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More Coverage of Iranian Protests; Video coming from Amateurs

Aired June 22, 2009 - 10:00   ET

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

T.J. HOLMES, CNN, ANCHOR: Once again, so much of this video coming to us from social networking sites and also amateur photographers because there are so many restrictions on what foreign press can do there. We can't get in there ourselves. So we try to verify it to the best we can but some of this is impossible, really, to authenticate it but still it is helping us tell the story, given some of our other sources kind of paint a picture for us of what's happening there.

Our Ivan Watson pulling together all the latest developments in this historic challenge to the regime. He's over our Iran desk. Also, Barbara Starr at the Pentagon for us today. She's looking at the so- called twitter revolution. Is it the newest weapon in the fight for democracy? We got some new questions on voting irregularities, not coming from the opposition. But his is coming to us from Iran's government itself. This is according to Iran's government-funded Press TV, saying the election authority has discovered that excessive ballots were cast in 50 cities, but the government says the extra vote did not affect the election's outcome.

Meanwhile, Tehran is stepping up its claims that the West is meddling in its politics and it says the western media has exaggerated reports of police violence against protestors. Also, Press TV saying that 13 people have died in the clashes there. But there are unconfirmed reports out there really all over the place that has the number as high as 150. We do want to get the latest on this developing story from our Ivan Watson, joining us now from our international desk, the hub of all our Iran information right now. What do you have, Ivan?

IVAN WATSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, T.J., we've been reporting on one young woman - one of those people killed on Saturday by the name of Neda, known around the word as Neda. Camera phones caught the image of here shot in the chest and falling on the ground on Saturday's bloody clashes. Activists through the social networking sites had called for a memorial to be held for her in Tehran's Hafte Tir Square and that's where a dramatic standoff has been under way as hundreds of people have tried to go attend that rally, that memorial.

And they've been blocked by a mix of different Iranian security forces who have according to some of the eyewitnesses we've talked to on the ground there in Hafte Tir Square. They have used maze, they have used pepper spray to try to disperse these people. In some cases chasing people down alleyways. We have one account of a man being chased away by two paramilitaries, running away from them down an alley and a crowd of about 100 people behind them cheering, jeering the two paramilitaries and cheering don't be scared, don't be scared, we're all together. And also hearing about women standing up to paramilitary forces, officers twice their size saying, don't beat me. I have the right to be here in this square. Now, the Iranian government is standing by its story that this month's controversial presidential elections were good and fair. We're getting some conflicting messages that there may have been three million votes more than were actually cast. But yet the foreign military spokesperson, take a listen to what he had to say about those presidential elections.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HASSAN QASHDAVI, IRANIAN FOREIGN MINISTRY SPOKESMAN: You would think that the high turnout of the people, the participation of 40 million people, at least 85 percent turnout in this presidential election is like a brilliant gem, which is shining on the peak of dignity of the Iranian nation. And we won't allow western media to turn this gem into a price - into a worthless stone and give it to come opportunist people so they would break the glass on the home turf.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERTSON: So there you go. They are describing this as a gem and blaming these protestors opposition uprising on western government, accusing them and the media, people like ourselves of creating this problem and, saying that the people that have been out in the streets that are risking their lives are doing this because of western governments, not because of their own anger of what they call a fraudulent presidential election. T.J.?

HOLMES: All right. Ivan Watson keeping an eye on things for us there. Thank you so much, Ivan.

And with Iran's tight restrictions on international reporting, many of our most dramatic images have come from citizen reporters. Here now a sampling of some of the i-reports that we've been getting.

What appears to be our - you can hear on there, maybe gunshots in some of this video, also seeing some people running. This was one of the many peaceful demonstrations that ended that peace suddenly and turned violent. This was on Saturday. Also, we have some photos to show you here. This was snapped by an i-reporter in Tehran. Again because of the government crackdown, our i-reporters have asked that they not be identified and also a montage of I-report photos to show you here.

They show government forces are moving in to shut down some of the protests and also the demonstrators occasionally defying the crackdown and refusing to be silent. Well, those i-reports show just how hard it is for that hard line government or that hard line government there to seal itself off from the world. Cell phones and the internet pulling back the curtain and exposing the truth in some cases. CNN's Barbara Starr explains the Pentagon is taking note of this so-called twitter revolution.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It is being called the twitter revolution. A protests of Iran's election now comes. Iranians using twitter, youtube, texting, cell phone videos, any social media they can to mobilize and tell the world what is happening in their country. It's a communications revolution with global implications for a repressive government trying to control the internet and social networking.

ROBERT GATES, SECRETARY OF DEFENSE: They just can't draw the net tight enough to stop everything.

STARR: What's unique here in defiance, young computer savvy Iranians are finding alternate online route to get around their government's firewalls and filters.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And people are getting around it and this youtube logos represent videos uploaded from Tehran.

HILLARY CLINTON, SECRETARY OF STATE: The use of twitter is a very important one. Not only to the Iranian people but now increasingly to people around the world and most particularly, young people.

STARR: Gates and Clinton know it's a young person's communications revolution.

CLINTON: I wouldn't know a twitter from a tweeter, but apparently it is very important.

GATES: My guess is that some of these countries that the leadership is kind of like me. They don't have a clue what it's about.

STARR: But Gates is serious about understanding the new freedom of communication where millions of young people in the 20s and 30s are communicating faster than the U.S. military can react.

GATES: How do we reach them in a way that they understand and this department I think is way behind the power curve in this and it's an area where we have a lot of room for improvement.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOLMES: Let's bring in our Barbara Starr here, now. It's interesting to hear the secretary of state to say she doesn't know a twitter from a tweeter. And the Secretary of Defense there admitting I don't know what the stuff is. But the U.S. military is finding a way to use these things, to use tweeter.

STARR: Well, you know, they are a little bit. Even the chairman of the Joint Chief of Staff Admiral Mike Mullen he has started to twitter. Several top generals have their own Facebook pages now. There is a twitter account being run by Secretary Gates top press guy on the Defense Department's home page. But for younger folks looking at this, because I've talked to a number of young people about it, the number of soldiers.

They see the Pentagon so far doing this as a little bit of a PR campaign. What is going on in Iran, of course, is so different. It is real - a real struggle for power, for getting the message out in defiance of a government. I think that's what Secretary Gates is talking about. He's very clear that this is a new social force and it is something that he wants to understand a lot better than just some sort of PR tool. T.J.

HOLMES: Barbara, do you have a twitter account?

STARR: Ah, yes, I do. And I confessed earlier on the air that I signed up this past weekend. Because I figured if I was going to report on this, I had to be a participant.

HOLMES: You better be participating.

STARR: I was a participant. I promptly forgot my password. But since I confessed to that earlier this morning. I re-signed up and now I know my own password.

HOLMES: Well, that's good to hear. Barbara Starr, thank you so much from the Pentagon. I'll follow you shortly.

All right. Let's turn back to where a lot of that tweeting is going on. Iran and so many Iranians using that to get the message out. We're going to get some information out now from an Iranian-American who is in Tehran, who is at some of these rallies. He's an Iranian- American. Ko(ph) is the name. Ko, I hope you can hear me OK.

ANONYMOUS CALLER FROM TEHRAN: Yes, I can hear you.

HOLMES: You can hear me well. Tell me, first of all, here, what are you doing there, first of all, and what have you been up to for the past few days?

ANONYMOUS CALLER FROM TEHRAN: Well, my intention was to visit but then when I arrived here on Saturday, the election results had ended and they had announced a winner, Ahmadinejad, at the time, and the next morning I realized that people are mobilizing. At night there were people outside chanting and setting trash cans on fire. This is Sunday, the night before Monday and then on Monday, the rally was from the main square and that is a huge - I'm sorry, the Revolution Square which is the (inaudible) and that's a huge distant walk. And there was a crowd of at least, I would say estimating two million people walking peacefully. A peaceful march and no chants.

Everybody was asking everyone to remain quiet and be silent because they did not don't want to attract the authorities to them. However, when we arrived at the main square, people sat down on the grass, and they were relaxing and chatting and having fun and taking pictures and kind of enjoying the evening and then fire -- the fire started at the local gas station and then next thing you know there were shots fired and people running away and claiming that they saw people were getting shot. They did not confirm that seven people were killed that night. So after that day, the rallies changed momentum and they changed style and they changed format. And again, I was here for a visit and the next thing you know, I was on the streets and trying to participate. I had to run away on many occasions. And then I did not see people being beat up by the militia or the basij, they call them out here. Then the (inaudible) which is the police force, I did not see them beating people up. It was mostly the basij or the militia that were attacking the people.

HOLMES: And it sounds like you said that you wanted to go and participate in a really yourself and had to take off. I want you to tell me two things here and this question. One, what has today specifically been like there in Tehran? We understand there have been a few gatherings, a few demonstrations possibly. Tell me that and also why did you decide you wanted to go participate in one of these rallies?

ANONYMOUS CALLER FROM TEHRAN: Well, let me answer the second question first. 30 years ago I was 9 years old and revolution took place there and since then I've had questions unanswered. And these past three days were my opportunity to find those answers to my questions. First of all, that's why I wanted to participate and observe and see what I going on first hand. But going back to your first question, the attitude was - well, I've got to go back to Monday. Monday event, we were unable to gather people. People were unable to gather to rallies. The anti-riot force were very efficient. They were at every corner street at every square. They were well armed with batons and riot gears and people were afraid to gather and if you had stop at the corner street or a section of the street for more than two or three minutes gathering 10 or 15 people, they would literally attack you and chase and run you away.

So the mood has changed and the people are unable to gather and the people are unable to conduct a rally. So I had tried to participate but it's really hard to participate. Yesterday it was really calm. There was nothing going on. And today, from what I hear from friends that went and came back, tried to participate. They were unable to. I don't have any other information for today and those that are out there, their cell phones are dead and we can't contact them.

HOLMES: All right. Well, we appreciate being able to get you on the phone here. Thank you for taking the time out. We're going to hold on to your number. Maybe we can get in touch with you again. But you take care of yourself there as you participate in some of those as well, some of those protests. Thank you so much.

Again, we're keeping a close eye on what we see that is happening there in Iran. Right now, a fast-moving developing story. We'll bring you the very latest. Stay there with CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: The American Civil Liberties Union has criticized air travel searches for years. Now it's suing the Secretary of Homeland Security using a recording of screeners interrogating a passenger. Jeanne Meserve tells us how it all got recorded.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MESERVE (voice-over): This iPhone captured the conversation between the Transportation Security Administration agent and a passenger.

TSA OFFICER: I'm just trying to ask some questions to figure out what this is all about so I can get you on your plane. But you want to play smart ass, and I'm not going to play your (expletive) game.

MESERVE: The agent was talking to Steve Bierfeldt. He works for the Campaign for Liberty, an upgrowth of the Ron Paul presidential campaign which promotes the constitutional rights. Bierfeldt was flying out of St. Louis when screeners saw this cash box in his carry on. At the time it contained $4,700, proceeds from the sale of political items. Although there are no restrictions on carrying large sums of money on flights within the U.S., the T.S.A. detained Bierfeldt and along with other law enforcement agencies questioned him for almost half an hour, and appeared to threaten him with arrest, unaware the phone in Bierfeldt's pocket was capturing every word.

OFFICER: The question is why do you have this money? That's the major question.

STEVE BIERFELDT, AIRLINE PASSENGER: Yes, sir. I'm asking whether I'm legally required to answer that question.

OFFICER: Answer that question first. Why do you have this money?

BIERFELDT: Am I legally required to answer the question?

OFFICER: So you refuse to answer that question?

BIERFELDT: No sir, I'm not refusing.

OFFICER: Well, you're not answering.

BIERFELDT: I'm simply asking my rights under the law.

Swearing at me, cursing at me, threatening to handcuff me. Take me to the DEA and the FBI. Just the inconvenience. No, it wasn't worth the (inaudible) at all.

MESERVE: The TSA says the agent has been disciplined for using inappropriate tone and language but said in a statement "a passenger who refuses to answer questions may be referred to appropriate authorities for further inquiry." The ACLU says Bierfeldt did not refuse to answer questions and his detention and questioning violated constitutional protections against unlawful search.

LARRY SCHWARTZTOL, AMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION: TSA believes its passenger screening is an opportunity to engage in free wheeling law enforcement investigation that have no length to protecting flight safety.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOLMES: What (inaudible) people have not learned yet, you got to do what you do or what you say because everybody has got something in their pocket that can record you. So in this particular case, are we seeing this as maybe just an isolated incident you happen to catch or could this be a much bigger problem.

MESERVE: Well, it depends on who you to talk to, of course. The ACLU and Bierfeldt believe that this is just one piece of a larger problem. They believe that this happens in airports all across the country all the time. Just in this case, this young man happened to have recently downloaded an application to record on his iPhone and he put it to use.

HOLMES: Yes, he did, put it to use. Jeanne Meserve for us in Washington. Thank you so much.

We're going to turn now to some weather, some severe weather. Severe, we showed some lightning and some rain in that little graphic there but we are talking about some hear.

ROB MARCIANO, CNN, METEOROLOGIST: Yes, severe clear, severe heat and early season heat wave for a lot of the country. Check out some of these numbers. Tallahassee yesterday got up to 102, Hattiesburg, Mississippi 100. 98 degrees in Brunswick, Georgia. 98 degrees, I should mention in the shade as where all these temperatures were measured and it do not include humidity. So a lot of these numbers feel a great deal higher. Miami, 96 degrees. So it's extreme heat for much of the nation.

From the plains down across the mid-south and through the Mississippi River Valley, St. Louis under a heat warning. A lot of brick in that area of the country. So they kind of heat up as well. And Tulsa also under a heat warning. Here's a live shot from our affiliate in Tulsa, KUTL, where temperatures are already in the mid-80s and easily expected to get into the mid-90s. And again that does not include the humidity or just being out in the sun which would obviously heat up your skin a lot quicker.

Some cooling thunderstorms across Louisville where you have your share of rough thunderstorms. These are coming to the area quite rapidly, heading down to the southeast in a pretty big hurry. And some lightning, obviously some heavy rain and maybe a little bit of hail with this and some wind as well. So along this front is where we're going to see those showers. Heat not a whole lot of relief from that across the mid section of the country.

If you want some relief, you really have to go out west where that Mediterranean climate kind of kicks in. A little cooling off onshore breeze from the Pacific. 74 degrees that sounds nice in L.A., 100 in Dallas, 100 degrees expected in Memphis and 84 degrees in New York City or 84 in D.C., 74 in New York. This is tropical storm Andres. It's the first tropical storm of the season on the Pacific side, about 150 miles off the coastline of Mexico right now with winds of 50 miles an hour. It's expected to go up towards the north and west. And kind of scoots the coastline. It could very well turn into a hurricane. That's the forecast in the next 24 hours.

By tomorrow night, it will be in close proximity to the coastline as a hurricane and expected not to make landfall officially but will certainly beat up the coastline there, including some of the resort areas, folks vacationing in western Mexico. T.J., back to you.

HOLMES: Rob, we appreciate that, you kind sir.

MARCIANO: You're welcome. HOLMES: Well, the FDA right now trying to determine the a source of an E. coli outbreak. And they're looking into something sweet and delicious and that many parents like making with their kids Stay here.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: Well, the president knows how hard it is to quit smoking and today he's signing a bill designed to save others the trouble. The measure will let the Food and Drug Administration regulate tobacco and it lays down strict rules on how and where tobacco can be hold. The main goal is to stop the kids from lighting up. As you know, the president has admitted that he's smoked over the years but had a tough time trying to quit but we understand, I believe that he has quit now.

Well, the president sign the bill at 2:00 Eastern and we'll bring that to you live when it happens.

Not the cookie though. FDA investigators taking lab samples of Nestle's refrigerated cookie dough from a Virginia plant over the weekend. The government agency trying to determine if the dough is linked to an E. coli outbreak. Nestle is voluntarily recalling the affected products, recalled them last week. Our senior medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen here now to update us. A lot of people are sick here but we've got a lot of questions here. Let's just start with how many people we know are sick here. How bad off are they?

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: It's quite a lot of people and some of them are quite ill. Let's take a look at the map. There are people who are sick in 29 states. 65 people sick in 29 states. That's a map from the Centers for Disease Control. And 25 of these people have been hospitalized. To be hospitalized with food illness, you really have to be quite sick. 70 percent of the people who are ill are under age 19. So we're talking about pretty young people. And 75 percent of them are females, which is interesting and quite says something about who likes cookie dough.

And this is the cookie dough, the stuff that you buy that is already pre-made it's from Nestle. Let's look at what Nestle had to say about this because they put out a statement. They say "Nestle Toll House cookies made from refrigerated and frozen dough are perfectly safe for consumption when prepared according to the instructions on the label," which clearly states that the raw dough must be baked before consumption.

HOLMES: A-ha.

COHEN: But Nestle and the FDA and everyone says throw it away. If you have this stuff in your freezer or refrigerator or sometimes people buy it and then it in their freezer and it sits there for a while, throw it away.

HOLMES: OK. Because a lot of people do and you know, people will be up with their kids making these stuff and you start eating the cookie dough so is anyone out there saying that even if you do cook the stuff, and I know, when you cook it, a certain temperature is supposed to kill all these bacteria but they are saying don't even try it? COHEN: Don't even try it. And I think you have to cook it to a pretty high temperature for a pretty long time. You would have pretty burnt cookies. That would be my guess but E. coli 5787 is something that you do not want to mess with.

HOLMES: E. coli what now?

COHEN: 5787. I'm sorry.

HOLMES: (inaudible) We're trying to keep up here.

COHEN: It can shut down your kidneys. It is really nasty.

HOLMES: All right. Tell us, are they sure that it's the cookie dough?

COHEN: They are actually not 100 percent sure that it's the cookie dough and I'll explain to you why. They have found that - all of these people got sick and they said, what did you eat? And that was the common denominator but they haven't actually found it in cookie dough yet.

HOLMES: OK. How did it get in there?

COHEN: Not known. I mean, E. coli lives in the intestines of cows. No one really knows how. It might have been on the machinery that was used to process it. Who knows.

HOLMES: All right. Elizabeth Cohen, thank you so much for this, not the cookie dough. Thank you so much.

We're going to turn back now and talk about Iranian women joining men at the front of the protest lines and one young woman is paying the ultimate price.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: Again, this is video coming in from some of our iReporters. You can hear people chanting on the streets, the chants, the cries. They're on the streets of Iran, again, from our amateur reporters and photographers, and our iReporters out there with such restrictions on what the foreign press can do. We really have asked to lean on a lot of people to send us this information on the Internet and via a lot of social networking sites.

We do want to give you the latest on what we know, which is that hundreds of protestors are crowded -- are in Tehran Square The riot police and militia worked to disperse the crowd. At least eight people were seen arrested. Iran's Revolutionary Guard issued a stern warning today as well against any new protests. Iranian television reporting lawmakers are calling for a review of ties with Britain due to what they call interference in post-election unrest.

On that note, just getting words crossing wires from the Associated Press that the British foreign office is evacuating families of staff that are based there in Oran. Evacuating them for safety reasons, again, after Iranian TV is calling, again, for lawmakers -- a review of ties with Britain. That's an escalating situation there. Protesters there literally risking their lives as Iran riot police continue a (INAUDIBLE) crackdown on demonstrators.

And we have more video to show you here that shows the graphic detail of a student being gunned down. Take a listen, folks.

(VIDEO CLIP PLAYING)

And you can see again this was graphic video. This is a warning about what you're seeing. Graphic video here. We don't have any word on the condition of what happened to that young man, but you can see him being carried away.

Elsewhere to tell you about in Tehran, taking advantage of the strength in numbers, protestors turning the tables on riot police, chasing and driving them back with stones and rocks. Also, another amateur video to show you, capturing the chaos and anger after a man is wounded during the demonstrations.

Well, as we've been saying, social media Web sites still getting word out about the Iranian election protest movement, not just inside the country but around the world. Our senior editor for Mideast affairs, Octavia Nasr is here. And Twitter. We've been talking a lot about Twitter. Is that the main tool?

OCTAVIA NASR, SENIOR EDITOR, MIDDLE EASTERN AFFAIRS: It is the main tool, and it is now getting a lot of attention. First on Neda. You heard the story of a woman who was gunned down during a demonstration a couple of days ago and also what is happening. People are concerned. People are worried about people inside Iran, and also they are worried that not enough information is coming out of there.

Let's take a look at some of the quotes that we picked up in the last few minutes. One says, "No greed or velvet but Nada revolution to keep her memory alive. Please spread the word." And you're seeing a lot of that. People are leaving this kind of message. And then, "Khamenei must resign. Iranian Majils must act now. Your obligation is to represent the people of Iran."

People calling for action, of course, and then you have just seen that video, and it's completely -- I'm completely speechless. What a tragedy. This is really something that is capturing the attention of a lot of people. "Neda rest in peace. The whole world will be mourning for you till the eternal freedom is achieved. Rest in peace."

On Facebook, they started a page in memory of Neda. People just leaving messages. I have to say on this story, there's a lot of misinformation out there. Photos are floating around. Bios floating around. We have to be very, very careful with this information. This is someone that died. We reported on it extensively, people sent in an outpour of reaction to our reporting. It is a tragedy in and by itself, but people are taking it to different directions...

HOLMES: Tell us -- tell us how, and this is good for our viewers to know as well. This young lady that we're talking about, really online caught like fire with that story there. But what -- how do we go about -- I know you have sources on the ground on our international Iran desk who are kind of matching up the reports from eyewitnesses with some of the Twitter, the tweets, and the iReports and stuff like that. How much do we really know about this young woman, whoever this is in this video?

NASR: You know, the interesting thing about this video is the moment. The moment of her death was captured on tape. So, you know, you see video -- another video showed up yesterday showing basically moments prior to the shooting. You see in the same square, Neda, the woman, and the older man who was with her. We believe he was the father, based on eyewitness accounts after the incident. Some people say he was her teacher. It's still unknown.

Basically, she was there walking down the street unarmed, just like many other Iranians in that video, and she's gunned down. She take a hit straight in her chest. She makes it only a few seconds and then dies right there on camera. Another protestor turns his cell phone camera on, captures that moment, posts it online. It spread like wildfire. How can you not react with this image? And that's all we know. And the story you hear the man called her name, Neda, Neda, so we know that that is her name. They tried to resuscitate her. She didn't make it. That's the story we know.

Confirming beyond that, who she is, how old she is -- we can see that she's a young woman. Some people are saying that she's a philosophy student. It's all believable information, but it's not confirmed by us. So we don't report that. We report that video alone. That video alone -- watching it is just mesmerizing.

HOLMES: And, you know, it's tough to get - I know you're all working hard over there, it's tough to match up with your eyewitnesses and credible sources telling you on the ground versus what a lot of information we're getting out there, so I know you're working on it. We do appreciate it.

NASR: And another thing we wanted from this video. We wanted reaction from the Iranian government. Some kind of reaction, some kind of explanation. There's nothing. So we seek that as well for balance. We want to know their side of the story, because eyewitnesss said that it was a Basij militant on a rooftop. We did not get that reaction from the Iranian government to that point.

HOLMES: Octavia Nasr, thank you so much. We appreciate, as always. Talking about that young lady, plenty of young women out in the streets. They are playing a prominent role in these protests. CNN's Ivan Watson taking a closer look at that.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

IVAN WATSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Amid the clashes and chaos, a recurring scene. Women in their black overcoats and scarves, at the heart of the struggle, collecting rocks for ammunition against security forces. Protecting a fallen pro-government militiaman from an angry mob, wounded in the government crack down. AZAR NAFISI, AUTHOR, "READING LOLITA IN TEHRAN": Iranian women, since the late 1800s have been, in fact, at the forefront of the struggle for change.

WATSON: These photos were taken in Tehran on Saturday by a 19- year-old demonstrator who asked not to be named. We spoke to her by phone.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (via telephone): There was a lot of other women there.

WATSON: And what were they doing?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We gave the voice (ph) the song because we can control them so far, and we gave them the song, and we just set a slow dance.

WATSON: What happened to you? I heard that you were beaten by one of the security forces.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, they said run. I said, "I can't run. How can I run? It's so crowded in here." And then he hits me. (INAUDIBLE) He was so big and I said, "You are going to hit me?" and he said, "Yes," and then he hit me.

WATSON: At Shiraz (ph) University this week, riot police clubbed women dressed in black robes. A man yells, "Don't beat them, you bastards." The women stands their ground. Many Iran experts aren't surprised.

BADI BADIOZAMANI, IRAN EXPERT: We have a saying, or a name for them. (SPEAKING IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE.) Lioness. Lion woman.

WATSON: At least one of these women has paid the ultimate price for her defiance. A woman now known as Neda, felled by a bullet on the front line.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOLMES: That's our Ivan Watson. He's been keeping an eye on things over at our International Desk. Any word of protests today, as well, and how did those work out?

WATSON: We have heard of an attempt at holding a memorial service for the women killed on Saturday, Neda, in a central square in Tehran, and a very large force of Iranian security forces break up hundreds of people who tried to show up for that memorial service.

HOLMES: Ivan, and also a lot of these that you've been watching, a lot of these protests that you talk about there in your piece. What is it about these protests, these demonstrations -- women, young women, seems to be so emboldened?

WATSON: It's very interesting to see that women are in the front line and you talk on my previous reporting trips to Iran, it's been interesting to see how forceful Iranian women can be. I've been a at a woman's protest for women's equal rights in Tehran, actually, and I've watched how intimidating the security forces can be. How they film the demonstrators, how they block view of demonstrators from passing pedestrians and cars. They park buses and cars in front.

And despite that, I remember watching about a hundred people holding a sit-in on the sidewalk. Women chanting, calling for equal rights in Tehran, in Iran, and of course, the rules there are that they have wear Islamic clothes, they have wear an overcoat and to cover their hair and have very different rights, according to the law. They are not equal to men. In divorce cases, for instance, very difficult for them to get equal and fair representation, T.J.

HOLMES: Ivan Watson keeping an eye on things, we appreciate you. Stay with us. We'll be talking about gas prices. Yes. You've seen a bit of a break today, but when will we see a significant drop?

Stay with us.

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HOLMES: And again, we asked you a little bit ago for your comments and asked you to go to our blog, CNN.com/NEWSROOM. The question today was, "What should the U.S. do?" There's a lot of debate out there about what the U.S. response should be, and some criticize the president for not taking a stronger stance and showing more support for the Iranian people.

This is what some of you are saying. One from Zach said, "Don't do anything. It looks like the Iranian government is going to collapse on its own. Any interference will undermine the actions of the people of Oran." And another here, kind of in contrast to that one. William saying, "I thought America stood for more than this. I am ashamed of our government and the people who stand by while innocent people get killed. How can people just turn their head when these people asked for our help?"

Also, another from Lawson, saying, "I think we need to be careful and not get too involved too quickly. We have troops in two countries and a possible threat from North Korea already." We appreciate you. CNN.com/newsroom. Participate in that blog. Answer that question. A lot of people chiming in today. A quick break. We'll be right back.

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HOLMES: Well, there's been a lot of speculation out there about will he or won't he run for governor of California? Well, we will get an answer today. And who's going to get it? Our Wolf Blitzer on THE SITUATION ROOM today. The L.A. mayor, Antonio Villaraigosa, will announce whether he will run for governor of California. It's coming your way today, 4:00 Eastern time, 1:00 Pacific time, in THE SITUATION ROOM.

First, they started making you pay to check bags. Then they started charging you for soft drinks. Now we'll tell you how else airlines are make looking to make you pay.

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HOLMES: All right. In your "Energy Fix" today, we are talking about gas prices. They might not be so painful for you today. Just as prices have finally gone back just a bit. Allison Costic has our "Energy Fix" today. It's back a little bit. When is it going to go back a lot?

ALLISON COSTIC, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, first of all, you're not going to notice a huge price break. But after rising for 54 days in a row, we're finally seeing gas prices take a bit of a breather. AAA says the national average is now at $2.69 a gallon. That's down three-tenths of a cent from yesterday. Prices have been rising steadily since the end of April, when the national average price was $2.05. California and Hawaii still have gasoline above $3 a gallon. South Carolina and Missouri have the cheapest gas at $2.51 a gallon. T.J.?

HOLMES: Allison, it's the summer driving season, even though summer just officially started not long ago, but everybody wondering, the peak. This is probably not it.

COSTIC: You're exactly right, T.J. It's too soon to call a one- day turnaround a trend. But it's certainly a good sign. Gas prices typically peak around the Fourth of July holiday. One analyst we spoke to said he's hopeful we've just seen a Father's Day peak, and the prices will decline by 25 or 30 cents a gallon for the rest of the summer. Oil prices are also coming down from recent highs and that's going to help, too. T.J.?

HOLMES: Is it going to hurt, what we're seeing happening in Iran?

COSTIC: So far, there hasn't been much impact but if the situation gets more violent and production is threatened, that can certainly change. Iran is the second-biggest OPEC country, producing 4.2 million barrels of oil per day. And so far, there's no indication the unrest will threaten the Iranian oil exports, but as long as the unrest continues, the oil market will remain on edge. T.J., back to you.

HOLMES: Alison Costic for us with our "Energy Fix," thank you so much.

COSTIC: Sure.

HOLMES: Meanwhile, a lot of you are flying somewhere this summer, I'm sure. So make sure you check out the fine print on your ticket. The extra fees for checking your bag -- that was just the beginning of this, folks. Stephanie Elam will tell us what else you may be paying for without even knowing it.

STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: T.J., airlines are nickel and diming people to their destinations, for sure. After fuel prices surged last summer, the airlines began looking for way to charge fliers for things that used to be basic services. Back then, passengers resisted fair hikes, so the airlines had to get creative. And that's let to a la carte pricing. Here are a few examples that the airlines have implemented.

If you wish to book online for Allegiant Air, which is a small, regional carrier, you'll have to cough up $13.50. If you like the exit row on Air Tran, that'll be an extra 20 bucks. On many of the carriers, if you book your flight in person or over the phone, you can expect to hand over between $10 and $45.

There really are a myriad of ways the airlines can make money off these fees. Let's take a look at United. They made $259 million dollars in the first quarter just from these fees. Revenue fees from passengers rose 60 percent during that period. That means passengers are paying $14 in fees a flight. And if these revenues continue at this pace, United could rack up about a billion dollars in revenues just from fees this year alone.

Usually, one airline launches a new fee, and if flyers don't revolt, the fees stick and then other airlines follow their lead. And here are a couple of ideas if you want to avoid these fees. You could, one, consider joining an airline's loyalty program. Fees often get waived after you reach a certain level. Another option is to fly business class or first-class. Those levels of service are usually free of all of those sneaky fees. Of course, they cost a lot more to begin with. T.J.?

HOLMES: Yes, they do, Stephanie. Well, the new iPhone debuted this past weekend. Yes, another iPhone. The sales numbers are in. Once again, Susan -- no surprise here -- Apple did quite well. But do I need to go out and get an updated iPhone now? Is mine old and antiquated?

SUSAN LISOVICZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, you're a guy, and you're always on the cutting edge, T.J., so I wouldn't be surprised if you have the latest gadget. And in your pocket. It wasn't quite this spectacle, though, we've seen with previous roll-outs. Lines at stores in New York here on Friday weren't nearly as long.

The expectation was that Apple would sell about 500,000 iPhones. Well, Apple doubled that. Sold 1 million between Friday and Sunday. The Apple press release, by the way, includes a quote from Steve Jobs. He says, "Customers are voting, and the iPhone is winning. And what's notable is not the quote. It's the fact that it's coming from Steve Jobs' first time since he went on medical leave in January, T.J.

HOLMES: Yes, and that is a big deal, because so often, the success of Apple is tied to Steve Jobs, and he kind of disappeared for a while. A lot of questions about what happened to him, and news broke from "The Wall Street Journal" that he had a liver transplant.

LISOVICZ: That's right, so this quote is quite deliberate by the company. He's said to return to work this month. There is speculation that he will return part time. We certainly all wish him well. Apple shares, by the way, are down about 1 percent, and the three major averages are down at least 1.25 percent, so we're continuing the sell-off that we saw last week. T.J.?

HOLMES: All right, Susan Lisovicz, we'll have to end it there, but we'll be talking to you soon. Thank you so much. We'll have a quick break. We'll be right back.

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HOLMES: Pakistan's army says more than 500,000 people kicked out during the battle of Buner (ph) can being coming home. The army and Taliban fighters have battled over the valley for months. CNN's Nic Robertson takes us on a tour of a reclaimed city.

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NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): With a heavily-armed army escort, we're on a bone-trunching (ph) mountainous drive to Buner. We pass burnt-out wrecks. And then we are there. It looks like a paradise. But until a month ago, this district was controlled by the Taliban.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You can see for yourself that normalcy is running in the area (ph).

ROBERTSON: The government brought us here to their operation's base in the heart of Buner to show us that they are now in control. The Taliban defeated.

COLONEL NASEER JANJUA, PAKISTAN ARMY: There was about 1,000 (INAUDIBLE) which were controlling the whole Buner districts, and in the process, we (INAUDIBLE).

ROBERTSON: The message they want out once electricity is restored, the near-half million displaced from this area can return.

YAHYA AKHUNDZADA, DISTRICT COORDINATING OFFICER: The work has started on it. I've sent two teams on this side, one other team has come from that side, and once it is a short - you will see a quicker (INAUDIBLE). And you will see.

ROBERTSON: And as I asked my next question, an official, Ashazazan (ph). It is to be a high-speed tour.

(on camera): This is Soltan West (ph) the most heavily destroyed village. The army says 80 percent of the houses damaged. The reason? This is the village that put up the most resistance to the Taliban in Buner. They formed a local fighting force, a local militia.

(voice-over): The buildings are flattened, bombed by the Pakistani Air Force after the Taliban beat the militia and took control of the village. Soldiers still seem wary of villagers. The local officials say some Taliban escaped, hiding among the displaced families. The local police chief placed down the threat.

ABDUR RASHID, POLICE CHIEF, SULTAN WAS: They may be come back, but they have been identified. Now they are exposed. They are exposed to the people and they are exposed to the land (INAUDIBLE). ROBERTSON: As our trip continues, from what we see, apart from Sultan Was, most villages escape major damage. A few close to big army posts, are even returning to normal life. But not all.

(on camera): So this is the place where the Taliban first took control in Buner. Pier Barbar, a very religious place. They were wandering around with their weapons, and it really set the tone for the beginning of the control of this area.

Inside, the Taliban damaged the shrine, a relatively easy repair to make. Outside on the streets, the fix may be harder. Not just convincing people that it's safe to return to all the villages here, but stopping the Taliban from winning influence over villages as they did before.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It is very important because without giving them all of the facilities, the people feel more -- I guess, the government.

ROBERTSON (voice-over): The stakes could not be higher. Across the country the offensive against the Taliban is widening, getting returns right in Buner will impact way beyond the secluded valley.

Nic Robertson, CNN, Buner, Pakistan.

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HOLMES: Coming up, our coverage of Iran continues. And other major developments today. Other major stories. Also expecting to hear from the president in the next coming hours. His remarks on health care. You'll hear that at noon. For now, I'm T.J. Holmes. CNN NEWSROOM continues right now with Tony Harris.