earlier today, doctors performed an occupancy on moammar gadhafi's body, confirming that he died of a gunshot wound to the head. reuters reports he also had a bullet in the abdomen. thank you so much for watching "state of the union." i'm candy crowley in washington. for more "state of the union" including exclusive content and analysis go to our website cnn.com/sotu. up next for our viewers in the u.s., "fareed zakaria gps." welcome to a special edition of "gps" the global public square. i'm fareed zakaria, coming to you today from tehran, the capital of iran, a place few journalists are given access to. this hour, one on one with president mahmoud ahmadinejad on his turf. we're in iran at a crucial point, the islamic republic currently faces serious charges from the united states that it has plotted to assassinate the saudi ambassador to the u.s. i will press president

ahmadinejad on this issue. we are also here, of course, just days after the death of another enemy of the united states, moammar gadhafi, and i'll ask the iranian president for his thoughts on the leader's demi demise. we are also witnessing serious internal tensions inside iran as the president appears locked in a powerful struggle with other powerful forces in the regime, perhaps the most powerful of all, the supreme leader. meanwhile, economic sanctions against iran appear to be having an effect, and the country is dismannedling many of its subsidies. and while the winds of change are blowing through the arab world today they have bypassed iran as the regime has been able to crush the opposition green movement. this makes iran less attractive as a model for millions of young middle easterners as they seek greater representation and voice. america's relations with iran remain deeply troubled. the two countries haven't had

diplomatic relations since 1979 and the islamic revolution. from america's point of view, in those last 32 years, iran has done everything it could to upset the west. its president, mr. ahmadinejad talked about wiping israel off the map. it is pursuing nuclear technology and nuclear weapons technology. iran has thwarted american plans in iraq by funding militias and politicians there. it supports hezbollah, and stood by syria even as the assad regime brutally cracked down on protesters. from iran's point of view, well, you're going to hear iran's point of view from its president, mahmoud ahmadinejad. let's get started. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com welcome to our viewers and welcome, president ahmadinejad. thank you for joining us.

let me begin with something that's fresh in the news. president obama has said that all american troops will be out of iraq by the end of the year. in light of this announcement, will your government increase its efforts to train the iraqi army, since there will be a need in iraq for training and support, will the iranian government be providing greater support in that area? >> translator: i think this is going to be a very good. >> maybe seven or eight years ago, would avoid killing so many iraqi people or americans as well. i think they should have done it much earlier, but the people in the iraqi government did not

accept the increased presence of the americans. the iraqi government is independent and sovereign. they should decide how to provide for the military personnel. we should wait for the position of the iraqi government. >> do you expect that iran's engagement and involvement with the iranian government will now increase as a result of the american withdrawal? >> i don't think there is going to be any change. we have a special relationship with iraq. there's a historical relationship between the two governments. we have a friendly, amicable relationship with the iraqi people. there was a war between the two nations, but that wasn't able to

disturb the relationship. >> moammar gadhafi is dead. what is your reaction to the news of his death? >> the -- it was no different. freedom and respect to people, this is the right of all nations. of course, we feel sorry people are being killed. i wish everybody would respect justice and freedom and there would be no need for any conflict or clash. in the beginning, we recommended a dialogue between the two sides and all parties, but they did not pay attention to our recommendations. and of course, nato intervention

was effective in exacerbating the conflict. >> you say the will of the people should prevail everywhere. but in syria, the government is engaging in a brutal crackdown, even a massacre. turkey which has been very friendly to syria and to the assad regime has broken with the regime and now has publicly called for president assad to step down. will you add your voice and call on the assad regime to step down and listen to the will of the people? >> we have friendly relations with both turkey and syria. our policy is dependent. we think we should respect the independence and sovereignty of all nations of everywhere in the world, in the united states, in

europe. our teams must sit and reach an understanding. there should be no intervention from outside or interfering neither from nato. >> mr. president, you make it sound like the two sides are equal. in fact, what is happening in syria is not that there are protesters are killing security forces, the vast majority of death of the security forces killing innocent men, women and children. surely, this is something you should condemn clearly and not say both sides are to blame. if justice and freedom are the goal, it is important the president assad hear your message. >> yes. justice dictates that nobody should kill the other. nobody, nobody, nobody has the right to kill others.

you know, the governments ignore the opponents. we are going to make greater efforts to encourage both the government of syria and the other side, all parties to reach an understanding. but i think and we believe that there should be no interference from outside. positions of the united states are not going to help. they have never helped. they could do things better in libya, for example. from the beginning, there should be an international team to mediate in order to encourage all parties to reach an understanding. but nato has ambitions in libya. they wanted the oil resources in libya. there was no need to kill so many people. this is the situation in syria,

too. >> there's a lot more of my interview with president ahmadinejad to come. up next, they plotted to kill the saudi ambassador to washington. what does iran say. you'll find out. what about the economy? what about our planet? [announcer:] at conocophillips, we're helping power america's economy with cleaner, affordable natural gas. more jobs. less emissions. a good answer for everyone. so with affordable energy that we can get to safely... we could afford to eat out more often. our daughter likes my cooking. don't you lori... lori? [announcer:] conocophillips. don't♪ ou lori... lori? we're centurylink... a new kind of broadband company committed to providing honest, personal service from real people...

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i tell you what i can spend. i do my best to make it work. i'm back on the road safely. and i saved you money on brakes. that's personal pricing. we're back with more of my interview with president ahmadinejad. i am going to ask about the plot to kill the saudi ambassador. one point. washington alleges that iran's revolutionary guard puts forth foreign expeditionary force involved, and the head of that force. >> let me ask you about the

controversy regarding the assassination plot. have you talked to general, the heads of the quds force and tell us that he personally assured you there was no involvement? >> look into the problems or issue. claims of the united states has been continuing for more than 33 years, and they create a different problem. they created a nuclear issue. they create and say such things. we need really to kill the ambassador of a brotherly country, what is the reason and the interest behind that? we are a civilized nation. we have a strong logic. and with this strong logic, we

talk to all nations. we never had any intention to hurt saudi arabia. do we really want to do it in the united states? and is that the way really? >> if i may, mr. president, have you spoke tone the general, has he assured you? >> i don't need to talk about it. >> you haven't talked to him. >> there is no need to do it. because we have heard many similar things from united states. the whole world says that the people are wise and we should see the motives in united states. >> but president ahmadinejad, you have seen your man who

leads, you have seen the wikileaks cables, cables from the u.s. ambassador in saudi arabia quoting the king of saudi arabia, urging the united states to attack iran and to quote, unquote chop off the head of the snake. this is not something the u.s. is asking, this is something the saudi government is saying because of their concerns about iranian influence and its nuclear program. >> translator: look, i think the information that is being published is a planned work. we are not going to make policies based on this information. we should receive information from reliable sources. we have no problem with the governments of the region.

and we know that these problems are being provoked by outside forces. we do not recognize the zionist regime because this regime is basically illegitimate. we have no problems of the people of the united states. we love them. we have problems with the government of the united states. what are the american bases doing in our region? during the current year, they made military contact amounting to $90 billion with the countries of the region. and united states is doing a very ugly thing. they are sending so much money for these military bases, they can spend this money for the american unemployed. have more than 1,000 billions of

dollars for military budget. if they spend this money for the american economy, which is necessary for the people to go to wall street? >> for the arab spring, iran was widely loved in the arab world. the poll showed that. in the last poll, iran's standing dropped to 14% because i think you are seeing support in syria as it brutalized its people. you have the longest serving leader in the middle east. the supreme leader has been there for decades. iran standings. this is not my opinion. >> translator: if you want to put an end for me to that dialogue. objective and tactical experiment. president obama and european

leaders, whoever. those who claim to be the best. they can come with me. we should go together to any country they wish without any security guards. and we join hands and we go to the streets and then we will wait for the people. there is no need for any polling, there is no need for any media campaign. and we just wait for the people to show, to see their views and their reactions from japan, from the united states to indonesia.

the french president, british prime minister, any of them, especially in arab countries. let's go together. they can also set the time and determine. we go together. we will see how the people react. >> we'll be back later in the show with more of my interview with president ahmadinejad. what in the world is that message? who wrote the best selling book in iran. ahmadinejad, the supreme leader? think again, you'll be surprised. we're centurylink ... we're committed to improving lives and linking americans to what matters most with honest, personal service...

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welcome back. it is time for what in the world segment. guess which author has the top selling book around here? everyone seems to want a copy. the supreme leader has a new book out with a catchy title,

movement of science production, but interest is lukewarm. it isn't mr. ahmadinejad either. it is not any iranian at all. it is a columbian. he hasn't published a book in years. back in 1996, he wrote this book called news of a kidnapping. you won't find it in bookstore shelves in iran. most places are all sold out. rumors floated for weeks the book has been banned, but any ban that might have been in place was lifted earlier this week. we had a hard time finding this copy for ourselves. what in the world is going on? he is an opposition leader here. he ran against president ahmadinejad in 2009 and led the protesters after the election. he gained international fame as the leader of the green movement. he has been under house arrest

since february. in a recent meeting with his daughters, he compared his detention to marquez's account of abduction by a drug cartel in columbia. news of it spread and just like that, news of a kidnapping went viral. what does this say about iran and the aspirations of the iranian people? best evidence by a u.n. report on human rights in iran. shows how at that ran mastered the art of suppressing dissent. hundreds of activists and journalists and students are arrested for taking part in demonstrations since the 2009 green movement. more than 200 executions have been officially announced this year. barring china, no other country meets out the death penalty more often. why aren't we seeing push back? it is the year of the arab spring. where are iran's protesters? one answer could be that at that ran learned its lesson from

2009. now it crushes the first sign of dissent. also known from watching the arab spring it won't let hundreds of people gather in public places. syria and libya tried that, too. what is different here is that iranians are not arabs. many don't like the phrase arab revolution. you see the word revolution in tehran, brings back memories of 1979, the year the shah was overthrown. a time when iranians felt they could recreate their country. it was an iranian spring. it was their revolution. and it went south. 32 years on, iran is a great civilization, but with a political system that seems to fail the aspirations of many of its people. as a country, it is viewed with suspicion around the world and increasingly in the region. it is subject to the most

stringent international sanctions. internally, clearly there is suppression and discontent. and even if iranians were to revolt once more, what is it they would want. what is the alternative to the current movement? will people support that alternative? is it likely to be better? those are the questions that iranians grapple with. there isn't a simple answer. the one lesson i learned from watching countries like iran that are distant, complex, often closed to outsiders is to be careful in drawing grand conclusions about the regime. clearly iranians support the regime for reasons of religious loyalty and belief and because they get tangible material rewards from it. others fear it. still others are waiting for the opportunity to reform or even replace it. the people who can read marquez obviously don't make for

majority, but they are surely a sign of a country where people are gasping for freedom. back in a moment from tehran with more of my interview with iran's president, ma mud ahmadinejad. >> they have no religion. religion is wealth and money. ra- from accounting. peter. i can see that you're busy... but you were gonna help us crunch the numbers for accounts receivable today. i mean i know that this is important. well, both are important. let's be clear. they are but this is important too. [ man ] the receivables. [ male announcer ] michelin knows it's better for xerox to help manage their finance processing. so they can focus on keeping the world moving. with xerox, you're ready for real business. [ inner voice ] establish connection. give me voice control. applications up. check my email and text messages. hands in position. airbags.

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now a wrap of the morning's top stories. a 6.6 magnitude earthquake hit turk near the border of iraq and iran. the mayor of a town says there are no casualties there. there are some in a small rural community. secretary of state hillary clinton responded in the state of the union to mahmoud ahmadinejad's interview. >> iran would be badly miscalculating if they did not look at the entire region and all of our presence in many countries in the region, both in bases, in training, with nato allies like turkey, so i'm used to the president of iran saying

all kinds of things, but i think it's important to set the record straight. >> those are your top stories. we are back with more of my interview with iran's president, mahmoud ahmadinejad. we talk about two of the most vexing issues that stand between iran and the west. iran's nuclear program and its human rights. >> let me ask you about a weapons program that is alleged to be being pursued by iran, not the united states, that is the nuclear weapons program. a senior official at the iaea, european, not an american, and a gentleman who says just to make clear what his basic position is, he says military action

against iran would be insane, but he says that iran has tricked and mislead the iaea at every stage. he believes you have been unable to prove the core issue the iaea is interested in, which is that you have a peaceful program and not the military program. this is a european who thinks that any military action against iran is insane, yet he's saying that your government has simply tricked and mislead them and is unwilling to provide assurances. how do you respond? >> translator: making claims against iran is again united states and its allies. we have already expressed our views about nuclear bombs. we said those who are seeking to build nuclear bombs or those who stock pile, they are politically

retarded. we think they are stupid because the arab nuclear bombs is over. all nuclear facilities in iran are being monitored by the iaea. go and see for yourself. the cameras have been installed. they continue inspections. for example, they want to come and check my office. or they may want to inspect all the facilities in the country. who is going to allow that? this government in the world would allow this? is that in the statutes of the iaea? >> the reason is there's a history of not being fully honest with the iaea. that's why the safeguard says iran tricked and mislead the

iaea. the reactor was only developed by counter intelligence. when they come to the facilities, they can only come into the facilities they know about. there's a whole set of facilities that might exist that they don't know about, just like that facility. >> translator: that is a false claim. they have checked our documents and they have confirmed all the evidence iran has provided. i ask a question. if you are not against the policies of the united states, and if you are an ally of the united states or permanent member of the security council, would the agency talk about iran in this way? that is clear. whoever is against the policies of the united states is either a

terrorist or it is going to create a nuclear bomb, or it is against human rights, or it is a dictator. they must accept the era of colonialism is over. >> i want to be clear on the nuclear issue. katherine ashton says negotiations could begin within weeks. is your government ready with your proposal and do you welcome negotiations? >> translator: certainly we are ready. certainly. we are always ready. and certainly we are going to talk about new proposals. we think dialogue is the solution. >> you have said there are no political prisoners in iran. the u.n. human rights report just suggested otherwise. what we do know is that leaders of the green movement, the people that ran against you, are

essentially under house arrest and have not been heard from. i guess my specific question is while i'm in iran, could i meet with the man that ran against you at president who appears to be under house arrest? >> translator: in iran we do not have political prisoners. the government has never arrested and imprisoned people. they are against government but they have never been imprisoned based on complaints of the government. we have an independent judicial system independent from government and that system is not under the influence of the government. >> so could i meet him? >> translator: let me speak.

it is not under the influence of the government. i cannot give orders that you should do this or that. >> what is he even charged with? it is not clear he committed any crimes. he is under house arrest for political reasons. >> translator: i am not in charge, i am not in charge of the judiciary. these are your claims. explanation should come from the judiciary. we should see what the speaker of the judiciary says. i am not a judge and a judge does not receive orders from me. >> your chief of staff has spoken a great deal about iran's pre-islamic past and said iran should be proud of it. are you proud of iran's pre-islamic history? >> translator: always proud of our history. iran has always been the center of friendship and civilization.

>> your chief of staff also said iran is friendly toward all people of the world, including the israelis. do you believe iran should be friendly to the israeli people? >> translator: everywhere, ordinary people, what problems do they have? from the very beginning, they're against zionists. zionists are neither christians or jewish. they have no religion. religion is wealth and money. >> but what do you mean by that? every person in israel is by definition a zionist because they believe in a state for the jewish people. >> translator: no. no. si zionism is a complicated, terrible party. and to most they have 10,000

members, and 2,000 main members. >> what does it mean to you? what does zionism mean? you say only 10,000 people in israel are zionists? >> translator: no, i don't say they are all there. most of them are in europe, some are in the united states. and it constitutes a racist group. and consider themselves superior to others. >> you think most aren't zionists in the sense you mean it? >> translator: there's a large number of people who were brought from other countries. they had no job. no house. they were promised to have jobs and housing. recently we saw a few hundred, thousands of people stage a demonstration against the

zionists. and if the zionists allow, we can see them in stations everywhere there. >> sounds like you're saying iran could have peaceful relations with israel if it adopted policies that you appreciate? >> translator: zionists should go away and they should allow people to choose themselves. if the people of palestine have the right for self determination, that will be fine. but the palestinian people have been denied the right to self determination. that is clear. the regime has been created to dominate the region. because the regime has been created to secure the interests of some people in the united

states and in europe. >> we'll talk about external challenges. next up, we'll talk about perhaps his greatest challenges, which are internal, coming up next. [ engine revs ]

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challenges. perhaps the biggest ones are internal. they seek to block and limit his power. often in recent months, they seem to have the support of the supreme leader, who some may recent ahmadinejad's street popularity. >> president ahmadinejad, may i ask you about something going on in your country. your supreme leader just gave a statement that perhaps iran does not need a president and that it would be possible to imagine just having a parliamentary system with the prime minister. that would seem to be an attack

on you. >> translator: that's not my understanding. there has been academic discussions and this question was asked by some and he provided this answer. we have this mechanism in our constitution that things may change. i think there is no problem with that. >> but if one were to look at the context in which these things are happening, you are president of the country, yet you have not been able to appoint your own intelligence minister. you tried to appoint a foreign minister, you had difficulties getting your own way. you, yourself said at one point there are the red lines that if they are crossed, you will respond. isn't it time for you to

respond? >> translator: you see, presidents in all parts of the world can make decisions by themselves. there are limits everywhere. legal limits and nonlegal limits. do you think president obama can do anything he wants? certainly he cannot. we have not reached a real justice anywhere in the world. nowhere in the world. show me one place in the world where a perfect justice prevails. of course, i have serious opponents. that is clear. there are people against us and most of them are politicians, but the people always, our

people have always welcomed understanding and dialogue. >> let me ask you about the issue of corruption. you have a reputation in iran that you are not a corrupt man, and in fact that's been one of the reasons you had a certain support, that unlike the old guard, you were seen as clean as we say in the united states. but now there are serious charges against your chief of staff involving billions of dollars. do you think this is an effort by your opponents to discredit you? >> translator: i think some of them are political matters. the government is clean. none of the members in the government have ever participated in such

corruptions. there might be some political competitions. judiciary will see to that and there will be no accusation against the government. >> can i ask you one more question? he's the boss. when the islamic republic took over in iran, on almost every social and economic measure, iran and turkey were the same. today, turkey has moved so far ahead on every economic measure, on every social measure, isn't that a judgment of history on the success of the islamic republic of iran? >> translator: there are different conditions. of course, we will be very happy to see turkey developing. we are not against that. we would be happy to see our

countries to develop. but turkey has not experienced an eight year imposed war. and turkey has never experienced decades of sanctions. in some parts, we are ahead of turkey. turkey has more than $300 billion of foreign debt. and iran almost nothing. and scientifically, we have progressed. but we never compare our situation with turkey. we are building our nation. we are going to develop our economy. and the future belongs to us. >> president ahmadinejad, thank you very much. back in a moment with my

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[♪...] >> announcer: now get a $250 airfare credit, plus save up to 65%. call 1-800-sandals. certain restrictions apply. we are back from tehran. in place of our usual closing segment, i thought i would give you some of my impressions of tehran, iran, iranians. i thought it might add some color to the picture you may have of iran. it is a big, sprawling city of 8

million people, nestled in a semi arab plain in the shadow of the mountains behind me. the highest peaks of the mountains are snow capped with a well known ski resort that the iranians ski. my first impression of tehran was of cleanliness. it is a remarkably clean city for one in the developing world. certainly a far cry from the chaos of cairo, for example. the streets are swept daily, garbage is picked up daily. traffic in the city is terrible. but that's largely a consequence of a growing middle class that buys more cars each year. the city has a large network of roads and highways, public buses and underground metro, all effective and clean. the overall impression is of order. iranians i spoke with said it is attributable to iranian fetish with cleanliness and order, some credit to city government. remember the last mayor of tehran is currently the president of iran, and the

current mayor of tehran is reported to eye the presidency as well. tehran is a bustling cosmopolitan city, from the shops of every kind that dot neighborhoods, you have seen iranians doing business. because of sanctions, you see very few western. every store and boutique has a local name with local products. there are some exceptions. coca-cola is here as it is everywhere. one of the other effects of sanctions has been that larger and larger parts of the economy are now controlled by iran's revolutionary guard, elite corp of the armed forces. they don't like the sanctions and isolation from the world, but they are also a nationalistic people and seem to resent that they, ordinary people, pay the price for the actions of their government. women in iran are covers from head to toe as you know, but

somehow iran's women managed to take this restriction and turn it into a fashion statement. you see highly tailored outfits. women in iran are educated, well integrated into society. you watch them driving cars to work, you are reminded women in iran are considerably more liberated than women in saudi arabia. the talk of the people i met with, the political chatter, was of the risk between ahmadinejad and the supreme leader. what is hard for most westerners to understand is that in this debate in iran, ahmadinejad is the moderate. he has been trying to clip the wings of the clergy, he advocated loosening some restrictions on women, allowing them to attend football games, for example. he speaks as you heard of iran's pr