Iran right now. As protests over the hotly disputed presidential election, they heat up by the minute -- minute.

In the pitch black of night you hear children, men, women screaming out in what appears to be a home invasion. It is hard to see, but all you have to do is listen...

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(Voices of shouting and screaming.)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: Boy oh, boy.

Well, with Iran's government placing so many restrictions on reporters and reports, you know, information coming out of there is very difficult to get.

I want to go to CNN's Colleen McEdwards. She is monitoring all of it for us and she joins us from our Iran desk. Colleen, what are you coming up with now?

COLLEEN MCEDWARDS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I want to take you right to the Facebook site of Mir Hossein Mousavi. Because I want to show you what is the latest update here.

Pretty bold, new statements from him, at least a statement attributed to him posted on his Facebook site, saying that "Iran's ruling system is going to the slaughterhouse" because of this fraudulent election.

Also, some new video here to show you: this from YouTube showing the situation on the streets of Tehran earlier, where you can literally see the melee of people here and the streets that look at times like they are on fire.

Smoke visible in the background in some cases, fire as well. Some people here moving down a corridor, we're not sure, away from something or to something but you get a sense of a rather chaotic scene on the streets from earlier.

And more video, too, Don, it shows us this is not just going on in Tehran. I want to get this one to play here if I can. This is in a city outside of Tehran, Esfahan, where you can see clashes happening here, people throwing some stones -- it looks like -- at security forces there on the other side of this street.

Let me get that right in the right position there for you. The crowd sort of moves forward and then backs off. So again, more video evidence that we just wouldn't have otherwise if we weren't able to get this stuff off the social networking sites; a protest going on outside of Tehran, this one in Esfahan.

And you know, Don, from some of the other video that we've shown already, that this was not a quiet night for everyone in Tehran. Early morning hours there now, I suspect we'll start seeing some more fresh daylight video being posted soon. And we will have to see what this dawn of a new and potentially volatile day will bring in this whole situation.

LEMON: All right Colleen, I appreciate it. Thank you very much.

And also, can we bring this one up? I want to remind our viewers as well and thank really our iReporters who have been sending us really some crucial information and some video as well.

All you have to do is go to ireport.com. It's very simple, turn it this way, you could see it. I don't know if you guys can pull it up back there. So really, all you have to do, see my little thing here, just click. You can see all of the iReports that are coming from the region there and they are amazing pieces of video.

Some of them you've seen on CNN. Some of them you have not.

You can go to ireport.com and see all of it. And we appreciate all of you who have signed up. And many people who are risking their safety to send these iReports to us so that you, the world, can see them.

Josh Levs joins us now to talk more about social networking sites. Josh, I talked about iReports. Let's talk about Twitter.

JOSH LEVS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes Don, we're going talk about what you and I mentioned about an hour ago. The possibility the most seen video in the world, most likely, the most seen video in the world out of Iran today, something that has become huge on Twitter this evening.

This piece of video right here, it is disturbing. And we have blurred-out her face out of respect. And the story as people are discussing it on the social networks is that she was a bystander at a protest. And these allegations are that she was shot by Basij, by paramilitary forces that answer to the government.

And they are calling her "Neda." We are not able to confirm that. That's enough.

Let's take a look at some of the Twitters, that people -- Twitters that are coming in. And here's one that you can just see as an example. Neda is now one of the top topics on Twitter.

And you see this one here. It says, "A common Persian female name meaning divine message or voice for all humanity. It says, "May her voice be heard."

We're grabbing some of the latest ones. Let's go to the next one here. They were just on Twitter sometimes within less than a minute ago, sometimes 20 seconds ago. We are just grabbing them and pulling here. You can see that one, "Peace to Iran and its people. Neda rest in peace. We have seen it and heard it all. They can't choke the truth. Peace now."

And let's go to one more, which is a different type of tweet that's going on, a lot of this, again, within the last minute, I believe. Someone writing, "RT always move with a group" -- RT means retreat. Trying to get people to put this out there -- "always move with a group, everyone must have a mask, wear long sleeves."

They're talking about some of the things that police are apparently doing, protecting yourselves from those things.

Now, I just want to emphasize this, so many people turning to Twitter, whether they're inside Iran and managing to access it or outside Iran and trying to share information with what they're hearing, what they're getting. Partly, because of that media blackout and they are sending more and more and more people to online social networks.

And then really quickly, let's see if we can close in on the computer behind me. Because we're also encouraging you to send us your tweets tonight and Don, these are some I'm getting here.

This is a nice one, it says, "Tonight, I pray for my family in Iran. Going to sleep in the USA, I'll never look at anyone the same way."

And this one here, "To the people of Iran it's 10:00 p.m. here in the USA. I will stay up all night in honor of your courage. We stand together."

Let's end on a graphic. I want everyone to see how you can get in touch with us tonight. I'm still camped-out here throughout this hour. There I am, Twitter.com/joshlevsCNN. If you see something on Twitter you think is critical, you really want to grab our attention with it, just point it out to us right there.

And Don's page as well same idea, DonLemonCNN and Don, I'll be back with you a little bit later this hour for some more.

LEMON: You said we're camped-out. We're camped-out here for quite some time.

LEVS: We've got our computer and a "Red Bull" right here.

LEMON: Yes it's where we should be, an important story. Josh, we appreciate it.

LEVS: Thanks. LEMON: Thank you so much, I'm Don Lemon. We'll see you back here in just a little bit. But I want to toss to my colleague now.

Christiane Amanpour reports from the streets of Iran. It begins right now.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good evening.

On Friday, after two tumultuous weeks across Iran, the Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Khamenei finally addressed the people.

He implored them to end the street protests now and to pursue their complaints through the Guardian Council. While he said there could be some vote recount, he made clear that the re-election of President Ahmadinejad would stand.

Calling Iran the world's only religious democracy, Khamenei spoke as the country is put to a unique test. Both the election and its aftermath have taken Iran and the world by surprise.

I covered last Friday's election. The unprecedented campaigning beforehand and the dramatic protests and rallies for freedom that spilled-out into the streets afterwards. And over the next half an hour, we'll walk-through the pivotal moment that led up to the overwhelming re-election handed down to President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

Now that the Ayatollah has spoken, will the street continue to speak back? Where did this powerful wave of resistance to hard-line policies come from?

The scene was set two weeks ago during a series of live television debates that started chipping away at President Ahmadinejad's front- runner status and injected a sense of real competition into the race.

MAHMOUD AHMADINEJAD, PRESIDENT OF IRAN (through translator): I'm not fighting against one candidate. I'm standing against a combination, led by Rafsanjani and with the cooperation of Mousavi and Khatami.

AMANPOUR: Mousavi went on to complain that Ahmadinejad was pushing Iran towards dictatorship.

MIR HOSSEIN MOUSAVI, IRAN, REFORMIST PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE (through translator): He says, why do you call me a dictator? Well, I did not say that you are a dictator. But your method definitely leads to dictatorship.

AMANPOUR: Mohammad Marandi from Tehran University believes that both candidates made some key mistakes in those heated debates.

SEYYED MOHAMMAD MARANDI, UNIVERSITY OF TEHRAN: Most people that I know at least among colleagues and friends, they believe that the two sides really became too emotional in the debate and made the campaign, their both campaigns very personal and a lot of personal attacks were made by both sides.

AMANPOUR: The stage is now set to inflame passions and action.

With just days to go before Iran's Presidential election, Tehran seems to be in the midst of a giant get out the vote street party.

Bidding a wishful farewell to President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, supporters of the leading opposition candidate, Mir Hossein Mousavi organized this human chain from the north of town all the way down to the south.

While antagonizing the West, at home President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has traveled the country wooing the poor and the tired, handing out money, promising them a share in the nation's oil wealth and as incumbent, he gets the full backing of the state, including the media.

This is democracy Tehran-style, as the people take to the public square. On opposite street corners, supporters of the fundamentalist, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, face-off against those of his main rivals, reformist Mir Hossein Mousavi.

And the traffic runs through them. Boys and girls throw caution to the wind. In this country this is daring.

I asked these young people holding a sidewalk debate, what makes this election different?

"This is like a revolution," says Pega, "people are excited about rescuing our country from the calamity it's in." Even this Ahmadinejad supporter says the people are out in protest.

"Most of the people voting for Mousavi are doing it just to get rid of Ahmadinejad," she says.

But the President still has staunch support especially among the poor in the provinces, to whom he's doled out money, benefits and favors.

"Honestly, we've never seen anyone as courageous as Ahmadinejad," says this supporter. "He's a true son of the revolution," adds another. On the president's side of the street, many are bussed-in to counter the growing Mousavi crowds. Another day of street politics, another day of gridlock before the country casts its vote.

But something was stirring. A powerful undercurrent of dissatisfaction was coalescing around Mousavi, protesting Ahmadinejad's hard-line fundamentalist policies.

Two days before the polls open, this election is turning out to be a referendum on the president's four years in office, which have seen higher prices and less freedom.

"30 years of frustration is exploding," says Mohammed, a mechanical engineering student. "Even if Ahmadinejad wins, we're just here to express our opposition."

Observing from his perch at the Carnegie Endowment in Washington, D.C., Karim Sadjadpour believes that Mousavi is an almost accidental leader of this renewed reform movement.

KARIM SADJADPOUR, CARNEGIE ENDOWMENT FOR INT. PEACE: Mousavi's strategists did a brilliant job of transforming this fairly uncharismatic, soft spoken, 67-year-old guy with impeccable revolutionary credentials into the voice of a new Iran and to the voice of reform.

AMANPOUR: As night fell, the rain also started to come down, and yet people still came to this square. People here who are old enough to remember and to have marched in the Islamic revolution 30 years ago say this is the biggest turnout they've seen since then.

Earlier in the day, President Ahmadinejad brought out a large crowd at his rally and told them he was convinced he would win Friday. Cars honking, flags waving, President Ahmadinejad supporters, as well as Mousavi's, jammed the streets for one last night of official rallies and campaign.

With the same happening in major cities across Iran, many are saying this is an early indication of what's expected to be a record turnout at the polls on Friday.

For the first time ever in Iran, a candidate has campaigned with his wife. And Rahnavard has drawn huge crowds for her husband's rallies, especially women.

"I'm here to say that men and women are equal," she tells us. More women than men have voted in the past few election and Rahnavard promises them it will count this time if Mousavi wins.

"We've made this promise to the women, and we'll stand by it," she says.

Women remain legal, second-class citizens in criminal, divorce, child custody and in inheritance cases despite making up 65 percent of university students.

Ahmadinejad's fundamentalist government has even tried to make polygamy easier for men and public sector careers harder for women. "No cheating," they chant, as they prepare for the polls to open.

President Ahmadinejad has powerful support after courting his constituency with cash and favors over the last four years. But the scale of his victory surprised so many and so did his opponent's reaction.

We'll be back with more after a break.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

AMANPOUR: When Iran's Guardian Council quickly announced the 62 percent win for President Ahmadinejad and Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei blessed the quote, "Divine Result" the streets of Tehran exploded, filling with protests unseen since the Islamic Revolution swept the country 30 years ago.

Frustration boiled over and ran through the streets of this Tehran neighborhood after official election results delivered reform candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi a crushing defeat in Friday's election.

"Mousavi, Mousavi, get my vote back for me," they shout.

MARANDI: Mr. Mousavi lost control over his people and Mr. Ahmadinejad, I think, lost control over some of his people. Extremists on both sides came into play and both sides seem to be losing control.

AMANPOUR: Hundreds of riot police were deployed and for an hour here they were running battles with angry street protesters as each side charged the other. The protesters threw rocks and set garbage cans on fire and many were beaten with batons.

After a while the growing crowd surged towards the main square. There were more security forces and police, but here they did not intervene.

You said that you thought the state would overwhelmingly crush this movement. It hasn't. In fact, it's allowed them to continue in the streets and conciliatory noises are being made to accommodate their complaints. Are you surprised?

SADJADPOUR: Well, I think we have to get inside the head of Ayatollah Khamenei, the Supreme Leader. Khamenei has the hindsight of himself having been a revolutionary and revolted against the Shah in the late '70s.

And I think what they learned from the 1979 Revolution was that when the Shah crackdown, when he clamped down, it didn't curtail the protests. In fact, it enhanced the scale of the protest.

AMANPOUR: And then the protesters set-off down Tehran's main North/South Avenue.

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

But soon the streets echoed with dueling rallies: pro-reformists and pro-Ahmadinejad.

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 results that gave him a controversial landslide victory.

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

AMANPOUR: At his defiant first press conference, I asked the president how he would respond to those challenging his rule.

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 are opposition reform individuals, officials, being arrested?

AHMADINEJAD (through translator): The situation in the country is in a very good condition. Iran is the most stable country in the world. And there's the rule of law in this country. And all of the people are equal.

SADJADPOUR: When you asked Ahmadinejad in his press conference the day after his so-called victory about the state of Iran and he said Iran is the most stable country in the world, people take this as an insult to their intelligence.

And I think people -- people are taking tremendous risks every day, going out into the streets, hundreds of thousands of people. This just gives you a sense of the depth of their sense of injustice, of the depth of the sense of rage.

AMANPOUR: Rage that the President Ahmadinejad dismissively compared to sore soccer losers and errant drivers.

AHMADINEJAD (through translator): This is something natural to a person coming out of a stadium and they violate the traffic regulations, he will be fined by the police no matter who he is; an ordinary person or even a minister.

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

AHMADINEJAD (through translator): Yes. I did respond to your question. All people are respected. And all people are equal before the law. And I like all the people, all members of this nation.

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

AMANPOUR: But Ahmadinejad's opponents accused him and the governing elite of a much bigger crime -- stealing the election. They kept up the pressure and the next day Mousavi appeared in public for the first time since the election.

Supporters of defeated Presidential candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi took to the streets again Monday in a march that tens of thousands ended-up joining. They chanted and cheered as they wound their way around Freedom Square.

Although the police had said such rallies would be banned and no protest permits would be issued, the government ended-up allowing this one to take place. Hundreds of riot police were deployed along the route of the march but they did not intervene.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We are protesting against a -- a leader who is not actually the real leader of Iran.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I want Mir Hossein Mousavi. I want freedom.

AMANPOUR: This is the same place where the Mousavi supporters held their big pre-election rally. And this time they have come and stayed for two hours or more waiting to hear from him.

Finally clearing up the mystery of his whereabouts and his safety, Mousavi arrived and from the top of a vehicle addressed the throngs in his first public appearance since Friday's election.

MOUSAVI (through translator): Our people are after respect; their votes and their rights.

AMANPOUR: Allowing this rally to proceed peacefully appears to be a deliberate decision by the government to change the tone of the past few days and try to show that it's dealing with this election dispute within the country's own democratic parameters.

I was there and I was at the rallies and I was reporting what was going on and I was struck by what I viewed as democracy in the streets. That they allowed the protest, they allowed the people on both sides, obviously and this is a totally novel situation for Iran. Does that -- did that strike you that way as well?

SADJADPOUR: Yes, it's incredible of how much Iranian political culture has matured and how mature Iranian political culture is compared to elsewhere in the Middle East. People no longer have Utopian-esque ideas. They're not talking about a pure Islamic society.

They have very practical demands, greater political voice, greater social freedoms, more economic opportunities.

AMANPOUR: But democracy here has its limits. When the rally ended, gunfire was heard; this disturbing image of at least one reported death.

What happens after this? This genie cannot be put back in the bottle. So what does this mean for Iranian domestic politics?

SADJADPOUR: Well, it's difficult to see how we could go back to the status quo ante. Sacred red lines have been crossed. Previously sacred red lines have been crossed. People are beginning to openly challenge the legitimacy of Ayatollah Khamenei as Supreme Leader.

People are in fact openly challenging the institution of Supreme Leadership itself.

AMANPOUR: Is the position of the Supreme Leader weakened?

MARANDI: I think it's the opposite. I think that many people are now turning to him more than ever before to resolve this issue and to bring different candidates together. And to calm down the situation and the emotions that have been created as a result of this very hotly-contested electoral campaign. AMANPOUR: Next, as the week ended with Iran locked in an internal power struggle, everyone waited for the nation's Supreme Leader to speak out. Friday prayers, when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

AMANPOUR: Finally, it was Friday prayers. One week exactly since the election. And the nation's supreme religious leader addressed the people.

He said that there was no way there could have been a rigged election and he called on the demonstrators to stop.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

AYATOLLAH ALI KHAMENEI, SUPREME LEADER, IRAN (through translator): 11 million vote difference. Sometimes there is a margin of 100,000; 200,000. But where 1 million maximum and then one can doubt maybe there has been some vote rigging or vote manipulation or irregularities but there is a difference of 11 million votes. How can vote rigging happen?

I want everyone to put an end to this. This is not the right thing to do. If they don't stop this, then the consequences and the rioting and everything, they will be held accountable for all of this.

It's also wrong to assume that some may assume that through their street riots, they can have a pressure lever against this establishment and try to force the officials to actually listen to them. This is also wrong to think that way.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

AMANPOUR: But the protesters are not just marching in the streets. They're honking in their cars. They're going to their rooftops at night to shout "Allahu Akbar, God is great," reminiscent of the Islamic revolution 30 years ago.

So will the reformists give up as they have in the past? And even if they do, will a stirred up people follow? And what would four more years of Ahmadinejad mean for Iran, for the U.S. and for the rest of the world? We'll be following all that too. I'm Christiane Amanpour. Thank you for watching.

DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, everyone. I'm Don Lemon. We want to get back now to our breaking coverage of the chaos in Iran.

We have gotten some really interesting video -- amateur video -- into CNN tonight. Many of you have been telling us, when you see it on television, you think it is terrorizing. Or at least it brings up moments in you that are -- or places in you that you find to be terrorizing.

It shows the uncertainty, really, the fear that is gripping Iran right now as protests over the hotly disputed presidential election heat up. Now, I want to frame this for you to tell you that in the pitch black of night, you can hear children, you can hear men and women, they're screaming out about what appears to be a home invasion. We don't know very many details around this, who's behind these home invasions, exactly what part of Tehran they're in. But it is certainly frightening in the middle of the night if someone comes into your home. Imagine that happening to you.

So keep in mind, the home is especially sacred in the Muslim world. So something like this is especially offensive, doubly offensive. Again, we don't know who the alleged invaders are and we don't know who the alleged victims are as well, but we do know it is frightening. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(Voices of shouting, screaming and gunshots.)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: Well, earlier, I spoke with Iran expert Badi Badiozamani (ph), and he's the author of the book "Iran in America;" he's rekindling a love lost. He gave us his assessment of this disturbing new video.

Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LEMON: What is happening in this video?

BADI BADIOZAMANI, IRAN EXPERT, SCHOLAR: It appears that a lady first called saying that "They are coming, they are coming." And then the same voice or someone else close to her says, "They are coming from the terrace. They are coming from the balcony."

And then you hear a knock on the door, an ominous knock on the door. And then she starts screaming again, saying, "Get out, get out. Oh, God, oh, God, get out."

LEMON: And you also hear two -- it appears to be two men there speaking in the video. What are they saying?

BADIOZAMANI: Yes, after that. It appears that these two men are the ones who are doing the recording. And if you notice, they pull the curtain just a little bit and then you can see a little bit of a silhouette out there.

And then one of them says, "You hear the alarms going off." And he says, "They are smashing the cars' windows" and that's when the car alarms go off.

LEMON: Start to go off. Ok.

Take us -- we're hearing an echo, it sounds like an echo, and it sounds like it's happening in maybe more than one home. Describe the conditions there. Are these apartment buildings? Are these private homes? What is it in the area or what makes up most of Tehran?

BADIOZAMANI: It's amazing. These are -- we have received some reports that they have been raiding, attacking apartment complexes in the northern part of Iran, in (INAUDIBLE) and other areas.

But then we received this video clip, and it appears that these two gentlemen are in one apartment and it's the next apartment that everything is happening.

LEMON: Ok. So I want to ask you about that because some are saying -- and these are reports that we're hearing -- that this may be the police raiding apartments. If so, what's going to happen to these people?

BADIOZAMANI: If that's the case, they usually grab them, beat them up, take them away. And I was reading another report today, again unconfirmed, that the parents of about 400 people, 400 youngsters, including students, have gone to the revolutionary court -- in front of the revolutionary court today -- asking for some news about their children, and they were told go and come back a month from now.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LEMON: "Iran's ruling situation is going to the slaughterhouse." That is a direct quote from a blunt new posting tonight on the Facebook page of Mir Hossein Mousavi, Iran's top opposition candidate.

Mousavi says the people are outraged over the election, which he claims was rigged in favor of incumbent Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Mousavi wants a new election to be overseen by an independent council. The posting and the protests blatantly defy Iran's Supreme Leader, who declared Ahmadinejad the winner and warned protesters to stay off the streets.

And tonight as the rhetoric and the violence heat up, the death toll rises. Tehran hospital sources say at least 19 people have been killed today. Unconfirmed reports put the total death toll as high as 150 over the past week of protests.

I want to tell you that we appreciate your comments around here. You can logon to one of the social networking sites we have been talking about.

Also, you can go right here to our page, our iReport page. Logon, it's easy to sign up. If you haven't, you can register at the top of the page. If you're a member, log in right here.

Also, you can view our photos and our videos of what's going on in Iran and Tehran. And that you can see everything that's happening there. It's very easy to sign up and it's very easy to access that iReport page; Ireport.com. More of your thoughts, coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) LEMON: Let's talk about social networking sites playing a huge role in this story. Our Josh Levs on top of the minute by minute that's happening on Twitter. Josh, what do you have?

JOSH LEVS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, we've literally -- as you're saying -- we're following minute by minute, second by second throughout the night. We are grabbing some of the latest ones because Twitter is playing such a huge role here.

Let's go to the first one I have for you here. This is a reference to what you and I were talking about earlier, Don.

Neda, which is the name that people out there are using for the woman that we have seen in the gruesome video, who was apparently killed. And this one's really interesting, look at that. It says, "If an innocent girl gets shot halfway across the world, does she make a sound? Yes and the whole world hears her."

I'm going to show you one more: "A young girl died because old men refused to change their ways. She lives in all those who seek freedom."

And I'm going to end with something on this computer right behind me. I don't know if we have a tight shot enough but I want to show you this. It says here -- someone wrote to me at my page, joshlevsCNN -- "653 twitter posts on (INAUDIBLE) election every minute. This is a world united in a new media revolution." Interesting take.

Let's end on a graphic here. I'm going to show you how you can reach us here. You can reach my Twitter page, Twitter.com/joshlevsCNN. Anything specific you think we should take a look at. And our word is, tomorrow -- we'll keep doing this tomorrow, Don. So I will be following that throughout the weekend.

LEMON: All right Josh, we appreciate it. Thank you very much.

That is just part of the story. Take a look at this.

CNN iReporters in Iran are eye-witnessing history, and they have been sharing their stories with us. You will hear from them.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: So Iran's government clamping down on professional journalists. We are relying more than ever on video, photos, and information from our iReporters on the scene. They are taking huge risks to tell the story of what's happening in Iran and all around the world.

We are going to use the rest of this hour for a special look at their work. We call it "iReport from Iran, Eyewitness to History."

Let's start with some of the video that came in just this morning.

We are only identifying our iReporter as Sarah (ph). She says the video demonstrators are trying to get to a rally, but they were blocked by police officers and army guards. Sarah says one of the guards struck her husband's knee with a baton three times.

She says lived in Tehran three years but she doesn't think that she is going to live there anymore.

And with Iran's government forbidding reporters from showing you some of the things, we're going to show you more of these photos. Take a look at these.

This one is from an iReporter named Mahsa (ph). She took them near Revolutionary Square. Some of them from the rear-view mirror of her car but also she took them in defiance of the government, as many people have been saying.

Also now, we want to go to some of the pictures from Amir (ph). She has sent us photos from some of the scenes today in Tehran. It's fire on the streets apparently; some kind of motorbike in flames.

Another photo from Amir I want to show you; as you can see, there is dangerous and chaos all over.

More scenes from within Tehran straight ahead right here on CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: Back now to our continuing coverage of the situation that is going on in Iran today. We want to tell you now with Iran's government clamping down on professional journalists we are relying more and more on video and photos from iReporters who are on the scene.

And as we have been saying, they are taking huge risks to bring all of this to you.

Here's where I want to go right now. I mentioned to you Mahsa earlier. She is an iReporter. She took a lot of the pictures that you're going to see at Revolutionary Square. Some of them in the rearview mirror of a car. And they show the crowds, the teargas and the determination of the protesters who are defying the government to make their voices heard.

I also want to tell you that her iReport photos came to us from her fiance, Poyan (ph) an Iranian who lives in the Netherlands. And I asked with him just a little bit earlier this evening, asked him about what he was hearing.

And he said that it was disturbing to know that his fiancee was in the situation but appreciated her getting all of this out and also appreciated the social networking in ways that they have been getting it out as well and bringing it to the traditional media. We're going to hear from him after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: We have been talking a lot about this iReporter who is in Tehran. In full transparency we have some trouble, technical problems getting the interview that I had on earlier. And we have it for you. Just to set it up again, Mahsa took the iReports that you saw just before the break. Those iReports came via her fiance who is in the Netherlands; his name is Poyan. I spoke with him earlier. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

POYAN, IREPORTER'S FIANCE (via telephone): The problem is everybody's life is at risk now in Iran. It doesn't matter if it is my fiance or somebody else, there is -- somebody is dying now in Iran.

LEMON: And your thoughts -- have you had a chance to speak to her?

POYAN: I called her this evening. The government has closed down the Internet, the text service, the phone service. It is difficult to call Iran and get calls from Iran. I tried to call her and I talked to her like two minutes. And I told her about CNN and her pictures and she was very happy and she said, "Please CNN be our voice in -- abroad."

LEMON: What are you -- what can you share with us besides that? Are there any personal moments? Her iReport page, her pictures really are right on the front -- on the home page of the iReport page. What else did she share with you that you can share with us?

POYAN: She is very active at this moment from the day one of the election and the fraud. What she told me this evening is she saw three people die in front of her in Revolutionary Square because the guards are chasing people to the alleys and then they catch the people, they shoot them, they use teargas, they use water cannons. So if you are in an alley, you are not sure of your life.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LEMON: That is Poyan, who is Mahsa's fiance. Mahsa is in Tehran and she gave this iReport to him and he sent them in to us.

We appreciate you watching. I want to tell you that our coverage is going to continue right now with our international unit.