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Disturbing Video Coming From Iran; Heavy Police Presence Doesn't Stop Protestors; Social Networking Sites Help Iranians Get Messages Out. The White House Remains Neutral, Should the U.S. Do More?
Aired June 21, 2009 - 18:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, everyone. I'm Don Lemon.
We start this hour with a warning to you. Now, I want you to pay close attention. Some of what we're going to show you this hour is an unedited. It is raw and, quite frankly, it is disturbing.
First, I want to give you a quick update, though, on the bloodshed on the streets of Iran. No one knows for sure how many people are wounded or dead. Protests are continuing today, even in the face of an increasingly brutal government crackdown.
And tonight, one woman slain in front of the world has become the face of an entire movement. We can't say her name enough. This is Neda at a protest rally in Tehran yesterday, just before something -- something really horrible happened.
Now, as you know, social networking sites have played -- have helped spread these images and video of the protests in Iran. But the story of Neda is -- in particular -- it has deeply shocked the country and, really, the world.
Pay close attention now to our story from Octavia Nasr.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
OCTAVIA NASR, CNN SR. EDITOR OF MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS (voice-over): The facts surrounding her life and her death are difficult to verify. She appears to have been a young student who joined thousands of her countrymen to voice her disapproval of Iran's election results. Eyewitnesses say Basij militiamen hiding on a building roof top shot Neda in her chest, silencing her forever.
A man who appears to be her father desperately calling on her to open her eyes; a stranger begging her to stay awake, "Don't be afraid, don't be afraid, Neda," the man says. But Neda doesn't respond. She dies right there on the streets -- another protester capturing her last moments on a cell phone camera.
And just like that, Neda, who came to the square thinking she's one voice among thousands, turned into the voice of an entire opposition movement. Neda, which means, "the calling," is now on millions of flips across the globe, on the Internet, in specially-designed avatars. A young life cut down in its prime, one woman's gripping story speaking volumes, a grim reminder of the price Iranians could pay for freedom.
Octavia Nasr, CNN, reporting.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LEMON: We warned you, those are very disturbing to watch.
I want to go now to Badi Badiozamani. He is an Iran expert and scholar. He joins us now. He has been helping us throughout this process.
When you look at those pictures and we -- you know -- as we say, it's hard to watch. But it's important for people to know what's going on there. She really has become the face of this movement, and people are really wanting to get her face and her story told here. What does this mean over there to the people in Iran?
BADI BADIOZAMANI, IRAN EXPERT, SCHOLAR: The biggest metaphor is her name, Neda, "the calling," "the divine calling" or "the divine call." And she heard the divine call, apparently. She came to the protests, and that what she go. And then, she became the symbol of this entire movement, the movement for democracy -- a young woman, younger generation coming to the streets, a young society in Iran.
And then as we have seen, more than 50 percent of the people in the street are young women. That is very encouraging. Not only for the country of Iran, but also for the entire Middle East.
LEMON: For the youth and for the role of women in the Middle East.
BADIOZAMANI: Absolutely. It can be a role model for everybody else in the area. Not going necessarily to the streets, but getting empowered, asking for their rights, for equal rights.
LEMON: So, what you're saying in that -- because usually, if something like this happens, and, you know, most news organizations aren't in the business of showing someone's death, even when who are people killed in war. But because of the -- this is unprecedented what's going on, and we don't have a lot of access because of what the government is doing, we are hearing that her -- people close to her, even her family members and people who were there, they want this to be seen.
Why do they want it to be seen? Why take this sort of action to have this shown?
BADIOZAMANI: Because people really want to give their lives for the freedom they're seeking. I just had a report -- I was talking to someone who just came back from Iran a few hours ago. And he said that -- I was talking to my son's friend. And I said, "This is dangerous. Why are you taking to the streets?" And he said, "Look, even if 1 million of us get killed, that would be good for the 69 million or 70 more million Iranians. They're going to have democracy."
LEMON: Here is the interesting part that I want to ask you about, because, you know, not just the U.S., but Britain, and a number of other superpowers, as we call them, are saying -- you know what? Let Iran do their thing and take care of themselves.
But because of the information blackout, no one really knows what's going on. We don't really have, for sure, account of what's going on. So, if this turns out be -- God forbid -- a genocide for a lot of people -- you understand what I'm saying?
BADIOZAMANI: You read my mind, actually.
LEMON: Yes. Go ahead.
BADIOZAMANI: I have been thinking about that, been worried sick about that. What if they all say, OK, they're not going to mettle, they're not going to interfere, and then, with this total blackout, almost a total blackout, there is no news. A week later, 10 days later, there's more news all of a sudden, and then 1 million to 2 million people killed. How would the world look at itself?
Can we say, "Oh, I'm so sorry, we didn't think it was going to be this violent"? The shame on the face of humanity.
LEMON: As you're talking, it sort of reminds me of Rwanda, and we know it's on the hard that president Clinton said, "I wish I would have done something then." And, you know, we're saying this -- we're not saying that this is happening. We don't know.
BADIOZAMANI: No, we hope --
LEMON: We're hoping against it. Yes.
BADIOZAMANI: We're hoping that it doesn't happen. But then, when you are talking about the fate of millions of people, if you are world leaders, you have to be proactive.
LEMON: Yes. Thank you. And, you know, as we said, it was -- it's amazing to see that sort of thing, and it's very hard to see that. But learning from you, it's understandable, in terms of what's going on in Iran, why people who are close to Neda wanted this to be seen.
BADIOZAMANI: And we are getting -- I'm sorry, they're getting a lot of unconfirmed reports. We are trying to get some confirmation. One hundred twenty-eight people killed yesterday in Esfahan. It's not confirmed yet. And I'm just saying it -- I'm voicing it because I'm an analyst, not a reporter.
But if that happens to be true, what a tragedy, in one day.
LEMON: Badi Badiozamani, we appreciate it. Thank you.
Again, he's saying he's an analyst here on CNN, and he's just saying what's on his heart. That -- none of that is confirmed.
BADIOZAMANI: Yes.
LEMON: But that is the fear. And we hope certainly that does not happen. Thank you, sir. We really appreciate it.
We want to move on now, because we talked about the role of social networking in all of this. And we want to go to CNN's Josh Levs to talk about Twitter -- because, Josh, as we were on the air yesterday, it's kind of hard to get back to business here when you hear that story. But we were on the air yesterday, and I got a tweet about Neda and shared it with you, and you did some checking and found out the story behind her. She really has become the face of this movement, and really because of what came out on Twitter.
JOSH LEVS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Right. I mean, she was one of the top topics on Twitter yesterday. You and I first spoke about her on this program here yesterday. And she continues to be one of the top topics on Twitter.
We're following Twitter minute-to-minute, because, as you were just hearing here, you know, with this media crackdown, Twitter and other social networks have become a huge part of the story.
We're going to start off with this first one. We just grabbed this off from Twitter. We're not using any names because some of these people are inside Iran. We don't want to endanger anyone. It's first one you're seeing here, "In Iran, one woman, Neda, becomes a symbol." The next one also about Neda, says, "Everyone go to Neda's funeral," and says, "If they attack, then it will end this. The world will revolt."
And, you know, a lot of people are writing a lot of things about different aspects on this election, different angles on the election fallout. This one is saying, "We need 1 million people outside Iran to change their time zone setting on Twitter to Tehran." Now, that's because, as Twitterers are saying, that inside Iran, there are members of these paramilitary forces, the Basij, who are trying to find the Iranian Twitterers. And if they want to change their time zones, they're saying it can be harder to find the people using Twitter inside Iran.
Let's look at a couple more here. This one is interesting. It says, "Do not RT," which is retweet. Someone is encouraging people, "Do not retweet ones that cause panic." They say there are government agencies purposely trying to create some panic on Twitter -- government agents, rather, trying to do that.
And again, we cannot confirm everything we see on Twitter, but the fact is, people are exchanging a lot of information like this. We're giving you good cross-section here. We'll end with this one, which I found interesting. This says, "I'm so proud to be Iranian. Thanks, you guys, for all of your support. Please keep them coming."
Let me show you guys the graphic. If you want to weigh in, I'm camped out here, we're going to be following your tweets throughout the night. There's my page: Twitter.com/JoshLevsCNN. I also got Facebook, same thing. And our NEWSROOM blog, you can click on Don. Don, as you know, his page is the same thing, DonLemonCNN.
And we're going to keep following this. We want to share your tweets in addition to all the latest we're getting on the Iran election.
And, Don, I'll be back later this hour for some of the latest.
LEMON: All right, Josh. We appreciate it. Thank you very much, sir.
It has been days since we've heard from Iran's president. But tonight, we're finally hearing from him. President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is blaming the West for stirring up the unrest. Speaking earlier to clerics, he said, quote, "The U.K. prime minister and the U.S. president, certainly, with your premature statements, you will not be in Iran's circle of friends and you have to correct your interfering policies."
We're also hearing new comments tonight from opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi. In a statement on his Web site, Mousavi urges Iranians to exercise self-control. But he goes on to say, "Protesting against lies and cheating is your right. Be hopeful about regaining your rights. Do not allow anyone who tries to make you lose hope and frighten you make you lose your temper."
The government's hard line has even extended to members of the ruling elite. The daughter of former President Rafsanjani was taken into custody for, quote, "provoking riots." Others members of Rafsanjani's family were also detained but later released. Rafsanjani is the chairman of the Assembly of Experts. That is the only group in Iran that has the power to remove Ayatollah Khamenei as the supreme leader.
We have been telling how the Iranian government has attempted to black out international reporting. The BBC says its permanent correspondent from Tehran has been expelled from that country. And the Tehran bureau of Al Arabiya television has been shut down. And Iranian officials say a Canadian working for "Newsweek" in Iran has been detained without charges. "Newsweek" quickly condemned his detention and demanded he'd be released immediately.
And now, "Life" magazine says the Iranian reporter who shot this cover photo is missing. The magazine says it received from a relative saying he had gone out the day before yesterday, and never returned. The e-mail says he was arrested.
"Support, support, follow Iranian support," you can hear those chants in protests across the U.S.
Also, we'll talk with an Iranian whose father is a journalist and hiding in Iran.
And, of course, we want to know what's on your mind tonight from those social networks that we've been talking about: Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, and, of course, iReport.com. We're back in a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: All right. We've been telling you about this information and media blackout in Iran. So, covering this volatile situation has been a bit of a challenge inside Iran. But we do have sources on the ground, and our international desk is working those sources and working with producers in the area to get information for you. CNN has devoted its considerable global resources to the very latest.
So, I'm going to go now to our Iran desk. Ralitsa Vassileva, she is usually on CNN International and she is joining us with her expertise on this story, monitoring all the news material.
What are you getting in over there, Ralitsa?
RALITSA VASSILEVA, CNN INTERNATIONAL: Don, as you mentioned, we are working under restrictions but we are checking a variety of sources. We have a lot of Farsi speakers here in the international desk who have contacts back home, constantly on the phone. We're able to look at video, look at street signs, look for clues, listen to what people are saying.
But all of the stream of video that we are receiving -- I want to show you pictures that we received from today, where a large crowd -- this is a major thoroughfare in Tehran. They were there, shouting, very loud protests, shouting, "Don't be afraid, we are together! Death to the dictators!" This video appears to have been shot from the window of a room of an apartment building, showing that despite the bloodshed and all the fear, people still challenged authorities and went out in the streets today.
We had no reports of clashes, but that doesn't mean they didn't occur. We just have not received them. This is the video of what happened on the streets.
Today, also, we're trying to figure out and piece together what happened yesterday. We received new pictures from yesterday that we'd like to show you, just to give you an idea of what was happening on the streets. You see those pictures here -- a lot of smoke, the use of tear gas. You see a lot of the protesters have masks that they're ready to put on at a moment's notice to avoid the stinging tear gas that has been used against them; tens of thousands of security forces deployed there, even today.
I want to show you some more pictures there from the streets of Tehran. There are people, obviously -- tear gas has been used on them. They are tearing up. After that, I wanted to show you some more pictures now, just a second here. Yes, I wanted to show you this picture, they're looking at the aftermath of something. It appears that someone might have been injured who was lying over there.
All these -- we're getting in, we're vetting them, as I said, the best we can. Our reporters have not been able to go out in the streets, but were able -- through our resources and different sources -- to get you all of this information.
LEMON: All right, Ralitsa, we'll be checking back with you. Thank you so much for that.
"Support, support, fellow Iranian support" -- that's what Iranians in Seattle, San Diego, D.C., and New York are shouting to their countrymen. Our Susan Candiotti is outside U.N. headquarters.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Across the street from the U.N. today, half as many protesters as were here on Saturday, but the group is just as vocal. As you can see, a number of them this day are lying down on the sidewalk to bring attention to the number of those who have been killed during nonviolent protests in Iran.
One young woman -- perhaps you can explain to me why you have chosen to do this, if you can lower your hands for just one moment.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Because I want to show my support to persons (ph) in Iran, to people in Iran. They are all -- my brothers and sisters are getting killed in the streets. And they're fighting.
And I just want to show my support. Whatever they want, they want justice, they want their vote to be counted. So that's why I'm here. And I just want to show them that they are not alone. It's our country, we love you, and we are responding for you.
CANDIOTTI: Thank you.
And you are hearing that sentiment from many people here. Again, they're holding roses in memory of those who were killed. Many people here say that even if nothing changes in terms of the vote in Iran, that the revolution -- they call this a revolution -- that nothing will ever be the same again. Reminiscent of what happened perhaps, they say, 30 years ago.
Susan Candiotti, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LEMON: All right, Susan, thank you.
Still ahead, we talk with a man whose father is a journalist in hiding in Iran.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: International journalists are not the only ones facing a government blackout. People within the Iranian media are also being targeted by authorities; one is Issa Saharkhiz. He went into hiding before police came to his home in Tehran to arrest him. His son is Mehdi Saharkhiz. And he lives in New Jersey; he joins us live.
Have you heard from your father, sir?
MEHDI SAHARKHIZ, SON OF IRANIAN JOURNALIST: I talked to him over chat this morning. He seemed to be fine.
But he was very concerned about what happened last night when they came to our house and my sister was alone. And they actually knocked and said, "We were going to come up," and my sister said that -- she's 19 -- and she said, "No, you can't, because I'm all alone and I don't want anybody to come in." They said, "If you don't, we'll just break the door and come up."
So basically, she opened the door, they came up, they went through her stuff which -- and went through my dad's stuff. They took some of it, like a laptop and stuff, which are campaign stuff for Mr. Karoubi, as my dad was one of the people in charge of the international media in Karoubi's campaign.
They also took some personal info. And when my mom got there, they asked her where he is, she didn't know. And they did not show any specific warrant for him. I think they just showed a general warrant, and they basically left.
LEMON: And so, Mehdi, I want to say, your dad was not there. They did not find him, correct?
SAHARKHIZ: No, they did not find him.
LEMON: OK. So, you know, we go -- last night, we led our coverage with a report -- you couldn't see anything, but you could hear what appeared to be some sort of home invasion. Now, we're hearing from people on the ground that these were possibly police who are going into people's homes.
Are you saying that this is what happened to your father? And if so, is this happening to a number of families that your father knows about, since he's a journalists?
SAHARKHIZ: Well, it's not -- I'm not going to say it's the police, because I don't think that they're wearing uniforms. So, they're not -- it's very hard to tell if it's the police or it's the government or who's behind the attacks. It's actually -- yes, it's been happening to the media. They have had good reactions of going in and meeting the people, and they have had bad ones.
I think going into a house with a 19-year-old girl there with nobody else there, I think, is a very bad thing, especially after she has no contact with her dad for a couple of days.
LEMON: Here's what we want to know, Mehdi, because of this information blackout, we don't really know the total number of people who are on the streets. We can sort of judge, by even looking at the video that we have seen. But when you put it all together, who knows how many people were at these protests.
Did you speak to your father about that?
SAHARKHIZ: Well, they're -- especially -- just like you said, because all the media coverage is from Iranian TV, and there is no other reporters on the ground, it's very hard to tell. But we have reports on Thursday's protest, which was a silence protest, and that's what they are after. There were over 3 million people at that protest.
LEMON: Three million.
SAHARKHIZ: Yes. LEMON: OK. Why would you say that? Because, I mean, you can sort of -- as I said, look at the pictures, and guess -- we had been seeing tens of thousands of people, but if you look at the number of different protests that we're getting in here, it all starts to add up. But why would you say 3 million people, Mehdi?
SAHARKHIZ: Well, the first protest which held from -- which ended in Azadi Square had around 1.5 million, almost 1.5 million. That was what was reported to me. And they said the number doubled. The number was so much that people literally could not come out of the train station -- the metro stations, because there were so many people, they couldn't be more squished together.
LEMON: How much -- how much longer, and really, how much fire does the opposition have -- and I'm talking about the people on the street -- to keep this up? This is a heck of a lot of work, and this, you know, can drain you to keep this up over time, to really make a difference here.
SAHARKHIZ: I can't answer that question, because I literally don't know what they're planning. It's very hard to know what their next move is. Nobody expected what they heard on Friday from the Friday prayers. They expected something else. And they got something else.
So, predicting the future is, I think, not a good idea.
LEMON: OK. Mehdi, we appreciate it. Thank you so much, and best of luck to your family, and, of course, we are thinking about your father's safety, as well, OK?
SAHARKHIZ: Thank you very much.
LEMON: All right. And keep us updated on what's going on.
SAHARKHIZ: I will. Definitely.
LEMON: Thank you.
You know what? Most foreign journalists have been kicked out of the country, others arrested, and some are even missing. And our very own Dubai bureau chief, Samson Desta, was attacked while on assignment in Iran last week.
Thank you for joining us. You just got back today, right? So, we know that you're tired. We're glad that you're safe. But how difficult was this? How hard was it to do this?
SAMSON DESTA, CNN DUBAI BUREAU CHIEF: It was quite difficult, particularly when things got a bit rough out in the street, particularly because of the militia, the Basij that were out there -- and they were quite set and quite adamant about making sure that everybody was clear on the street. And they were going after anybody and everybody that was on the street. And I took some pictures during those times.
LEMON: Yes, and we're going to look at those pictures. Before we go to these pictures, I want to talk to you about -- because we have seen lots of violence. We've heard Neda story. We've seen people.
So, can you attest to the beatings that people are talking about that they received from whatever -- maybe it was -- was it the Basij? Can you talk attest to those beatings? Did you witness any of that?
DESTA: Absolutely, I did. Again, the second day is when things really kicked off. And they were out in the street, in force. They were on motorcycles, there were some on foot. They had batons. They had, you know, baseball bats, and they just wanted to make sure that no one was out there protesting.
LEMON: And this is the photographs.
DESTA: This is one of the photos.
LEMON: And these are new photos, just into CNN. They have never been aired before, and this was -- these were taken by you, right?
DESTA: Yes. I took these pictures. And as you can see, I had to be at a distance. I couldn't quite get close to them, because if they had seen me, they would have come after me. And a number of them did see me, actually, and they did come after us. And we had to run and take refuge to a village.
LEMON: Can we get a new photo graphic on this so our viewers will know that this is new information? Thank you very much. My producer is going to do that.
So, you heard him saying that it was the -- the guest before you saying, 3 million people. I mean, is that even -- is that feasible for 3 million people to be out?
DESTA: You know, we did hear that. I mean, we did -- we did hear people say, "Look, there was 3 million people out there." It's difficult to tell whether we had 3 million people.
LEMON: But you saw big rallies.
DESTA: I saw big -- absolutely. Huge rallies.
LEMON: OK. Do we have more pictures from Samson that we can look? Where was this one exactly? The first one, where was that one?
DESTA: This was in midtown. This was in midtown.
LEMON: And this one.
DESTA: Now, this is also -- this is also nearby midtown. As you can see, this man was being beaten here. He didn't do anything wrong. All he did was protect a woman who was being harassed by security personnel. They were sort of roughing her up, and he came to her defense and asked, "Why are you beating her up?" And then you can see they took him to the corner and just beat them senselessly.
LEMON: The same guy that ... DESTA: That same guy exactly. And there are people helping him to safety. The individual to the right was just a bystander who's helping this man to safety.
Just a few minutes after this, this man just broke down and started crying, and I asked him, "Why are you crying?" And he just simply said, "I can't believe they're doing this to us. These are our own people doing this to us." So, he got quite emotional.
LEMON: OK. Do we have another picture in here? Do we have any -- no more pictures. OK.
DESTA: I think that's it.
LEMON: So, as you are doing this -- and, you know, Sampson is a seasoned person, and producer here at CNN, is often our director of coverage. So, he knows what he's doing and has been doing this for a long time.
Were you surprised, though, at what you saw? Did you expect what you saw? And most of all, did you think that the people in control, the government in Iran, expected this?
DESTA: Very good question. Did I expect this? No. I didn't think we would be here today to discuss this.
LEMON: OK.
DESTA: Because a lot of people thought that Mousavi would win. There was this energy in the air. People were quite jubilant, quite excited about this and they thought he was going to win. They would have change, they would move on. That didn't happen.
And what followed is also surprising. The fact that people were so passionate and determined about making sure that their voices would be heard, that was surprising.
LEMON: And the uprising, I'm sure.
DESTA: And -- exactly, yes. But, again, you know, it's -- you know, we have to say this. You know, at no point did I feel that they wanted a change in regime. All they wanted to do was, "We voted, and we voted for a president. It's not this president. And we want to make sure our votes are being counted."
LEMON: They wanted their voices heard and their votes counted. And I ask at last, do you think that the government, the people in charge, expected this?
DESTA: I don't think so. I don't think so. But then you have to say -- well, why were they allowed to go this far? Because they did, they were allowed to go this far.
LEMON: And if we can get Samson's pictures back up, I'm going to close this segment with it.
By all accounts, Samson, if anything, this is a chink in the Ahmadinejad armor -- all of this that is going on.
(LAUGHTER)
LEMON: You don't want to answer that question.
DESTA: No answer.
LEMON: That's what I've been hearing from everyone, that nothing may change with the election results, but definitely are people are saying that this is a chink in the Ahmadinejad armor, and, you know, the power level in some ways may be waning.
DESTA: Right.
LEMON: But we shall see.
These are new pictures into CNN. We also have new video coming in and new information at every moment. You don't want to turn away.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
DON LEMON, CNN NEWS ANCHOR: Well, the latest now from Iran. There is a heavy police presence on the streets today. But that has not stopped demonstrators from pushing back. Here is a group of men attacking a police car, attempting to set it on fire.
In another disturbing video, a group of students clashed with authorities. You see one young man go down there.
Well, let's go to Ralitza Vassileva. She's over at our Iran desk, tracking the very latest information, which is really coming in very quickly.
What do you have, Ralitza?
RALITZA VASSILEVA, CNN NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Don, we are still trying to piece together what happened yesterday. We're still receiving videos from yesterday.
I want to show you a very disturbing one. I want to warn you, it's a disturbing video of a mother in agony after her son, only 7 years old, was beaten up. There she is, cradling him and shouting at authorities obscenities that we cannot repeat on TV. But you see there, the anguish in this mother's voice as this 7-year-old was beaten by authorities. We don't know exactly whether the police -- whether it was a Basij paramilitary.
Speaking of police, today we heard from Tehran's police chief who told Iran's semi-official news agency that police have not been given permission to use firearms in confronting protesters. However, we have been seeing video of firearms being used.
Another disturbing piece of video I would like to show you that came from yesterday. Again, this is video of a protester being shot from the roof top of this building. And are Farsi speakers have been reading the signs, and people who have been there have told me that those wide buildings belong to the paramilitary Basij. And you will see in a moment, the protestors hurling stones at two gunmen on the roof top. You can see them. There's one on the right and then you'll see one coming from the left. Those are the protesters being fired on. the protester lying there on the ground. It's again, a paramilitary station. They're all over the country. One of these stations in Tehran where this incident happened. We're just receiving this video from events that happened today.
Also I want to play a very moving statement by a very young protester who was out on the streets yesterday. She was injured.
She was speaking to my colleague, Ivan Watson, explaining why she couldn't go out on the streets today again, because she was injured. Listen in.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED IRANIAN PROTESTOR: It was so crowded, and they said run, and I said, I can't run, how can I run, it's so crowded in here. And he hit me, and he was twice as big as me. He was so big. And I said you want to hit me, and he said yes. And then he hit me with (INAUDIBLE). Really today, I couldn't go out because my foot was injured, and I couldn't run anymore. And I was sure if I go out, I'm going to die. So I didn't go out today.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VASISILEVA: And Don, further on, she said that she had lost her faith in her leaders. That this protest was not just about an election anymore. It was about people being lied to by their leaders. She strongly believes that this election was stolen from the people.
Back to you.
LEMON: All right, Ralitza, thank you very much.
We're checking in with Ralitza because, as we said, the information is coming in very quickly, and also quickly to Twitter. And that's why we keep going to Josh and Ralitza every couple of minutes just to check to see what's going on.
What's happening with Twitter, Josh?
JOSH LEVS, CNN NEWS CORRESPONDENT: We're grabbing some of the latest and making sure we can share them. And we're sharing them with you with no names, because some in Iran want to help protect their identities.
Here is the first you can see on your screen. R.T. means re-tweet. It's tweeters encouraging others to keep sending it out to followers. And says, "All foreign satellite TV news has been stopped in Iran and they think a blinded man cannot see in the darkness." Interesting.
Let's go to the next one. Also calling for others to re-tweet. "We need people in the military with us, they have sons and daughters that they care about, too. Interesting. Another one here. This is a quote being attributed to a brave Iranian, a lot of people sending out different versions of this quote, "I'm not afraid to die for freedom, I'm afraid to die without getting it for my daughter."
And we have one here, a reference to Nada, we first spoke about her last night, the girl killed at that rally, as a bystander, as you can see in the video. And it says, "If an innocent girl gets shot halfway across the world, does she make a sound? Yes, the whole world hears her."
All of these come, I think within, the last minute. We literally update Twitter and the whole page changes because the last 10 seconds, you get dozens more.
Let's show you the graphic -- we're also looking at your tweets. Any tweets you think are particularly significant, point them out. Twitter.com/joshlevsCNN. And we have my Facebook page there, joshlevs/CNN and our "CNN NEWSROOM" blog. We've got a team here and we're going to follow your tweets throughout the night and keep sharing them with you within minutes, right here.
LEMON: Thank you, Josh.
LEVS: Thanks, Don.
LEMON: I have something I want to share, as well, Josh. You can stand by and listen if you want. This one is talking about the story that we have been telling you about. It says, "Don, she has become the symbol of this election, the same way the young man in Tiananmen Square in front of the tanks did in 1989."
Another tweeter writes, "Three million and a Thursday protest is confirmed by Tehran city officials. They announced it two days ago. Medi (ph) was right, man."
And then one more says, "Still glued to CNN and the Iran coverage. And Nada, so sad. Things must change. Thank you for your great coverage."
We appreciate your tweets. We appreciate your feedback. Make sure you log on to Twitter, Facebook, MySpace. And, of course, our iReporters have been instrumental in getting this information out.
Speaking of the social networking sites and the Internet, the number of people blogging on Iran is just incredible.
Kelly Niknejad is one of them, and she's the editor and chief of TehranBureau.com. She's in Boston and she joins us now.
Thank you for joining us.
KELLY NIKNEJAD, EDITOR & CHIEF, TEHRAN BUREAU: Thank you for having me.
LEMON: What are you hearing from the people in Iran today, especially with the reports of police or people going into homes? They are calling them home invasions. What are you hearing about that, Kelly?
NIKNEJAD: Well, about the home invasions, I was hearing about a few days ago. But what I was specifically hearing today, early in the morning, was that people were very afraid of going out. They said, "If we're not out on the streets, it doesn't mean this is over, it doesn't mean this is physical fizzling out. It's just begun." That's the message I've been hearing. This is going to continue. And it was possible there wasn't going to be any presence in the streets today. There were some planned. But the home invasions, I heard about that a few days ago. So nothing in particular today. But they're stepping up the scare tactics, the oppression, as much as possible. That has been escalating.
LEMON: I have been paying attention to the social networking sites, and it appears there is some consensus on those sites that maybe the opposition, the way they're opposing this and protesting this, needs to be modified a bit. Instead of crowds on the street that there may be other ways. Are you hearing that, that they may start protesting?
NIKNEJAD: Not in particular. I think they're doing what they can. I -- you know, not -- I think they're trying many different ways, and I think they will continue to be more creative than anything we can think of. So I don't -- I don't know that. I don't know what they have planned next.
LEMON: If the current regime retains the presidency, what's going to happen to this movement, to the people who protest it and who said, you know what, we don't want Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to be our president, and we defied him, and we also defied the supreme leader?
NIKNEJAD: I can tell you -- I can report back what I'm hearing. I don't purport to speak for the Iranian people. But based on my direct conversations with people, they said the one thing that can really kill this is if the president of the United States recognizes Ahmadinejad as our president. That's a huge blow to the budding democracy movement that is happening in Iran, within Iran. It's very indigenous. And there are some parallels between the '53 coup, where we nipped that in the bud and -- by endorsing a president who has come to power in a sham election. I think there are some parallels there. That would really hurt. "And it's not in the interest of the United States to negotiate with a government that doesn't have the respect of its own citizens," end quote. I'm just quoting people that I've been speaking to.
LEMON: OK.
NIKNEJAD: So -- that's what they were saying.
LEMON: Kelly Niknejad, thank you so much. And certainly, from this the role of social media and bloggers, as well, this certainly does ramp up the credibility of that and of those two groups there. And we certainly appreciate you joining us, and we would like you to report back when you get more information for us. Thank you.
NIKNEJAD: Thank you. LEMON: We are getting new pictures, new information, into CNN on the protests in Iran and the number of people who are in those crowds. We're hearing that it's growing by the minute, the number of people who were in there yesterday. And today, new information on the other side of this break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: We're hearing new comments from President Barack Obama today on Iran. In an interview that was taped Friday at the White House, were broadcast today on one of Pakistan's English language TV stations, the president spoke about the need to improve relations between the U.S. and the Islamic world. And he also had this to say about Iran. He said, "We respect Iran's sovereignty, but we also are witnessing peaceful demonstrations, people expressing themselves. And I stand for that universal principle that people should have a voice in their own lives and their own destiny. And I hope that the international community recognizes that we need to stand behind peaceful protests and be opposed to violence or repression."
Our senior political analyst, Mr. Bill Schneider, in Los Angeles, where Iranian-Americans have been protesting all weekend in large numbers.
Bill, what do you think about the White House's stance so far?
BILL SCHNEIDER, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: They're in a very difficult position, and I think the president is doing the best he can. Because anything the United States says is likely to back fire. It can be used as a pretext by the Iranian government to try to portray the protesters as stooges of the United States, as somehow infiltrated by American agents, because the United States has been an issue in Iran for decades. So the president is being very cautious.
It has to be intensely frustrating. Look at those brave protesters who are defying threats of bloodshed. The pictures are utterly stirring to Americans. And we all feel frustrated that the United States cannot do more in this situation. I think, in fact, Obama's election may have played a role in inspiring those demonstrators, because many of the reformers saw the possibility of an opening, a new relationship with the United States with this new president.
LEMON: And I do have to say -- this is completely on the record -- there was an editorial meeting here on Friday with the Reverend Jesse Jackson, and he said he believes the president's people in Cairo to the Muslim may have been inspiring these people as well to take up arms and do this.
SCHNEIDER: That's right. So the idea that the president could meet with his government, even though we have clear national interests in trying to negotiate with whoever is in power in Iran. But if he were to meet with them, as your guest from Boston just said, it would just provoke protest from the Iranian demonstrators. It would be seen as an outrage, a recognition of legitimacy of this government. And what kind of deal can you make with a government that has this doubtful a basis? LEMON: I have a tough question to ask, because we don't really know what's going on, and it's comparable in some ways, but not in other ways. One of the guests, our Iran expert, said, you know, what if this is sort of a Rwanda moment, as it was for Bill Clinton, where Bill Clinton says now that he wishes he would have done something then about Rwanda. And it's not just for the administration, but really for the international community. Can you really compare the two? And could this turn out to be something like that?
SCHNEIDER: Well, god forbid, that was a genocide.
LEMON: Yeah.
SCHNEIDER: Something like 800,000 to a million people died in Rwanda. The United States didn't have a clear, compelling security interest in Rwanda. We certainly do in Iran, which is one of the reasons why we are being cautious. Iran is trying to develop nuclear weapons. Iran is encouraging the spread of terrorism throughout the Middle East and around the world. And nothing like that was true in Rwanda. But Rwanda did teach an important lesson. And it is a source of frustration right now. The lesson is this, if the United States does nothing, nothing will happen.
LEMON: Nothing will happen. OK.
SCHNEIDER: And that's true now -- I mean, unfortunately, the United States cannot really do much in Iran, and that's frustrating to everyone in the world.
LEMON: All right. Well-put. Thank you. Bill Schneider, we appreciate it.
You know, I want to continue the conversation that I just left off with Bill, and I'm going to bring in Trita Parsi, he is -- "Treacherous Alliance, the Secret Dealings of Iran, Israel and the United States," he wrote that. And he's also the president of the National Iranian-American Council. He is in Washington.
Thank you, sir. You heard the last part of our conversation. Do you want to pick up on that?
TRITA PARSI, PRSEIDENT, NATIONAL IRANIAN-AMERICAN COUNCIL: Well, I don't know if I really agree with Bill when he says that if the United States doesn't do anything, nothing will happen. What we have seen in Iran so far is completely home-grown. People I have spoken to on the streets there are very proud of the fact that this is something that they did themselves. They're not getting orders from anyone from the outside or anything like that.
Now, of course, they're still demanding significant moral support from the international community. And that may actually change into becoming something different down the road. But the fact that they have done all of this, come this far, by themselves, is an indication that this is a process that is owned by the Iranian people, and is driven by the Iranian people. LEMON: What about this -- I don't know if it's a perception or a reality. We've heard the responses. But people saying this hands-off attitude from the international communities, especially from the super powers of the world.
PARSI: Well, I think the president has walked a very fine line. I think he has done a very good job so far. There is one word, however, that I'm missing in some of the statements that are coming out. I'm missing the word "condemn." I'm missing the word where the president would say that he condemns the violence, the brutality, that is used by the Iranian government against its own people right now. I don't fully understand why one wouldn't be able to say that. I fully understand, and agree with the president that it would not be helpful for him or the United States to pick a side in this explicitly. But condemning the violence, I believe, is something that the United States should do.
LEMON: OK. Real quickly, I'm up against a break here. And I think your information is fantastic, that's why I want to ask you this. We know what's going on in Tehran, mostly, which is the biggest city there, and the most metropolitan city. So if any information is going to come from anywhere, it would come from there. But there are also other areas in Iran that we're not hearing from, where there are hardliners or people in this hard-fought battle on both sides and we don't know what's going on in those areas. We haven't heard from them.
PARSI: It's been tremendously frustrating to see how the information has become less and less in many phases of this precisely because of the Iranian government's clamp down on not only foreign journalists but the ability for people to actually connect to the Internet and upload their images and upload their videos and get on Facebook and get the message out. From what I've heard, this is not in any way, shape, or form limited just to Tehran. People are upset across the entire country. And there has been protests in other cities as well. And there's been brutal clampdowns in cities like Esfahan as well.
LEMON: Trita Parsi, thank you, sir.
PARSI: Thank you for having me.
LEMON: Many Iranian-Americans left the country long ago and, like us, they're watching this unfold. We'll talk to two of them and I'll ask them if they'll ever go back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: You know, no one is keeping closer tabs on what's unfolding in Iran than the Iranian-American community. Joining us now is Hossain Mesghali, and Atlanta-area restaurant owner who left Iran during the Islamic revolution -- Mojgan?
KHOSRAVI: Mojgan.
LEMON: I said it yesterday correctly -- Khosravi, she is a medical student who left Iran some 30 years ago as well. Mojgan, you left in 1977.
You left in 1978.
Thank you for joining us.
You want to fix your tie? Because I know you're going to look at this and say, oh, my tie was messed up. There are more important things to talk about sometimes. We focus on those things.
So having had one night to sleep on it, one more night, and see the developments today, Mojgan, what do you think?
MOJGAN KHOSRAVI, IRANIAN-AMERICAN: As I said, I talked to a relative today who lives in Iran, and he told me that there were seven deaths. And I'm appalled. I'm extremely disappointed at the silent treatment of the international community. I am appalled.
LEMON: Why so?
KHOSRAVI: Why? Because for years and years we have heard from the super powers, the Iranian nation should take the first step and then we will help them. Well, they have taken the first step. Where are you?
LEMON: Yeah.
KHOSRAVI: I would like to know where are they.
LEMON: Do you have that same feeling?
HOSSAIN MESGHALI, IRANIAN-AMERICAN: Yes, I do. Absolutely.
LEMON: What would you have the international community do?
MESGHALI: Well, just international community should recognize what's going on in Iran, let those kids know that we do hear them outside of Iran itself. They need to be heard, and we need to acknowledge that they are being heard. I'm so proud of my daughter. She is glued to the TV. She's Twittering and, just -- she makes me proud, because at 12 years old, she is paying more attention to Iran than I am. She consistently calls me over, Dad, wake up, watch this, watch this. And it's really good that even the next generation beyond me is interested in what's going on.
LEMON: But you do understand though really this tightrope that many in the international community, including our very own president here in the united states, do you understand the tightrope they're walking, because it has political ramifications and could actually backfire in many ways for the people who are protesting.
KHOSRAVI: Not if you do it unanimously. Not if you're together. If the international community stays together and declares Iran -- not a war, not a war at all, but acknowledges the failure of the system and also refutes the results of the election together unanimously, that would be the first step. LEMON: And you have been just Twittering or tweeting with people. You have actually spoken to people at home. And you said that -- this is again unconfirmed, but what are you hearing from people back at home about the protests and the violence.
KHOSRAVI: OK, there were 17 deaths today. And what the government has done today is that -- the grouping of people used to happen last Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday in the freedom place, and what they are doing, they are blocking their way so they couldn't get together because the numbers were so high. They're trying to avoid that.
LEMON: And what are we hearing about these home invasions? Are they true? Are they happening? And who is responsible? Who is doing this?
MESGHALI: It is happening. And it's mainly happening outside the Iranian groups itself. What Iran is doing right now is recruiting outside of Iranians so they could be more strict on the Iranian public. They're bringing people from Lebanon, Afghanistan. There's actually people from Taliban in Iran trying to calm the streets down, because it's easier for them to calm the Iranian kids down. They have no remorse in beating up Iranian kids. But when you get an Iranian army people trying to calm the Iranian kids down, they're not going to be as aggressive as people from Lebanon or Taliban coming into Iran and really putting a strong fist out.
LEMON: Hossain and Mojgan, we appreciate you talking to us about your personal experiences and what you're hearing as well.
And, you know, we have the information blackout, so we're still trying to confirm much of the things you're telling us about who is on the street and about the number of deaths. But we certainly appreciate you sharing your personal stories with us on CNN. Thank you so much.
KHOSRAVI: Sure. Sure. Thank you.
MESGHALI: Thank you.
LEMON: Our continuing coverage of the situation in Iran after this break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: CNN's Christiane Amanpour followed the Iranian election, from campaigning through the vote through the protest. And 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.
Hello, everyone, I'm Don Lemon. We start this hour with a warning to you. Some of what you're going -- we're going to show you this hour is unedited. It is raw and it is disturbing.
