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Turmoil in Tehran, Police Clashing with Protestors; Uploading the Unrest Using the Internet; Change of Tone and Defiance of Protestors; U.S. President Obama's Reaction to Iran Election Protests; Two U.S. Journalists Escape from the Taliban
Aired June 20, 2009 - 17:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
RALITSA VASSILEVA, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: (In progreess) -- verify them. Witnesses tell CNN that they're hearing chants of "death to Khamenei" and "I will kill whoever killed my brother." Police are reportedly using tear gas, batons, even water cannons against the demonstrators. We're hearing cell phone use has been blocked throughout the protest areas as well. Meanwhile, U.S. President Barack Obama is calling for an end to violent actions against the Iranian people, Mousavi's Facebook page quotes him as telling his supporters, "He is ready for martyrdom and calls for a national strike if he is arrested." The Iranian government has clamped down on foreign news organizations including us. CNN journalists cannot get anywhere near the action on the streets so what we're doing is we're relying on i-Reports, amateur video and uploaded images to get the story across to you. Colleen McEdwards is monitoring developments from CNN's Iran Desk and she joins us now live to tell us what she's seeing. Colleen?
COLLEEN MCEDWARDS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We are. Thankfully, people are able to get themselves to a computer and upload a lot of video on sites like Facebook, on You Tube. Right here at the international desk at CNN you can see this whole room of people we have working on this, Facebook, YouTube, we have a Twitter desk over there on the far end of the room, all trying to monitor what the story is on the ground because we can't cover it. We have obtained some video, that's about the only way I can say this is we have obtained some new video, we want to show it to you right now, because it really corroborates some of the information that we've been receiving from people through the social networking sites.
You can see here, a man clearly bloody and you're going to see also some evidence of the brutality that we have seen and heard reported. This man obviously was marked on his torso from what could be a baton, holding up his shirt and arm for all to see whatever has been inflicted on him as part of these protests. You'll see a woman here being carried away, clearly in distress in some kind of distress or injury. A man coming up clearly in pain. We've seen wire reports talking about 50 to 60 people injured taken to hospital, we cannot independently verify that of course. We have seen the reports too of tear gas, water cannons, people hurling stones, but this video obtained by CNN does show the extent to which some people have been injured in the protests that happened today.
I want to bring you over here to our video wall, too. Because we've got more video to show you off YouTube. This video here again showing a real escalation, what we're seeing, fire in the streets. We have Farsi speakers up here on the international desk who listen closely to the narration on this video. We hear people saying, "They're killing my brothers." We hear people saying, "They're using real bullets." Clearly the aftermath of something here in the streets. This video as well also off YouTube, we believe this is today video. It was definitely posted today, looks like today protestors on a wide boulevard, a large group of people and you'll see some evidence here of people throwing stones, throwing something back and forth on this boulevard as a rather large crowd gathers. We believe this is pretty much right in the heart of Tehran near Azadi Square. You see the throwing of something there from one side, you'll see the camera pan and you'll see throwing from the other side as well.
And again, really, our viewers out there can get to cnn.com and do it safely and you have some video or images that you can upload it our i-Report site, please do it, it helps us so much in covering this. Again, it's difficult to characterize exactly what we're seeing here, we can only show you the images as we see them, but clearly we are seeing in these videos, in these images that we've obtained and pulled off the web, an escalation in this standoff. Ralitsa?
VASSILEVA: Colleen, even though we're not able to independently verify what we're getting, how are we deciding what we can air?
MCEDWARDS: It's interesting. It's a real editorial process that has evolved to deal with this difficult situation that we're in. We've got dozens of people here, many people on our international desk know the area, know it well. We've got native Farsi speakers here who can listen to the reports and hear someone mention for example a cross street and that helps us pinpoint where the video was taken. In today's video, for example, we're seeing helicopters overhead which we didn't see so much in other video. We're seeing fewer people wearing green as we saw on other days, so lots of little cues that we can take with our editorial expertise to try to figure out exactly where the video was taken, when it was taken and to the best of our journalistic ability under difficult circumstances make sure what we're bringing to you is authentic. You can of course go to YouTube, go to Facebook, see this stuff yourself but we can cull it, we can organize it, we can bring our expertise to it and try to tell the story of today's protests in Tehran in this way.
VASSILEVA: Colleen McEdwards at our Iran Desk. Thank you very much.
On Friday, a direct order, on Saturday, outright defiance, as chief international correspondent Christiane Amanpour explains the latest protests show a major change in tone.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (on camera): What seems to be quite clear is that despite the very clear warning and the ultimatum, the line in the sand that was drawn by the supreme leader of Iran Ayatollah Khamenei many, many people, thousands of them have come out today in defiance of that statement and that call to get off the streets. So that is a red line in Iran that has been crossed. Because up until now, protests in Iran over the last 30 years have stopped short of defying or openly criticizing the supreme leader. Some of those videos that are coming out, you can clearly hear people shouting against the leader as well as shouting against the election results and the things they've been saying over the past several days. So there has been a change in the tone and in the defiance level of the people as they've come out.
(END VIDEO CLIP) VASSILEVA: The events have been historic and they have been captivating. With so much at stake, let's bring you now up to date on how it all started. Eight days ago, less than two hours after the polls closed, Iran's interior ministry announced President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad led the vote count, but opponent Mir Hossein Mousavi claimed he had won. The following day, Mr. Ahmadinejad was officially declared the winner by a landslide, the Mousavi camp accused Iran's establishment of manipulating the vote. That night tens of thousands of his supporters took to the streets chanting "Where is my vote?" On Sunday, protests continued and in some cases turned violent. Iran's government claimed seven protestors were killed, others in Iran claim as many as 32 died.
On Monday, Mousavi appeared at a huge election rally and Iran's Guardian Council said it would investigate the election results. On Tuesday, the council agreed to recount some of the ballots but ruled out annulling the election for a revote. Thousands of Mousavi supporters marched on Wednesday and again on Thursday, many wearing black and carrying candles to mourn those killed in the protests. Iran's supreme leader gave the sermon during Friday's prayers, Ayatollah Khamenei shrugged off charges of vote rigging and declared the election a quote, "Definitive victory for President Ahmadinejad."
Social networking sites are playing a huge and critical role in understanding what is going on in Tehran, they're even being used by opposition leaders. A message posted on Mir Hossein Mousavi's Facebook page says that he is ready quote, "For martyrdom." And also urged his supporters to protest and not go to work. The authenticity of the message however cannot be verified at this time. Despite the online posting it is unclear at this moment where Mousavi is. The last time that we know for sure that he was seen in public was on Thursday. There we see him. Mousavi addressed a rally that drew hundreds of thousands in Tehran.
Mousavi served as prime minister of Iran from 1980 to 1988, under then-President Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, now Iran's supreme leader. Mousavi is seen as a reformist and has said he favors free speech, but he's also said that he would continue Iran's nuclear program. While he hasn't held a government post for 20 year, he's remembered by many Iranians for his handling of the economy during the eight year war with Iraq in the 1980s. Mousavi was born in 1941, he's also an architect and a painter and his wife is a respect and popular political science professor.
Well for some further perspective now on what's happening in Iran right now, we're joined by Karim Saradjadpour, he's an associate of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and is frequently called upon to brief U.S. and EU officials about Middle Eastern affairs. Thank you very much for joining us. What's going through your mind now as you're thinking about what possibly could be the next step in Iran as we watch this video and escalation obvious from what we're able to see from amateur video and even live gunshots that we've heard and seen people seriously injured?
KARIM SARADJADPOUR, CARNEGIE ENDOWMENT: First of all, the imagery is absolutely harrowing, the footage coming out on YouTube from people's cell phones is really ominous. Photos and videos of innocent bystanders getting beaten up, young women being battoned. Teenage girls, there was an image of a teenage girl being shot today, all of this in the name of religion. So it's true that the Iranian regime has a monopoly over coercion and they're flexing their muscles right now. But I can only imagine that they're losing legitimacy by the day with the Iranian people.
VASSILEVA: Indeed. In that vein, we have been hearing for the first time that some of the protestors are chanting "death to Ayatollah Khamenei." This appears to be something unprecedented in the 30 years since the Iranian revolution.
SARADJADPOUR: It truly is unprecedented that people are beginning to question the legitimacy of the supreme leader Ayatollah Khamenei and beginning to question the institution of the supreme leader itself. I think this was really a miscalculation on Khamenei's part. I think he got really too powerful and too greedy and this selection of President Ahmadinejad was the final insult for many people. This sense of discontent has been brewing for many years, economic discontent, social discontent, political discontent and again, I think that the results of this election was the final insult for many Iranians.
VASSILEVA: Do you think that both the establishment, the ayatollah and the people around him and Mousavi himself who has been called the accidental reformer were really caught up by surprise by the genie they let out of that bottle?
SARADJADPOUR: Absolutely, I really thin that obviously they didn't anticipate this type of a popular reaction. We oftentimes forget that Iran is a very young population, two-thirds under 33. And in 2009, it's difficult to keep these young populations in the dark. It's much different than 1970s Iran, we're in the age of internet and satellite television and Twitter and Facebook. And the Iranians see what's happening elsewhere in the world and they want that same type of life.
VASSILEVA: Do you see a way out of this?
SARADJADPOUR: It's going to depend on several things, first there's a symbiotic relationship between Mousavi and the crowd. I think the scale of the crowd have given Mousavi the political capital to remain defiant and his defiance I think has energized the crowds. If one of those two things in the equation changes, we may see the crowd start to subside and the leader Ayatollah Khamenei will also have to make some difficult decisions for himself. Whether to concede ground and risk projecting weakness or whether to continue with his current position which is essentially unequivocal and obviously has generated tremendous unrest.
VASSILEVA: Karim Saradjadpour with the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Thank you very much for speaking with us.
SARADJADPOUR: Thank you.
VASSILEVA: I'd like to show you now some video, this video that we received moments ago, the latest video we've been able to receive, you see there a man with a bloodied head, obviously injured from the streets of Tehran. We're not able to tell you exactly where it is coming to us from. But this is the latest we're able to see, you see this man who appears to have been injured by a baton. He has what appears to be baton marks. You see -- obviously this woman is seriously injured. She's wearing green, which is the color of reformist leader Mousavi. This man also in pain, obviously excruciating pain. A cross-section of society, men and women, young people. You see the multitude of people who have joined the protests, we are hearing that there are less numbers today at the protests because of restrictions. And also a very stern warning by Ayatollah Khamenei on Friday. You see again people trying to help each other, those who have been injured during the protests. We continue to monitor the developments and bring you the latest that we can get out of Iran to be able to figure out and bring you a sense of what is happening there despite all the restrictions on the media. We'll take a short break. Back with more of our coverage of the developing story out of Iran and its disputed election and protests.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VASSILEVA: Welcome back, a seventh day of protests over Iran's disputed election. Thousands of supporters of Mir Hossein Mousavi have defied a ban on demonstrations issued on Friday. Hospital sources say the unrest in Tehran have left 19 people dead Saturday. We cannot independently verify all of the reports out of Iran because of strict government restrictions on foreign journalists but despite that, dramatic images are getting out to the world like the ones we're showing you right now. Witnesses are telling us that they are hearing chants of "death to Khamenei," something unheard in the last 30 years since the Islamic revolution. Also what they're hearing is quote, "I will kill whoever kills my brother."
Well, Iran's disputed elections have triggered protests as we're showing you, not just in Iran though but outside the country as well. We've been monitoring those. More than 1,000 people took to the streets of Hamburg, Germany, to show solidarity with the Mousavi camp, many wore green ribbons an carried photos of injured protestors. Washington was the scene of this gathering, many of the biggest crowds in the United States have been here in Washington or in Los Angeles which has a large Iranian-American community. Moving on to France, some 90,000 Iranian ex-pats came out to show their support of protestors. They met at a convention center outside of Paris. About 100 Iranian Australians marched through the streets of Sydney. They urged their government not to recognize the re-election of President Ahmadinejad.
The U.S. president in a statement released on Saturday called on the Iranian government to end violence against its own people. Barack Obama has been under fire for not taking a stronger stance on the turmoil in Iran. We now go live to Kate Bolduan who's at the White House to tell us more about what's coming out of the administration. Kate, what is the reaction?
KATE BOLDUAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, there Ralitsa. In a statement released just a short time ago, the president repeated what he said earlier this week that the Iranian government must understand that the world is watching this situation unfold but more pointedly, the president speaks directly to Iranian leaders saying, quote, "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."
The administration has been cautious up to this point in their approach, trying to strike a delicate, difficult balance as we have seen. The president has said he doesn't want to inject the United States into the debate that's going on in Iran, he does not want the United States to become an issue of the political debate that is going on in that country. Ralitsa?
VASSILEVA: Kate, has there been any reaction from republicans? Any more criticism of how the administration is handling developments in Iran?
BOLDUAN: There has been quite a lot of pressure and some criticism coming from lawmakers here in Washington, lawmakers on Capitol Hill. Throughout the week, lawmakers' kind of putting on the pressure, saying that the president has not done enough, said enough, has not come out to respond forcefully enough to the unfolding situation. Both the House and Senate passed nonbinding resolutions throwing their support behind the protestors and condemning any violence. Listen here to Republican Senator John McCain.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOHN MCCAIN, U.S. SENATE REPUBLICAN: It's 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)
BOLDUAN: That statement from the senator coming earlier this week. The White House did come out to say that they welcomed those resolutions saying that the broad message mirrors the administration's stance, which is respecting the will of the Iranian people. Now according to a senior official Ralitsa, the president today has been getting updates and intelligence briefings throughout the day to say abreast of exactly what's going on over in Iran.
VASSILEVA: Kate, given all this enormous bipartisan pressure on the Obama administration, what is their red line?
BOLDUAN: That is a very good question. We've heard ramping up pressure throughout the week that the president wasn't doing enough, wasn't saying enough, but when pressed by the media, the administration is very careful to not go to the what ifs, what is our line, just simply saying at this point they do not want to interfere with the internal affairs of that country, only saying that they stand by what they said, which is the universal principle that the people's voice should be heard and not suppressed. And you do hear stronger words coming from the president as he said to the Iranian government to stop all violent and unjust actions here. But we'll have to see if that goes any further in the coming days.
VASSILEVA: Kate Bolduan at the White House. Thank you very much.
BOLDUAN: Of course.
VASSILEVA: Our coverage of developments in Iran continue.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VASSILEVA: Welcome back. It's the middle of the night in the capital of Tehran following a very dramatic day of protest and of death. Hospital sources in Tehran say unrest stemming from Iran's disputed election has left 19 people dead in the capital, unofficial reports put that number as high as 150. But CNN cannot verify these numbers because of harsh restrictions on foreign media. Thousands of supporters of Mir Hossein Mousavi have defied a ban on demonstrations issued on Friday, dramatic images like the ones you're watching are getting out to the world, images that show violence and show injuries. Mousavi has told followers by a message on his website that he is quote, "prepared for martyrdom."
As we continue to watch these developments out of Iran, we want to turn to other news that we're watching for you around the world. At least 67 people have been killed by a suicide truck bomb attack outside the northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk. The explosion happened near a Shiite mosque as worshipers were leaving afternoon prayers. Police say nearly 200 have been wounded making it the deadliest attack this year.
"The New York Times" is reporting that two reporters who have been held by the Taliban for seven months have escaped from a compound in Pakistan. For more we go to Nic Robertson whose following the story from Islamabad.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Pakistan's top military spokesman confirms that the Pakistani army did help David Rohde and his colleague get to freedom. According to Pakistani military, they discovered the two men. The two men said that they escaped from their Taliban captivity in North Waziristan. They climbed over a wall and according to Pakistani military, the two were found wandering. They took them to a nearby Pakistani army base then handed them over to U.S. officials. David Rohde, of course a very accomplished journalist, an award winning journalist, he received the Pulitzer Prize for his work in Bosnia, went by himself into Bosnian-Serb territory, managed to find the mass graves of seven to eight thousand Bosnian Muslim men who'd been massacred by the Bosnian Serbs in 1995 in the Bosnian town Srebeniza.
For David Rohde, he'd been in Afghanistan researching a book. He'd been taken captive by the Taliban in November 2008. His captivity was gone largely unnoticed because his newspaper the "New York Times" wanted to keep it out of the headlines. When I talked to a top Taliban spokesman just a month or so ago, he told me that they had David Rohde and they had made demands that David Rohde would be handed over if certain Taliban commanders who were held in U.S. captivity were handed over. But also they would demand, the Taliban were demanding money. At that time the Taliban spokesman told me that they had given the "New York Times" two videotapes, two proof of life videotapes of David Rohde but he was astounded and angered that the "New York Times" didn't appear to want to negotiate.
He said that they showed they weren't really concerned about David Rohde and if they wanted him back then they could negotiate and then they would get him back. Well according to the "New York Times" right now there has been no exchange of ransom money, no exchange of prisoners an absolute relief for his family at this time. There are many kidnappings in Afghanistan. Many of them by criminals posing as the Taliban just to make money. The Taliban have in some cases killed some of their prisoners, so of course that huge worry now over for David Rohde and his family, but the Taliban still have others that they are holding for ransom and for prisoner exchange at this time. Nic Robertson, CNN, Islamabad, Pakistan.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VASSILEVA: We'll take a moment now to look at some sports news that are crossing the wires. An update for football fans now. South Africa will be the first African nation to host football's premiere event next year and they've proven worthy opponents in the warm up event to the 2010 World Cup. South Africa though they lost to European champion Spain on Saturday, still advanced to the semifinals of the Confederations Cup. Thank you for joining me, I'm Ralitsa Vassileva. For our viewers in the United States, CNN NEWSROOM with Don Lemon is coming up next. For our international viewers, we will continue our coverage of the turmoil in Iran in about half an hour, but coming up next, much more from the Confederations Cup on world sports with Patrick Snell.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
DON LEMON, CNN NEWS ANCHOR: Hello, everyone, I'm Don Lemon.
This is the moment. Today is the day that could decide Iran's future. More than a week after the hotly disputed presidential election, Iranians take to the streets in a massive show of defiance against the establishment. Despite the government's information blackout, people are finding ways to send out amateur video, much of it graphic, but we believe it is important are to show you as much as we can.
Just minutes ago, hospital sources said 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 as we speak. And people are being dragged out.
First, look at the size of the crowds. People flooding the streets of Iran's capital, Tehran. Demonstrators say helicopters dumped water on protestors and police tear-gassed, beat and sprayed crowds with water cannons. Now the bloody individual toll.
Now, if you look closely at this amateur video, it shows an unconscious man bleeding on the streets. In a sign of the chaos and information shutdown, we don't know exactly what happened to him.
Now to the most disturbing video of all. It's a woman, laying in her own blood, apparently shot and killed. We have not seen this level of violence in Iran since the 1979 Islamic revolution. And it is far from over. And CNN is covering it round the clock for you.
Here's how we're doing it. Our Kate Bolduan is monitoring the situation, everything from the White House for us. Colleen McEdwards is here at our Iran hub, the international desk right here in Atlanta. Our Ted Rowlands it at the federal building in Los Angeles at a protest that started about 2:00 p.m. And Susan Candiotti is at the U.N. in New York. Christiane Amanpour, our chief international correspondent, who has been all over this story, she is in London for us.
So here's what you might be asking. How come you don't have anybody in Iran? We do. But the government has shut them down.
Here's what we know right from the region though. Protests are being held across the country in open defiance of a threat from Iran's supreme leader. Opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi was not seen today, but Iran's Security Council has threatened to arrest him and hold him accountable for the results of the protests. Meaning, he could be charged with murder and/or treason. Mousavi's Facebook update page says he is ready to be a martyr.
New video by the minute into CNN. First, the protests here, you can show them walking the walking wounded, we want to call them, because you can see the blood streaming from one man's head. Another man, you can see here in the video shortly, he is walking and you can see the marks, the scratches and welts on his side and on his back. They are believed to be among hundreds, if not thousands of those who are injured during a week of unrest.
Now another piece of video that shows the size of these crowds. This is also new video into CNN. This is happening again, not just in Tehran, but all over the country. Is it amateur video, again, showing the size of the crowd. And most importantly it is showing some of the violence that is happening on the streets of Iran.
Now video like this is coming in throughout the evening on CNN. It could come in at any moment, and as soon as it comes we will bring it to you right here on CNN.
Well we are wall to wall covering this story, government-run Iranian TV claims, quote, "Calm is returning to the streets of Tehran." But we are hearing, of course, in the pictures and are showing otherwise.
With Iran's government placing so many restrictions on reporters getting information, while it is very difficult, CNN's Colleen McEdwards is monitoring social networking sites, our satellite feeds and other sources from our Iran desk.
Colleen, thank you for joining us. I know you've had a busy day so far. You've seen the new video coming in moment to moment.
COLLEEN MCEDWARDS, CNN NEWS CORRESPONDENT: It is absolutely moment to moment. I want to bring us back to the video you just showed, show a little bit more of it and also a little bit more context around what is it we're seeing. I want to show you the video that CNN has obtained because it does show evidence of people being injured, being roughed up as they have taken to the streets here. You see there a man with a bloody face. And then in just a moment, you're going do see that man marching through the streets with the baton marks clearly visible. Here's the thing, he's holding up his shirt hoping that the world will see that and see that whatever has struck him there has injured him. You're going to see a woman who is being carried here obviously in distress, obviously hurt. Evidence of other people injured. And again we just don't note numbers here because we can't independently verify it.
I want to point out, too, just as we let this video go, let this breathe a bit. You see the number of women you're seeing in this video here. And that is significant because we've seen this in other video as well, women, very much alongside men in these demonstrations. Some web sites are calling this is lipstick revolution because of the involvement of women on the streets. Women who, many of them want more equal representation, want more equal rights, more equal representation in the workforce where, by some estimates, women make up only 12 percent of the workforce in Iran. So we're seeing that in much of the video there. Another woman bending down to help.
Another chunk of video I want to show you right now. This comes from YouTube. It really shows probably what is the biggest group of people in one spot that we've seen. We've got dozens of people on the international desk watching this video come in for days. By our best judgment, this is the biggest crowd. you see the helicopters in the air. We don't see a lot of people wearing that tell-tale green that we've seen in previous days here. We don't see people holding placards. Could be because they decided to leave those down as they tried to get past police and security forces, perhaps evident of the extent that people are going to be able to gather in the streets in this way.
A third bit of video I want to show you as well. We have heard reports of demonstrations outside of Tehran. We finally found some video to back it up. This is Shiraz, south of Tehran, to the west as well, a little closer to the Persian Gulf side of the country, an important location, large universe in Shiraz. Very loud clashes in this YouTube video that we have managed to pull from Shiraz. Let's just listen to this for a bit. So a sense of absolute chaos, absolute fear in this escalation of this standoff. I should mention, too -- again, I'll just show you some video here in our wall of some of the demonstration we've been getting in. This is back to Tehran here. If I can get that to play. Here we go. We are hearing reports right now -- it's nighttime in Iran now, so this was obviously shot earlier. But we're hearing reports from sources there that there is sporadic violence tonight inside neighborhoods. We're also hearing shouting from the rooftops that we've seen in days previous, is going on longer and louder than other nights. Perhaps a stiffening of resolve here.
Again, I want to remind our viewers, if you can get to our web site, if you can do it safely, we love to get in any iReport, video, images you can bring to us safely. It helps us cover this story under extremely difficult circumstances.
Back to you.
LEMON: Colleen, you bring up a very good point. Because there is a media blackout there and we are getting a lot of the information from social networking sites.
Thank you, Colleen.
We want to bring in our Josh Levs because Twitter is abuzz with what's happening there. Josh Levs is watching it minute by minute.
Josh, you updated our viewers when we were live thorough out domestic, about 30 minutes ago. What are you hearing now?
JOSH LEVS, CNN NEWS CORRESPONDENT: What I'm about to bring you is what has been on Twitter since then. Actually, just a couple of minutes ago. What we're doing is, as you said, following it minute by minute. I want to give everybody the context here that Twitter today is part of the story.
What's happened is, some people in Iran, even with the media blackout and Internet difficult in so many ways, some people have managed to tweet anyway. We cannot authenticate if each individual Twitterer is in Iran. But we can tell you that there are some people managing to send out tweets. And Twitter has become a huge source of information for people in Iran and around the world, getting information. We have some graphics to bring you in.
Let me just show some of this coming in, in the last couple of minutes. We're starting off with this one. When you see R.T., that's someone retweeting, taking something they received and sending it out to all their Twitter followers. You see the first one there. My Iran source says there's a military tank in Azadi Square. Up to the minute information, if it's accurate, that these people are trying to tweet out to others.
Let's go to the next one now. There's a lot of conversation about embassies. This one says U.K. embassy accepting injured Iranians. Let's go to the next one, which talks about the Canadian embassy. There's a lot of information out there that people are trying to tweet about whether embassies are helping people who might be injured among protestors.
Let's end with this one. There is a report that was sent on near Azadi Street, naming specific locations, indicating 10 helicopters landing. These are really good examples. All of those came within 40 seconds of each other. We keep refreshing and getting new ones all the time. We keep bringing them to you. We can't authenticate the information. We can tell you that factually Twitter is playing a role for people in Iran, some people in Iran, and all over the world who are watching closely and then retweeting that information -- Don?
LEMON: I won't to say we can't, Josh, authenticate some of the information on Twitter. But most of the things we're bringing you here on the air, our international desk has checked it out.
LEVS: Just talking about the Twitter stuff.
LEMON: Yeah, just the Twitter stuff.
LEVS: Exactly.
LEMON: And it is factual.
So Josh, we appreciate that.
LEVS: You've got it.
LEMON: Josh will be back checking Twitter minute by minute and he will have more updates for you. Again, as he said, social networking sites helping out a lot.
Someone who has had really the best perspective on this for, many have said, is Karim Sadjadpour. He is going to joins us now to talk about all of this. He is an associate of the Carnegie Endowment of International Peace. He also spent four years as the chief Iran analyst at the International Crisis Group based in Tehran and Washington, D.C.
We appreciate your expertise on this Karim. I want to talk to you, first of all, about what's happening right now. The latest information I got said that 19 people -- I just want to read it here. "Unrest in Iran's capital left 19 people dead on Saturday hospital sources -- unconfirmed reports say 150 on the seventh day of post- election demonstrations." Is this going to get even bigger?
KARIM SADJADPOUR, CARNEGIE ENDOWMENT ASSOSCIATE: Well, Don, these images are absolutely harrowing. as you showed earlier, we see young women being batoned, being shot in the head. Innocent bystanders being abused, being batoned. So you know, this is all a government which is doing this in the name of religion. You can only imagine the type of legitimacy they're losing by the day.
I want to underscore for you, Don, the bravery of these demonstrators. When I was based in Tehran, I used to have periodic run-ins with members of this Basij Militia. They're kind of a cross between the Hell's Angels and al Qaeda. The senior ranking Basij members are really thirsty for blood and their ability to use violence is indiscriminate. They don't discriminate against women, the elderly, students. So the fact that crowds have come out in this type of record number, just underscores for you the sense of injustice and rage and the bravery that the Iran yen people have.
LEMON: This does bring out, Karim, the human element, the human bloodshed and sacrifice that is being made by some Iranians?
SADJADPOUR: That's absolutely right, Don. The reaction of the Iranian people to this election was initially simply that they wanted a recount. They wanted justice to prevail. And the reaction of the government was so overwhelmingly violent against them, I think they've released the genie from the bottle. And all of these discontents, which have been brewing throughout the years in Iran -- this isn't just in the last four years of President Ahmadinejad. This has been the last three decades. Political discontent, social discontent, economic discontent is coming out of the bottle now.
LEMON: Karim, that leads me to my next question. What happens next? I know you don't have a crystal ball as to what happens next. Clearly, this is in defiance of everyone there, of Ahmadinejad, the supreme leader, the ruling council. So what happens after this?
SADJADPOUR: My concern, Don, that the world view of Ayatollah Khamenei, the supreme leader, is that when you're under pressure, when you're under siege, never compromise, never project weakness, because that's going to invite even more pressure. So my concern is that, at some point, Ayatollah Khamenei will react with overwhelming force. And so far, we've seen a symbiotic relationship between Mir Hossein Mousavi and the demonstrator. The size of the demonstrations has strengthened Mousavi's resolve. And I think Mousavi's defiance has strengthened the demonstrations. If one of those two things changes in the equation, we may see these demonstrations subside. But so far, they've gone on despite the brutality of the Iranian regime.
LEMON: Karim Sadjadpour, thank you. Karim is going to be joining us through the evening.
SADJADPOUR: Thank you, Don.
LEMON: I understand, Karim, you're a part of Christiane Amanpour's special coming up?
SADJADPOUR: That's right.
LEMON: Thank you. Thank you, Karim, we'll see you in just a little bit.
SADJADPOUR: Thank you, Don.
LEMON: CNN's Christiane Amanpour followed the Iranian election all the way from the campaigning to the vote to the protests that have been going on in the streets. She shares her insight on a CNN special, "Amanpour Reports from the Streets of Iran." And Christiane Amanpour also hosts a very special edition of "Larry King Live" tonight at 9:00 p.m. eastern only here on CNN. We'll have continuing coverage of the violence and the protests happening in Iran all day, really all week. But we have the latest information for you on everything that's going on. The video is coming in moment by moment. As we started just five minutes ago on this broadcast, there was new video coming in to CNN and our international desk. Our Iran desk is checking video coming in now, and also checking with our sources to see exactly what's going on in the region.
Have the protests slowed? Are they going bigger, getting bigger? Exactly what's happening, you want to stay tuned here to CNN.
Also your feedback is very important are to us. We have seen how social network has made a difference in this story and we want you to be a part of this broadcast and part of CNN tonight. Log on to get to Twitter, Facebook, iReport.com or MySpace. Share with us and we'll share it with the world.
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LEMON: Back to our breaking news and our live continuing coverage here on CNN of the unrest over the Iranian presidential election rippling across the globe.
I want to take you to Washington, D.C. where between 1,500 and 2,000 protestors marched right outside the White House to protest the disputed re-election of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
And more than 1,000 people took to the streets of Hamburg, Germany. Look at that. See the woman with the covered mouth and the X? Well, most are expatriate Iranians and they march with green ribbons, they carry photos of wounded protestors and signs reading, "Where is my vote." If you've been paying attention to the social media, you see that sign everywhere, that "Where is my vote" sign.
Look at this. See the CNN sign? That's right here in Atlanta, where demonstrators gathered just outside of our building, the CNN Center. They were protesting the Iranian government's post-election crackdown on citizen protests.
The whole world is watching.
Iranian-Americans are also letting their voices be heard. They are staging protests in several U.S. cities today. As you've seen there, one was in Atlanta. One of the latest rallies is in Los Angeles, the home to a very large number of Iranian-Americans.
I want to go now to CNN's Ted Rowlands. He joins us now from Los Angeles.
Ted, the crowds are big there.
TED ROWLANDS, CNN NEW CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, they were huge, Don. Thousands of people are here in Los Angeles. The crowds have dissipated for now. There's another rally planned for later this evening, starting around 4:00 pacific time. But you can still see a handful of folks still here. Very large crowd.
A lot of young people here in the crowd. We have been talking to young people all day. Arsha (ph) is one of those people. He's an American-Iranian.
You are saying this no longer is about the election.
ARSHA (ph), IRANIAN-AMERICAN: It's not. Mousavi was a starting point. Now we're moving towards revolution. This is a time when all Americans -- whether you're American, Latino, Mexican, whatever, this is a time we need to step up as people and support people's opinions and support people's coming out and how we feel about the government. We need to move forward as a people, as a country, and support those who are willing to speak against their government.
ROWLANDS: A lot of those types of opinions. One of the big questions is, Don, and people have been chiming in on it, is this the beginning of something or will this peter out?
And this man who does not want to be identified has some strong opinions on that.
Are we looking at the beginning of somewhat of a revolution or do you think a week, two weeks, a month from now this will be over?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is a really critical moment right now with what is going on in Iran. I believe this is the beginning of a revolution. I believe the Iranian citizens, the people of Iran, and I think the people of the world, have had enough of the repressive regimes that try to take away people's rights in order to stay in power. This is inevitable in history. We have seen it before. It's time for Iran to have its second revolution. The last revolution took us backwards. We need to make sure this revolution takes us forward.
We are all out here unified for our brothers, our sisters, our aunts, uncles, who are dying in Iran on behalf of us. We will not let you down. Keep doing what you're doing. And we will keep doing what we're doing over here. The moolas in Iran, it's over. What goes around and comes around, and the revolution is here. (CHEERING).
ROWLANDS: Strong words, Don. Obviously, these are the streets of Los Angeles and not the streets of Tehran. What happens there will dictate what actually happens in the coming days, months and years. A lot of emotion here and around the world.
(CHANTING)
LEMON: Strong words and strong emotions. You're exactly right. Ted Rowlands, thank you very much.
You see Ted there at a protest rally in Los Angeles. Bigger crowds earlier. But the crowds have not subsided. They may get larger as the evening progresses. We will bring it all to you live here on CNN.
Speaking of emotion and images and words, I want to get back to our Colleen Edwards. She is monitoring the situation and what is coming in.
And as I understand, Colleen, at our Iran desk, you have new video. What is it?
EDWARDS: This is video just posted to YouTube. We were just able to pull it off. The person who posted it says this is Iran's feared Basij Militia running from some protesters here. Just take a look at this. It's grainy, you see what looks like police or Basij Militia running away as the person shooting it struggles a little bit to keep the camera steady and get some shots of that. Interesting sense here of some mayhem in the streets.
What do we know about the Basij Militia? This is interesting. We know they have been deployed to almost every major square in Tehran on this day. They were founded as a kind of people's militia, if you will, back in 1979. Interestingly, they've held back their full force, their full fury, up until now, showing some restraint. But now we are hearing -- there are unconfirmed reports that they have opened fire on a crowd of demonstrators throwing stones. We know that they actively monitor the activities of citizens in Iran. For example, they enforce dress codes, that kind of thing. Groups like the U.N. HCR, Amnesty International have been very critical over the Basij Militia and their tactics.
A sense there of what's happening on the streets on this day, as this YouTube video apparently showing Basij Militia running in the streets with protesters there.
Again, we're seeing more evidence in the video of people being injured in these clashes, a real sense of the escalation, the seriousness of this as well.
We're hearing that now, as darkness has fallen on the city, that there are sporadic reports of violence in different neighborhoods around Tehran as well. We will keep you up to date.
LEMON: Colleen, that's why you want to stay tuned to CNN.
MCEDWARDS: Absolutely.
LEMON: The situation is changing moment by moment and new video coming in as well.
Your comments are coming up. We appreciate them.
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LEMON: Continuing coverage here on CNN of the violence and protests going on in Iran. Here's what we're getting in here now. We're checking with the social networking sites.
It says, "Don, according to Iranian sources, the liquid being dropped by the helicopters may not be water. It is leaving skin burns. Can you guys find out more?"
We will check on it for you. We're back in a moment.
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