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Continuing Coverage of the Situation in Iran, as Police Battle Protestors

Aired June 20, 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: Just a moment ago I got a question on Facebook from Sarah Price. She said, Don, according to Iranian sources, the liquid being dropped by helicopters may not be water. It is leaving burns. Can you guys find out more?

Here's what I'm learning from our international desk. Earlier, there were pictures of water being poured, some sort of liquid being poured out of a helicopter onto protesters. And then some people were saying that it was boiling water or that it might be acid.

Later on, we got reports from Mousavi's, according to his Facebook page, that there were reports of water. And it was acid, possibly acid being poured on people. Be careful is what it said.

Again, this is coming from a Facebook page. And I want to tell you that Mousavi's Facebook page has been hacked before. But this is what we're hearing.

And we have a picture of that. Let's show that shot right there. That's the crowd. And you can see the helicopter right there. And I'm going to show you this again in a moment. But we're being told that there was liquid, at least that we confirm, that was poured on people. Some people said it was boiling water. And there are unconfirmed reports that it was possibly acid. And according to Mousavi's Facebook page, that it was possibly acid warning people to be careful.

Hello, everyone, and welcome back. I'm Don Lemon. We want to get back to our special rolling coverage. More than a week after their hotly disputed presidential election, Iranians take to the streets in a massive show of defiance. And you know what despite the government's information blackout, people are finding ways to send out that amateur video. And much of it, though, I want to warn you is graphic. But we believe -- we believe it is important to show you just as much as we can.

Now just moments ago, here's what source say. Hospital sources said that 19 people, now 19 people, have died today. At first, just a short time ago, it was 15 people. Now it's 19 died today among some of the violence. That brings the total number of unconfirmed deaths over the past week to 150 or possibly just a few more. Maybe a couple more than 150. Again, unconfirmed. And we're also hearing that homes are being raided as we speak. People are being dragged out of their homes.

Now, first, I want you to look at the size of those crowds and that video of the helicopter dropping liquid on the people on the streets of Tehran. You can see there that the people are flooding the streets of Iran's capital of Tehran, really all over Tehran. Demonstrators say that the helicopters dumped sort of liquid on the protestors. And police, we're hearing, used tear gas. They also beat and sprayed water -- the crowds with water canyons. I just want to linger on that video just to show you the size of the crowds there.

Of course, in this massive crowd, sadly, there was individual toll. Because it's amateur video, and much of it is grainy cell phone video, I want to explain to you what's going on to the best of my knowledge here. This is an unconscious man bleeding on the streets. And again in the sign of chaos and the information shutdown, really we can call it an information blackout from the government Iran, we don't know exactly the circumstances surrounding this bloody man laying on the street.

The most disturbing video of all, though, is this one. Obviously, we pixelated that picture because we don't want to identify the person in that picture because of this. It is a woman laying in her own blood. We are told apparently shot and killed on the streets of Tehran today.

Now, we have not seen this level of violence in Iran since the 1979 Islamic Revolution. And all of this, the violence, the protests, the uprising, whatever you want to call it, it is far from over. And CNN is covering it for you around the clock.

Here's how we're doing it. Our Kate Bolduan, monitoring the situation for you at the White House to see what the president's reaction is and also the reaction of the administration. Our Colleen Mcedwards of our international team, she is right here at our Iran hub at the international desk just a few feet away from me in the CNN newsroom. Our Ted Rowlands, you saw him earlier as well. He's at the federal building. He's been there all day in Los Angeles. Los Angeles has a huge population of Iranian-Americans. He's at a protest there today. It started at about 2:00 p.m. And of course, Susan Candiotti has been watching developments for you at the U.N. in New York today. And our Christiane Amanpour, who has been - has taken the lead on this story. She's our chief international correspondent. She has been reporting from Tehran. She is in London today. And by the way, she's going to have a special coming up just a little bit later on. You're going to want to see it all here on CNN.

So here's what you're asking, I'm sure, why don't you have anybody in Iran? We do. But the government has really shut them down. No reporting out of there. Well, we can tell you what we know, what we're learning from sources on the ground, is that the protests are being held there across the country in open defiance of a threat from Iran's supreme leader. That's a pretty gutsy move on these protesters, by these protesters. Opposition leader Mir Hussein Mousavi was not seen at all today. But here's what's Iran's security council is doing. They have threatened to arrest him and hold him accountable for the results of all of these protests. That means he can be charged with murder and/or treason. That could be 19 counts of murder if there are indeed, according to these reports we're getting from the hospital, 19 people who have died today or more people, 150 unconfirmed over the past week. Murder and/or treason for Mousavi. On his Facebook page, which was updated just a short time ago, he says he's ready to be a martyr.

New video coming in by the minute to CNN. First, I want to show you the protesters, the walking wounded really. One man here with blood streaming down his face, streaming down his body. You can see the crowds there, too, gathering during some sort of demonstration on the streets of Tehran. And really, as we've been seeing this all across the country.

This man right here, welts and scratches. We're told this is from police batons. And he is holding his shirt up. As our Colleen Mcedwards says, many people showing, they want to show their bruises and their injuries because they want the world to see them. These are believed to be among the hundreds, if not thousands of people injured during a week of unrest in Tehran.

Another new piece of video that I want to show you shows the size of this crowd all over Iran here today. And also this one shows violence on the street. You can see a bit of clashing here. We don't know exactly between who is involved here. But again, more importantly, this video does show some of the violence.

And video like this will be coming in throughout the evening. And you will see it here on CNN, rolling, live coverage and rolling coverage of the situation for it, as long as it goes on.

We can really call it wall-to-wall coverage of this story. And although we're doing that, the government run Iranian TV claims, "calm is returning to the streets of Tehran."

But the pictures and the video and the information coming out may be showing quite a different story, though. You know, it is difficult to get information out of Iran because of the restrictions on the reporters there.

We want to go now to our Colleen Mcedwards, who's doing an enormous job of monitoring the situation here, not only monitoring what's coming into our international desk from our own sources, but the social media, the satellite feeds.

COLLEEN MCEDWARDS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yeah -- I tell you, we've got a lot of help here doing it.

LEMON: Yeah.

MCEDWARDS: Dozens of people here at our international desk combing through all of the video sites, looking at Twitter, YouTube, Facebook. We have Farsi speakers here helping us listen to the video, translate what's going on and figure out if it's authentic and what exactly is being said on it.

And you know, I want to pick up, Don, on some of that video you showed. That video that was obtained by CNN really showing evidence of the brutality here, the injuries people are suffering, who are having the nerve to take to the streets on this day. Here, you're going to see the man with those -- what look like baton marks on his torso, showing that to the world in terms of what has happened to him. Another interesting thing about this video, and I want to point this out to you, too, not just the injuries, but look closely, you'll see a good number of women in many of these images. One of them here being carried away, obviously, in distress. We've been seeing this in other video as well throughout the day, throughout the week. Women turning out in significant numbers alongside men. Some websites are already calling this a lipstick revolution, because of the role of Iran's woman in these protests so far.

Some more video to show you. This is from YouTube as well. And again, showing you what we think here after days of looking at this video, this really looks like probably the biggest crowd in one place that we've seen on video so far. There you see the evidence of helicopters that we've seen before.

Also, more video to show you. This from outside of Tehran. We've been hearing reports that there were demonstrates outside of Tehran. Now we've got video evidence of it. This is in Shiraz, which is south of Tehran. Just listen to the chaos here.

All right, and as you mentioned, Don, Iran may be officially saying that calm is returning, where night has fallen on the city now, but we are hearing from sources that there is still sporadic violence in neighborhoods. And the kind of shouting of defiance that we've heard from the rooftops has gone on longer and louder this night than it has before.

LEMON: Our Colleen Mcedwards. Colleen, and like you said, a lipstick revolution. And many are saying, you know, we don't want to call revolution what's happening over there revolution, but really it's a revolution on the Internet, the way that these people are getting the information out.

MCEDWARDS: Yeah, it certainly is. And if people can do it, again, we want to caution. You want to be safe. You don't want to put yourself in danger, but if you can get to CNN.com and upload anything to our i- report section there, we'd appreciate it. Videos, images, it's about the only way we can tell this story visually right now.

LEMON: All right, Colleen McEdwards. And from Colleen now to our Josh Levs, who's monitoring the moment by moment and minute by minute happenings on Twitter. And you've heard what she said, you know, it's an Internet revolution. And you're getting information really we say minute by minute, it's really by the second, Josh, because every time I update my Twitter page, there are 10, 15, 20 more updates on there.

JOSH LEVS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Every time I refresh what we're looking for here, which are the Twitters that are going on about Iran election, the entire page changes.

LEMON: Right.

LEVS: Because within seconds, you have that many. And you know, it's playing a role in Iran. We know there are some people in Iran who have managed to access Twitter, even with what's been blocked.

And so what we're doing is keeping an eye on Tweets that are coming from all over the world, including potentially in some cases from Iran. We believe in some cases from Iran. And I'll say it again, we cannot authenticate every piece of information in a tweet but Twitter's playing a huge role today. A lot of people looking at, especially because of that media blackout.

Let's look at some examples here from really just the last couple of minutes. Just come in within seconds of each other. This one. At least nine - want to be starting here there. The source saying that there's a military tank heading to Azadi Square.

Let's go to the next one that you have there. Again, we're just banging these out as they come into us. This is one about an embassy. These are really good examples of what people are talking about right now. There's conversations going on about whether embassies are or are not able to accept people as they come in.

And I think we have one more here that's actually a similar concept there. There you go. This has been talking about whether the Canadian embassy is doing the same thing.

I wanted to show you some other ones as well, but that's okay. I'll tell what you what. We're going to keep updating you as we go. We're also hearing from a lot of people in the United States who are Tweeting to us, as you know, Don. And they're trying to get their word out. They're trying to call our attention to some latest Tweets that they think are particularly significant.

I have a graphic here for you here. Let's go to this full screen. I want you to see how you can reach me at my Twitter page right now. It's twitter.com/joshlevscnn. Maybe we don't have that, but there you go. Twitter.com/joshlevscnn. It's right there. If you're seeing the specific Tweets that you think are very important, you want to bring to our attention, a lot of people have been doing that for me, Don, over the last few hours saying hey, check this out. Check out this one. Check this link. We're going to be bringing those to you as well.

And Don, every time I see you, I'm going to refresh the computer right behind me, grab some of the latest Tweets, get you some of the latest details that people are talking about there on Twitter. You can see it right behind me. There you go. Just some of the ones that have come in.

And I don't know if you can tell, it's tiny print. But less than ten seconds ago, less than 10 seconds ago, less than 20 seconds ago. This is the speed at which they're coming in. This is why we want to keep bringing it to you.

LEMON: Yeah, and as you're talking, I'm doing that, just going on right now. And I put the question about, Josh, well, what do you think of the social media? And people are saying, you know, it's important for the news outlets to be able to get this because of the blackout. Clearly, it's a tool that provides an entry of information that would otherwise be unavailable.

One person said, we should drop them working iphones and Blackberries or video cameras. One person says, I remember watching the Berlin wall fall via CNN. Twitter, what have you. What do you think of the use of Internet? They said, I thought the Internet and cell phone use there is amazing. Keep it up, because we wouldn't get those images. So that's the consensus that we have on Twitter. Of course, these are people used to used to using those social networking sites.

LEVS: You know, it's also a sign, I mean, that there are people out there. And again, it's only certain people, but there are certain people out there in Iran, especially, who have become savvy about using these. And despite everything that's being done by the government are managing to get word out. Again, we can't know which is authentic, but we know it's happening. And that in and of itself is its own kind of revolution. Sure, it's revolutionary for that to happen.

LEMON: Yeah, and as we said, we're talking about only - some of the things coming off the social networking sites like Twitter. Yeah, those things are unauthenticated, but much of the stuff that we're reporting here are from sources on the ground. And it is verified and valid. So Josh, we appreciate it. We'll be checking with Josh minute to minute, moment by moment. And also our Colleen Mcedwards is at the Iran desk and getting you the very latest information.

I have a programming note for you, because you want to stay tuned for this. Our Christiane Amanpour, who's our senior international correspondent, she has a special here. She has followed this Iran election all the way through from the protests to the campaign, through the vote count, all of it. She shares her insight on a CNN special. It's called "Amanpour Reports from the Streets of Iran." It's tonight at 7:00 p.m. Eastern. Make sure you tune into that.

Also, you know, Christiane will be hosting a special edition, a live edition of "Larry King Live" tonight, 9:00 p.m. Eastern only here on CNN. Continuing coverage of the situation that's happening in Iran. Not really just happening in Iran. It's happening worldwide, because there are protests all over the world.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: All right. For some, you know, perspective on what's happening in Iran, it is very important. And that is really for all of us. And I want to go now to Karim Sadjadpour, who has been helping us on CNN.

And Karim, you know, since we had you on last weekend, I should say, I've seen you all over the place giving analysis. And we're glad that we were among one of the first that you came to, to help us out with the story.

Karim is the associate at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. He also spent four years as a chief Iran analyst at the International Crisis Group based in Tehran and also based in Washington. You know what, speaking of Washington, we've heard, you know to date from the administration through Robert Gibbs, but let's talk about America and other countries. What other governments around the world can do or what they should be doing. What are your thoughts on that, Karim?

KARIM SADJADPOUR, CARNEGIE ENDOWMENT ASSOCIATE: Well, I think, Don, that the Obama administration has had the right approach so far, namely, not to try to insert ourselves, the United States, into this momentous internal Iranian battle which is unfolding.

I think the Obama administration should continue to speak out unequivocally about human rights and the will of the people being respected and justice. But I don't think it's the place of the United States to be at the forefront of this debate.

Now, I do think, Don, that other governments around the world can play a much more prominent role. Namely governments like Japan, France, Turkey, India, which have kind of more influence with Iran, and so far have really been silent about some of the abuses we've seen taking place.

LEMON: Well, it was interesting, too, when yesterday listening to the supreme leader really criticizing -- I bring this up because you mentioned all those other countries - criticizing Great Britain in all of this, but didn't say anything about America because maybe, I guess, leaving the way open for what the president said, more dialogue with Iran and more dialogue with other countries.

But specifically pointing out Britain in the situation. And people were surprised in that saying the supreme leader really is calling all the shots here, but he may be leaning on Ahmadinejad more than people know.

SADJADPOUR: Well, think what's happening, Don, is that they're trying to -- the regime is trying to appeal to people's sense of nationalism and saying that these demonstrations are fueled by outside powers. That you know, these demonstrators are driven by the United States.

LEMON: Someone has to be the bad guy other than them.

SADJADPOUR: Exactly. And it's not working. People are not buying it. This is what the regime has been doing the last 30 years. And I think people have really gotten past that.

LEMON: Okay. Let's talk about the human. We talked about this, you know, a while ago. I was at an editorial meeting yesterday with some members here and also a national figure who said that the president speaking to the Muslim world in Cairo may have had an effect. I don't know if you've heard this. May have had an effect on the people here in Iran. And could have in some way inspired them to really take arms, take up arms and go against their government because they want to change -- they want change from the inside out. Have you heard that perspective? SADJADPOUR: Well, what I will say, Don, this is my analysis, is that whereas the Bush administration's threats towards Iran kind of united Iran's disparate political factions, the Obama administration's overtures and engagements of Iran have kind of accentuated the internal riffs among Iran's political elites, between those who want to continue this death to America culture of 1979, and the vast majority of both the population, and I would argue the political elite, who understand that Iran will never achieve its enormous potential as long as relations with the United States remain adversarial.

LEMON: Hey, I want to read something really off my computer here, Karim. Because I read an article in "TIME" magazine talking about four solutions for this crisis in Iran. One talked about the revolution 2.0, and talked about the grand ayatollah and all of these situations. I'm going to print this and then ask you some of these questions. But do you have any sort of solution here or any sort of compromise that you can think that would appease really both sides in this situation?

SADJADPOUR: It's difficult to see, Don, how we can reach a solution whereby some type of a political solution that Ayatollah Khamenei remains where he is and President Ahmadinejad remains in office. And the leader, supreme leader, has drawn a firm line in the sand defending Ahmadinejad.

But what I would keep my eye out on, Don, is major arteries of the Iran economy, like the Bazar, the merchant class. If they begin to strike, that could spell doom for the regime. The oil ministry, oil is 80% of Iran's export revenue. If the oil workers and oil ministry begin to strike, this could also spell doom for Iran's economy and for the Iranian regime.

LEMON: You know, it's certainly for these people to do this, I mean, that's pretty gutsy, because to defy the council there, to defy Ahmadinejad, to defy the supreme leader, you know, that's pretty gutsy and really unheard of. And we haven't seen this since 1979. So you have to give whatever side you're on, you have to at least give these people credit for being brave.

SADJADPOUR: Well, Don, that's a wonderful point you made. And really, I can't underscore enough the bravery of the Iranian people and the brutality of the Iranian government. These images we're seeing where the regime shock forces are using indiscriminate violence against women, elderly, students, innocent bystanders. And I can tell you, Don, having been based in Tehran, that some of these regimes shock troops are truly thirsty for blood. And again, they use violence indiscriminately. And the fact that people are coming to -- continuing to go out into the streets in droves in tens of hundreds of thousands only underscores for you the sense of outrage they feel and the bravery of the Iranian people.

LEMON: Karim Sadjadpour, an associate of Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, we really appreciate it. Karim is giving us some great perspective on this. Thank you, Karim. He's going to be part of our Christiane Amanpour special coming up at 7:00 here on CNN. Appreciate it.

And as he was speaking, you saw the violence and the pictures right next to Karim. All of that new video and new information coming into CNN moment by moment. Well, we'll have more for you after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: You know, and Americans are marching and rallying across the country to show their support for Iranian protesters. Now people lined the streets of Los Angeles, home to a larger Iranian-American community. About 750 protesters turned out for this rally. Many wearing green, the campaign color adopted by Iranian opposition leader Mir Hussein Mousavi.

And just hours ago, President Barack Obama released a statement on the situation in Iran. The White House correspondent -- our White House correspondent Kate Bolduan is in Washington. Kate, tell us what he said in that announcement, in that release?

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, the White House put this statement out just a short time ago. And in it we hear from the president a little of what we've heard him say on the record earlier this week, that the Iranian government must understand that the world is watching this situation unfold.

But more pointedly, the president speaks in this statement directly to Iranian leaders. Let me read you just a bit of that.

He says, "We call on the Iranian government to stop all violent and unjust actions against its own people. The universal rights to assembly and free speech must be respected, and the United States stands with all who seek to exercise those rights." A strong statement when you hear from the president saying very clearly on the record that the Iranian government has to stop violent and unjust actions. To this point as we've been talking about, Don, the president and the administration has been very cautious in their approach. The president saying that he does not want the U.S. to get drawn in, to be made part of -- to be made an issue in this political debate that is going on in Iran right now, Don.

LEMON: And we've been talking about protests in Iran, really protests all over the world. There was some in Germany and Los Angeles. Here today in Atlanta. But there were protests at the White House. Tell us what happened there.

BOLDUAN: Yes, there was a demonstration, a peaceful demonstration here at the White House. We were here getting ready to do a live shot when they walked up. From what we could see, probably about several hundred to 1,000 people all coming out. I heard chants of no more dictator, where's my vote, even freedom for Iran. You could see many of the people in that group wearing green, which has become the trademark color of the Mousavi campaign, but it was very interesting to see such a strong show of support for the Iranian people right out here in front of the White House, where the president is this weekend.

LEMON: All right. Thank you very much for that, Kate. She is monitoring the situation there because we don't know how it's going to change throughout the evening here on CNN. And that's why we are going live. And we have continuing coverage. And she is watching developments from the White House with reaction from there. Kate Bolduan.

Our continuing coverage here, live coverage of the situation in Iran, really, and all over the world continues here on CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: Back now to our breaking news. Blood on the streets of Tehran as protests over the presidential election heat up. Now hospital sources say 19 people died today. That brings the total number of unconfirmed deaths over the past week to 150. And we're hearing that homes are being raided right now as we speak. And people are being dragged out of them.

First, though, I want to you look at the size of the crowds there. As that amateur videographer panned up and down the streets, you can see just how many people line the streets in many cities in Iran today. People flooding the streets of the capital there and all over the country. Demonstrators say helicopters dumped water on some of the protesters, and police tear gassed, beat, and sprayed the crowds with water canyons.

Now, I want to show you the bloodshed among individuals. We thing - we know this is graphic, but it is important that you see what is going on, especially when there is an information and a media blackout in Iran by the government. This video shows an unconscious man laying right on the streets bleeding, out in the open, as people tried to help him and cart him away probably to try to get some sort of care. Again, because of the chaos and this information shutdown, we don't know exactly what happened, the circumstances surrounding this.

This perhaps is one of the most disturbing pieces of video of all from today. Again, tough to watch. But we're told this is a woman who is laying in her own blood, apparently shot and killed. This level of violence has not been seen in Iran since 1979 when it was an Islamic Revolution then. And all of this, the situation there, is fluid, far from over. And we're monitoring it all. And we have continuing coverage throughout the evening here on CNN. Really all night. This is rolling coverage until the morning hours. And then we start all over again tomorrow.

Twitter is abuzz. And helping us and many news organizations get to the bottom of what's going on and supplying a lot of information and a lot of images, our Josh Levs checking it.

You know, Josh, we're saying minute by minute. This is really moment by moment. And as we said earlier, you refresh your page and every time it's a new page because there are so many more people Tweeting about this story.

LEVS: Yeah, and you know, since you and I spoke minutes ago, there have been hundreds and hundreds and hundreds. And what we've done is we've grabbed some of the latest that are on Twitter and we put them into graphics.

We can go to the first one here. And as we do, actually the first one is something you were talking about a little while ago, Don. The latest information including unconfirmed reports that we have about numbers. These reports of 19 people dying in the unrest Saturday in Tehran.

And let's go to the next one here, because what you're seeing a lot happening on Twitter today is people trying to give advice to each other. Sometimes people who are in Iran, sometimes it could be people outside Iran sending word to people who are there. Now RT means retweet. So they're hoping people will keep forwarding this. And you see it there. When chanting from roofs, turn off your lights and stand near the middle of the roof so you can't be seen from the street. That's a reference, by the way, to one of the main forms of civil protests that we're hearing about going on, people doing this chanting on their roofs.

Let's go to the next couple. Look at this one. It's a quote. It says, "We need help. Make our voice heard more and more. There's blood under our feet."

And Don, I'm going to show you a fourth one here. This is a reference to Basij, the government, the security forces marking doors allegedly for later attacks. Check doors regularly it says. If you see any, wipe it off with Benzin or petrol.

I'm going to emphasize, again, what I keep saying. We cannot authenticate some of what's being said on Twitter. There is this media blackout, as you know, these extreme media restrictions I should say. And as a result, there's a lot that we cannot authenticate right away.

That said, people are using Twitter like wild. Some people pointing to me Twitter sites that you think are really important. Let's go to that full screen really quickly. I want to show you how not the computer, which is also nice, but the graphic that you have in the control room that will show everyone how you can send -- there's my Twitter page. Twitter.com/joshlevscnn. If there's something going on on Twitter that you think is particularly interesting about the Iran election fallout, go ahead and send me a Tweet right now. And Don, when I'm back with you in minutes, there will, again, be a whole new supply of what people are talking about there on Twitter. We'll share that with you.

LEMON: Yeah, thank you very much. Josh is updating. Our Colleen Mcedwards is checking. I'm checking. And it's really just our names right with CNN behind them.

LEVS: Yeah, joshlevsCNN.

LEMON: Yeah, Josh, we'll check back with you in a couple moments. Thank you very much.

You know what, that is the perfect segue to our next guest here. I want to bring in now Brian Stelter. He's with "The New York Times." He's a media reporter for "The New York Times" and he covers TV and new media, social websites, and cable television.

Hey, Brian, you know, social networking sites have really played a crucial role in what's happening to Iran and no one can deny that.

BRIAN STELTER, MEDIA REPORTER, NY TIMES: No one can deny that the combination of Facebook and Twitter and twit pick and i-reports and all of these websites where Iranians are able to communicate both with each other and with the outside world have made a massive impact in the past week or so.

LEMON: Do you think that many people, because you know, there has been some criticism about using social networking sites and using Twitter and Facebook and MySpace and all of these things, that you know, these things aren't vetted. You know, these people are co- opting or hijacking the media. But again, you certainly can't deny the influence. And I'm wondering if many of these people who have seen the images coming out today and the information over the last couple of days, if they're eating their words now.

STELTER: I think among journalistic circles, you know, we're learning how to use this content from citizens alongside professional content. And I think there probably is some rebalancing going on. Not just in this story but in other stories in recent months, in recent years as well.

I'm thinking about the plane landing in the Hudson. I'm thinking about Mumbai, where we were seeing pictures from citizens, in some cases before we saw them from professional reporters. And I think this is probably the most remarkable case of it yet.

LEMON: And Brian, you know, just in saying that, you know, when people were saying, talking about Twitter and Facebook, why do you guys use it? For me, it is just a way to get in touch with the people you have sort of kept at arm's length before because I like being able to talk to people who watch. And I like hearing people's ideas. But also, it was just a sign, a show of appreciation for watching because everyone -- everyone's opinion is just as valid as the next person.

STELTER: Yeah.

LEMON: That was the beginning of it for me. But this certainly has -- that exponentially brought -- moved that to a higher level actually.

STELTER: Right. We're learning that Twitter and Facebook and MySpace are valuable for communication, but they're also valuable for helping to report the news. And I think that's showing the evolution of these social networking sites over time.

LEMON: Okay, I got to take a turn here, because I want to talk to you about the mood and the family at "The New York Times" with your colleague managing to escape there in Pakistan, escape the Taliban after being, you know, held hostage for so many months. How are people feeling at "The New York Times" today?

STELTER: It's a really joyous today. This news came around 11:00 a.m., I believe, this morning. Came as a surprise to a lot of people. And as the executive editor said in an e-mail to us this afternoon, you know, what's most important now is for our reporter to have some time to rest and to recuperate. He's said to be doing very well. And I think at some point as the editor said, he's going to have quite a story to tell.

LEMON: All right, Brian Stelter of "The New York Times." He's "The New York Times" media reporter. He covers TV, new media, social websites and cable television.

STELTER: I'm (INAUDIBLE) right now.

LEMON: You're going to have a lot to report on, my friend. So thank you very much. And keep up the good work. We appreciate you joining us here on CNN.

We have continuing rolling coverage of the situation in Iran really and across the world. The protests, the fallout. What's the Iran government saying? What are people saying on the streets here? What are people saying on the streets in Iran? We have it all for you right here on CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: All right, with Iran's government placing so many restrictions on reporters getting information, it is very difficult to get it out of there. I want to turn to now to CNN's Colleen Mcedwards. She is monitoring the social networking sites, our satellite feeds and other sources from our Iran desk, our international desk. Colleen, what's the very latest on what your finding?

MCEDWARDS: That's right. Our international desk very busy combing through all of the sites. I want to show you some video that was obtained by CNN which really shows the extent of the risk that people are taking by taking to the streets, the extent of the injuries some people have faced by protesting on this day.

You see a man with a bloody face here. We'll see some people throwing rocks or some sort of objects that may be militia. This man clearly was marked, looks like baton marks around his torso, holding his shirt up for the world to see what has happened.

And we are hearing reports of some 19 people potentially killed. We can't confirm that. But certainly when you see the video of people in distress, it is not hard to imagine the situation and the capacity here to perhaps get worse.

I want to show you also, Don, some brand new video we just got off YouTube, because it gives a sense of things happening outside of the city Tehran. This is in the city of Esvahan (ph). And you see a group of protesters here clashing with militia off there in a distance on their motorcycle. Some objects being thrown back and forth. The crowd moving forward, moving back. Esvahan, one of the larger cities outside of Tehran.

We also have video from yesterday of the city of Shiraz. Another important city in Iran where you can really get a sense of the chaos that was going on there in this protest. Just listen.

So that's a good distance to the south of Tehran. Shiraz and Esvahan, the two largest cities outside of Tehran, where now we are clearly seeing that protests have been going on outside of the major center.

We are still hearing, again, some forces, sporadic violence going on in neighborhoods around Tehran on this night where darkness has fallen. We'll continue to monitor all the latest videos that comes into us here. Don?

LEMON: Okay. All right, thank you very much for that, Colleen. We were just talking really to some of our guests here. You know, let's turn to them really quickly, because there are many Iranian-Americans living here in America. And I'm just having a conversation with them as Colleen was talking.

You guys both live here in Atlanta. You both left Iran. Hossein, you left in 1978. Mojgan, you left in 1977. Hossein Mesghali is an Atlanta area restaurant owner. And then Mojgan Khosravi is a graduate student. Again, she left in 1977. I said to them, I said, you know, you guys left just before the revolution. And you said, no, you left at the beginning of the revolution because most people think it's 1979, but it started before that, right?

HOSSEIN MESGHALI: Yes, it did.

LEMON: Are you seeing similarities in this, Hossein?

MESGHALI: I do in a way.

LEMON: How so?

MESGHALI: I absolutely - well, I see more aggression in the people now. And the whole point of the outside public of Iran being able to pay attention to what's going on in Iran is a big help. The kids in Iran are seeing that they're being noticed outside of Iran right now. And it's really helping them out. It's really building their strength back home.

LEMON: As you look at these pictures, and I'm sure you're talking to people back home back in Iran, Molgan, are you, what are you feeling? What are people saying as this is all unfolding and it seems to be changing moment by moment?

MOLGAN KHOSRAVI, IRANIAN-AMERICAN: They are very excited and they're happy that it's happening. And I think the Iranian people passed a threshold, a very important threshold in the history since 1979. And I'm excited. I'm elated. And also I'm very saddened about everything that's going on, and all of the killings. And those children could be our children. And I am proud of them. I truly am proud of the Iranian people right now going against a dictatorship that was almost impossible to even fathom going against.

LEMON: You know, you said you're proud. And it's almost impossible to fathom going against this. Do you think it will make a difference at all, though? Do you think that there will be another election, you know?

KHOSRAVI: It's very hard to guess what's going to happen. But as I said, the most difficult part was to pass this threshold. And they did. And they can -- they understood that they can be hurt. And to be unified, to stay unified, they can get their voices heard. And this is the important thing.

LEMON: Molga, the best part about what you're seeing and hearing about this situation, what's the best part for you?

KHOSRAVI: For me it's because I left, like I said, in 1977. I wasn't really involved in that revolution at the time. And I was quite a young girl. But now what I feel, I feel as if I could have stayed here and I could have lived those 30 years of suffocation basically, and I'm hoping that this would be the first baby step towards a real revolution, which will ultimately separate the government from religion and could give true freedom to the people.

LEMON: Okay, and I'm going to get to you, Hossein. Don't worry about that. And I want you guys to ruminate on this. That's the best part. I want to know what the worst part is for you. We're going to ask that question, follow up on that with our guests after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: You know, no one is keeping closer tabs on what's unfolding in Iran. Here in America, I should say, than Iranian-American community. Joining us again is Hossein Mesghali and then Mosga Khosravi. Both of them left 1977 and 1988.

Now I'm going to get to you, Hossein. But you before the break I asked you what was the best thing, right? What's the worst thing about what you're seeing?

KHOSRAVI: For me, the worst thing of course is the bloodshed, those young people losing their lives. But worse would be in the future and for them losing hope and losing the courage to fight as much as strongly as they are doing right now.

LEMON: Hossein, you said you had an important word about the students there and about why that this has gotten to this level. Why this caught fire in this particular way.

MESGHALI: Well, I believe that you know, hungry people will do extreme stuff. And I believe that the Iranian nation in general is a hungry country. And not just hungry for freedom of speech and just freedom in general, but just for food, for physical stuff. They're not getting their malnutrition which needed to be passed around in Iran. And you know, they're seeing their mothers, and their sisters, and brothers, not being taken care of. So they're going to go out to street and fight for what they need. And that's why it's going to the extreme. There's a lot of anger that is built up in these kids over the past 15, 20 years. We're not going to go 30 years because the generation changed about ten years ago. Once the teenagers got older, and they got into their 20s and 25s. LEMON: I want to ask, you know, speak to your point there because, you know, we've been saying the social networking site's playing a big role. I just got someone who sent me something on Twitter and says "Don, I think that you should interview with people who haven't been away 30 years. How would they feel? What would we feel? Someone who hasn't been." Do you accept that criticism, do you accept that question?

KHOSRAVI: Well, why not. Why not. It is free, they can say that. But also on the other hand, we are far away. I feel this feeling of shame right now that I can't help these people and I can't be there. That I can't fight alongside Iranians.

LEMON: So that's a legitimate criticism, you think?

KHOSRAVI: Why not? Why not? Absolutely. I think, yeah, you should also ask people who haven't been gone. But there is this feeling, like I said, there is this feeling of sadness that I'm sitting here. I go about my day and there are people who are giving their lives for saving their country from this man.

LEMON: How do you address that, Hossein?

MESGHALI: I agree partly. But my thing is that you can always see a situation better when you are outside of the circle. For us that have come here at a young age and were able to see Iran from an outside circle, we can see and hear a lot more than the Iranian people than anyone else.

You got to understand, if you're from Tehran, or Restaran (ph) or the major cities in Iran, sure, you get good news here and there, but you're not really going to get the truth of the past in Iran itself. Well, we're out here. We're going to hear the truth of the fact of what's going to. So we can actually have maybe a better opinion because we're looking at the picture outside the circle.

LEMON: Do you think that this is going to make -- I asked at the top -- will make a difference? And we're up against the break here. I'm sorry. I'm fascinated by speaking with you. Do you think that this is again, going to change things for the people in Iran and maybe the best thing is where do you see this going next? What resolution, if any, at all?

MESGHALI: I think that the gates have opened. I think that the light has finally shined on Iran. Today there was a lot of argument, even my own daughter was telling me, dad, wear black because everyone's representing black of the bloodshed and a lot of kids are bleeding. And I told them no, I want to wear something light because to me it's a new beginning for Iran. And I want to show the light spring colors because truly it's a new hope for me, for the Iranian people.

KHOSRAVI: It's a real renaissance, rebirth.

LEMON: Okay, thank you.

MESGHALI: Absolutely. LEMON: Mosga Khosravi and then Hossein Mesghali, they both 1977, 1978, they left Iran. And you won't go back. You said going back for you means what?

MESGHALI: Accepting a regime that's there right now and I won't do that.

LEMON: So you haven't been back for years. And you?

KHOSRAVI: I haven't been back since I left in 1977.

LEMON: Because?

KHOSRAVI: I won't go back.

LEMON: If things change will you go back?

KHOSRAVI: Absolutely.

MESGHALI: Absolutely, in a heartbeat.

LEMON: All right.

MESGHALI: I want my daughter to see her home.

LEMON: Thank you both.

KHOSRAVI: Thank you.

You're watching CNN the most trusted name in news.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: All right CNN's Christiane Amanpour followed the Iranian election from campaigning through the vote and also the protests. Straight ahead, she shares her insight on a CNN special. "Amanpour Reports from the Streets of Iran." That's coming up in just a few minutes for you right here on CNN.

Welcome back, everyone. I'm Don Lemon. Back now to our rolling coverage of the situation happening in Iran. More than a week after their hotly disputed presidential election, Iranians take to the streets in a massive show of defiance.

And despite the government's information blackout, people are finding ways to get around that blackout and to send out amateur video and amateur text messages. Much of the video that you're seeing, and are going to see, is going to be graphic. I am going to warn you, but we believe that it is important to show you as much of this as we can.

Now just minutes ago, hospital sources have been updating the number of people that they say are dead. At last count, they say 19 people died today. That brings that total number, and again this is unconfirmed deaths, of 150 over the past week. We're also hearing that homes are being raided as we speak as we're going on the air tonight. And people are being dragged out of those homes. Don't know exactly what they're doing with those folks.