Ahmadinejad Defends His Win; Iran and the Digital Age
DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: Good evening. I'm Don Lemon at CNN global headquarters in Atlanta. Iran is at the center of a global controversy. And uproar over who actually won its presidential election -- incumbent Mahmoud Ahmadinejad or his opponent Mir Hossein Mousavi. He hasn't been seen in public since Friday. And President Ahmadinejad is not guaranteeing his safety. In the meantime, demonstrators filled Tehran's streets and militias on motorcycles raced through the crowds, swinging clubs and forcing people to scatter. Supporters of Mousavi accused the government of rigging the election, especially after Mousavi appeared to be leading the vote count. A letter posted on Mousavi's Web site demands the election results be annulled. Right now, that doesn't seem likely, and President Ahmadinejad held a massive victory rally in Tehran today and offered his supporters a glimpse of what the next four years might be like.</s>PRES. MAHMOUD AHMADINEJAD, IRAN (through translator): Show me who dares to threaten Iran in the world. And if God willing this year, if we go to the United Nations headquarters this year, I will address those powers and I will tell them which one of you dares threaten Iran, please raise your hand so that the people cut your hand off.</s>LEMON: Well, the U.S. response so far has been muted by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. She did meet with her Canadian counterpart today at Niagara Falls. The Canadian foreign minister said Canada is deeply concerned by reports of voting irregularities in the Iranian election. The Iran election is a complicated story with many moving parts and far-reaching geopolitical consequences. CNN's global resources and correspondents are focused on every single aspect of the story to bring you the most current and important information about it, from Tehran to Washington to reaction in major cities around the world. We'll have it all covered for you this evening on CNN, two hours here tonight. Mousavi supporters are raising their voices. Ahmadinejad supporters are raising theirs. And now Ahmadinejad is finally talking, defending his win. CNN international correspondent Christiane Amanpour is in Tehran tonight.</s>CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Sunday, the streets of Tehran belonged to the supporters of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Hundreds of thousands of them filled one of the capital city's main squares and surged into the surrounding streets for a rally that was organized to celebrate Friday's elections and the results that gave him a controversial landslide victory. Overhead, helicopter footage told the story and the president told the flag-waving crowd they should be proud of their historic voter turnout and of the results.</s>AHMADINEJAD (through translator): Today, we should appreciate -- we should appreciate the great triumph of the people of Iran against the united front of all the world arrogance.</s>AMANPOUR: Just hours earlier at a press conference, he defiantly addressed the street protests and widespread complaints of fraud and cheating.</s>AHMADINEJAD (through translator): Our people's response is quite clear, and the 40 million people who participated in the elections are present right now. Close to 25 million people who cast their votes in my favor are also present right now.</s>AMANPOUR: Referring to the country's nuclear program, a combative president said no foreign power would, quote, "even dare think of bombing Iran's nuclear sites." And he warned other governments that he's watching their reaction to his re-election. Despite the huge crowds out for him this day...</s>AMANPOUR: ... angry supporters of the defeated Mir Hossein Mousavi were out again, too, in much smaller numbers, nonetheless, full of grievance. At Tehran University, students waved fists and two fingers to the locked iron gates and they yelled "cheats!" (on camera): Despite the police presence on the streets and in some areas, the running battles that they're having with the protesters, people are still allowed to be on the street. They continue to gather. There is no indication that there will be any curfew or any more stringent punishment. (voice-over): Hundreds of regular and riot police are out, but for the most part they maintain wary vigilance, charging protesters when they venture too close. But it's the nonuniformed revolutionary vigilantes on foot and in waves of motorbike advances who are causing most of the injuries. This young man shows us his baton bruises. Another weeps in fear after escaping a beating through an open door. The streets remain jammed with traffic, honking their protests. Others wave and join in from the side. This woman had a message for President Obama. "I just want him to know that this was not a vote for Ahmadinejad," she says. Despite saying he was now president of all Iranians, whether or not they voted for him, when asked, Ahmadinejad failed to guarantee Mousavi's safety. Later, police issued a statement saying they had not arrested him, and a letter on Mousavi's Web site says that he's asking the authorities to nullify the election results, while also calling on his supporters to refrain from any violence. Christiane Amanpour, CNN, Tehran.</s>LEMON: All right, we want some analysis now on all of this for what is happening in Iran. We go now to Karim Sadjadpour. He's been helping us out here on CNN. He's an associate at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and a leading expert on Iran. He joins us live from Washington. So thank you again for joining us. We've heard a lot from the opposition today and yesterday, but there are people in Iran who do support President Ahmadinejad -- Karim?</s>KARIM SADJADPOUR, ASSOCIATE, CARNEGIE ENDOWMENT FOR INTERNATIONAL PEACE: That's right, Don. I don't want to paint a black-and-white picture. President Ahmadinejad certainly has many supporters, but Mousavi, the opposition candidate, certainly has many supporters as well. And what I would tell you, Don, is that I covered Ahmadinejad's election very carefully in 2005. And he was elected on a very clear platform, which was to put the oil money on people's dinner tables, as he said. He was an economic populist. And that was his clear mandate again when he was elected. And over the last four years, Iran is probably the only major oil producer in the world whose population claims that their economic circumstances have gotten worse despite the fact that oil was at one point $150 a barrel. So I have no reason to believe that President Ahmadinejad's support would have increased the last four years despite this tremendous mismanagement of the economy.</s>LEMON: And Karim, we're hearing reports tonight and yesterday saying that, you know what, if the Supreme Leader has signed off on this and he is saying that he's going to support this, then it's a done deal unless the international community steps in and something else happens. But there's a history between Mousavi and the Supreme Leader, correct?</s>SADJADPOUR: It's a great point, Don. Mousavi was prime minister during the '80s when Ayatollah Khamenei was then president. And if fact, he was probably a more powerful prime minister. He's probably more powerful within the confines of the Islamic Republic's power structure than Khamenei was when he was president. And they're in fact related, Khamenei and Mousavi. They're distant relatives. And I think Khamenei didn't want to have a strong president. He recognized that someone like Mousavi would be a strong president, would have opposing views, and it would be more problematic for him. So most of the people I talked to in Tehran, Don, believe this was a fraudulent election. It was a power grab by Ayatollah Khamenei and was also in part orchestrated by his son.</s>LEMON: Karim, it's very interesting, the amount of attention that's being paid to this. There is -- this has touched a nerve. And some say that this is a starting point for change in Iran even though -- even if the results stay as they are now.</s>SADJADPOUR: I think that's right, Don. Even if these results are allowed to stand, a red line has been crossed in a way. I think that Ayatollah Khamenei has lost a lot of legitimacy. He's lost a lot of credibility in the eyes of people. And for the last 20 years, Don, since he's been Supreme Leader, he's had a great setup because essentially he's had power without accountability. Because the president of Iran has such a high profile both domestically and internationally, most people put the blame, whether it's economic malaise or political isolation, they put the blame on the president. If you do a Google search of Ayatollah Khamenei and you do a Google search of Ahmadinejad, Ahmadinejad has 10 times as many hits. Now I think it's becoming very clear to people that Khamenei has the power in Iran, and with power comes accountability. And I think he's really crossed a red line in the eyes of many people.</s>LEMON: All right. Karim Sadjadpour, he's an associate at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and a leading expert on Iran. We appreciate you joining us. Thank you very much.</s>SADJADPOUR: Thank you, Don.</s>LEMON: We're going to have continuing coverage of the fallout in Iran over the presidential election -- the disputed presidential election. Also, we have heard from critics of the Iranian presidential vote. But straight ahead, we'll hear from a supporter of President Ahmadinejad. A supporter of the president, tonight. And you're twittering like crazy about the Iran election fallout. We have heard a lot from you. Our inboxes are full here. Send us more. Be a part of our conversation tonight -- Twitter, Facebook, MySpace or iReport.com. We're back seconds away.