host: headlines in newspapers around the world continue to talk about the conflict going on in iran over the election that just took place. we want to talk to you specifically about how the election will put the u.s. in a tough position regarding its nuclear situation, iran's nuclear situation. we will look at some headlines and stories about the u.s. response. does the iranian election but the u.s. in a tough position? for republicans, 202-737-0001. hoffor democrats, 202-737-0002. for independents, 202-737-0205. here is a selection of some of

the headlines in this morning's papers. in "the new york times," "wide reverberations as the door slams on the hope of change." "results spurred charges that leaders stole presidential vote." "fraud alleged, mahmoud ahmadinejad one big but his foes are not buying it." on the front page of "the washington times," "turmoil over the results." you can see one of the candidates, covering his head with a scarf as others set fire on the streets on saturday. here is one of the stories that we are looking at with regards to the nuclear situation.

the headline, "obama administration officials say that efforts to engage iran will move forward. and for the united states, the larger problem is that while the dialogue has been frozen, iranian nuclear programs have moved ahead this month. iran has built and installed 7200 centrifuges to enrich uranium and as quickly adding to its stock of nuclear fuel. now the administration faces a vexing choice. it can continue to demand that iran give up its enrichment capabilities, still the official position of the united states, or it can tacitly accept that iran is not going to stop in reaching. in the end, there is an imperative to try to establish

an engagement, according to an american official. we would certainly give them time provided that iran did not use the time to work toward a nuclear bomb." we want to know what you think. our first call comes from georgia. diane, democratic line. good morning. caller: good morning. this is actually california. mountains of san diego county. we are a historical site in the mountains. your question, can you repeat it? host: does the iranian election put the u.s. in a tough position regarding development of nuclear weapons and nuclear energy in iran? >> -- caller: absolutely. not just because of the election that just occurred. this is something that has been ongoing since before the administration took office.

we had it during the clinton era and the bush era. number one, iran is linked to venezuela, cuba, castro, the new president in cuba. when you look at ahmadinejad, you look at him during a photo op, he actually calls bush the devil, challenging him at the united nations. this is just another country where the man is a puppet. i do not know a lot about his opponent. i knew none know a lot about him. i know that he represents the people, which is why we are obviously having a lot of

uprisings over there. all that it is is that it is more photo ops. we have enough issues around the world right now. we went to the united nations, as i remember, to get a resolution. i have yet to hear that publicly put out so that everybody hears about it. host: so, moving forward, how do you suggested the united states handle this situation, assuming that mahmoud ahmadinejad will retain his presidency? caller: #1, we have hillary clinton as the secretary of state. she is powerful, but she needs to act. president obama needs to give her more leverage so that she can act with these countries. we need more support from allied countries as well. nato and united nations

affiliate's. we need that to back them up. we need to get more stern in the nuclear area over there. we need to get inspectors to find out what he is doing and not allow this to continue. host: thank you, secretary. the secretary of state, in canada, made remarks over the weekend. "we obviously hope that the outcome reflects the genuine will and desire of the iranian people." back to the phones and our discussion around the iranian election and the position that the united states has been put in. especially with regards to the nuclear situation. georgia, republican line. go ahead. caller: the media had it like ahmadinejad was going to lose.

he won in a landslide. obama said that they should be able to make their own nuclear power? that there should be to states in israel and palestine? let's go by what he says pertaining to this. the reason that ahmadinejad won in a landslide, you know that iraq had no bombs or anything? we preemptively attack of them and killed millions of their people. he is popular among his people because he is standing up, otherwise we will do the same thing to him. let's do what obama says and let them have nuclear power. thank you. host: baltimore, good morning. caller: good morning. i want to ask the public a question. if a foreign power invaded canada and mexico, two of our bordering countries, what with the united states do?

iran is in the same situation. we invaded iraq and afghanistan , but both border iran. what is the iranian government to do? they have to have some method from deterring the united states from invading them. that could be a very popular point of view. so, you cannot really blame iran for attempting to have some kind of a power against the united states. host: if we go with your notion that this is a defensive posture, how do we go about assuring them that we are not going to attack them and that they do not necessarily need this defensive mechanism? caller: showed genuine intent to

leave these countries. leaving them in a better state than we found them. that is the only thing that we can do. we need to leave iraq better than we left it. we have to leave afghanistan better than we left it. that is the only thing that we can do. host: if you want to send us comments on twitter, the address is twitter.com/c-spanwj. the address for the e-mail is a journal@c-span.org. democratic line, good morning. keith. caller: i do not think that the iranian administration has put the obama administration in any kind of problem. the iranian government is the one that is in trouble with its people. i think that obama is a pragmatist. he needs to do like george bush,

obama will deal with them the way that they are. it is funny how the state of israel quickly jumped up and made a statement that they were basically glad that the election had turned out this way because they want an enemy, because they want to do what they want to do, which is bomb them. they were quick to bump -- jump on the situation. iran threw a monkey wrench in the plans, they should have had a fair election. host: this is from "the washington times." the world reacts cautiously to the ahmadinejad election. "it world weary of iran's nuclear program reacted cautiously saturday to hard-line leader mahmoud ahmadinejad's hotly disputed re-election. some expressed hope that the

islamic republic's president will soften his defiance and warm cheap recent u.s. overtures. for the volatile middle east and the west alike, the stakes are high. allies fear that iran is trying to build an atomic weapon." barbara, texas, republican line. you are on "washington journal." caller: i think that this has put the united states in a tough position, but i think that obama has put the united states in a disastrous position. if you are going to be a paper tiger like president obama, that is why north korea is stretching its muscles now. god only knows what iran is going to do now that we have president obama in office. at least president bush did not have north. doing what it is doing in iran,

you know -- doing. and iran, you know? you cannot do this from the point of view of negotiations. host: what would you advise the president to do to change his status as a paper tiger? caller: they are terrorists. he needs to label them. he has been calling them people something other than terrorists. label them what they are, terrorists. no. 2, when you say that you are going to do something, follow through. no. 3, he has got to learn to negotiate -- learn to not negotiate with terrorists. remember when we were fighting the british and they would all stand up and we would shoot bali's back and forth?

our guys protected themselves behind trees. you have got to learn different schemes of battle. i think that he is a paper tiger and he will not follow through. he has no leadership and i do not see anything. he has not followed through on promises from the campaign trail. host: this week, -- we have this tweet, "iran is a sovereign nation, it has a right to defend itself." brookings, south dakota. bernard, what are your thoughts? caller: i think that the reelection of ahmadinejad pushed the united states on to a stronger footing. this is the time to isolate

iran. i think that what obama should do is get all the allies, india, china, russia, and take it straight to ahmadinejad that we will not allow iran to have nuclear bombs. i think that if the united states -- there is no way that ahmadinejad can be stronger. host: how would bring together an alliance with other countries around the world force the running in's hands -- iranian's hands? caller: they can do this politically. if the european union in the

united states can have some options in terms of economic prosperity, it will force the iranians to tell ahmadinejad that we do not want you in power. host: hit them in the pocketbook and it will change their nuclear policy? caller: yes. host: pa., tom, democratic line. go ahead. caller: i have noticed that nobody is really saying anything about this. what about people realizing that obama will not always be in the white house? for instance, many people might realize -- think about how different the last administration is, goals and ideals? some people, like the republicans, are so afraid if he is going to centralize the government and business, maybe because they realize that while he has good intentions, the

administration that comes afterwards might not. i feel that a lot of people in iran feel very similar about relations with us. they do not want to get to close because they are afraid of getting screwed over later on. host: you think that the way to deal with iran is to have more consistency in u.s. foreign policy? caller: i think that that is one of the things that we could do, one of the very important things. host: more from secretary of state clinton, who was at a news conference in canada yesterday. "we are monitoring the situation as it unfolds in iran. we, like the rest of the world, are waiting and watching to see what the people decide." back to the phones. anna? washington journal, go ahead.

caller: i was calling because what i think should happen is the american people, i could have sworn that the administration and hillary clinton wanted us to go in and help if there was an uprising to take the government back from ahmadinejad. i do not think that he won the election. i think that we should have the people be able to get the president in that we want. host: you think the united states should go in and try to overturn the election? caller: over to -- overturned ahmadinejad while the people are at it. it seems that a lot of people are rising up against them, more so than i have seen. host: what you think the response would have been in 2000 if somebody tried to overturn the results of our own disputed

2000 election? caller: well, we are not that kind of a country, though. we do not cut people off from the rest of the world. host: another twitter frothat ss "we have heard this drumbeat of mushroom clouds and wmd's before. i do not buy it." north dakota, good morning. caller: i just wanted to first thank you for this discussion. for understanding that there are people dying in to run right now. they tried, not because they

love him, but because they want a leader to help not because of the weapon. sorry that i am shaking right now. somebody, please, many people have died. i just want to tell the american people to hear the young voices from iran. they hate the regime, they hate

ahmadinejad. that is why we were the symbol. they were better than the worst case, which was ahmadinejad. please just hear the young people. say that please, if you hear me , do not say that you will sit at the table with ahmadinejad. host: you are originally from iran? caller: by m. i have been living in america for 10 years. i want to thank the newspapers for writing about this because

of the injured and journalist. -- injured journalist. i understand that ahmadinejad is a stupid person. he is going to attack everyone. host: what kind of contact have you had with any friends or relatives over the weekend regarding the election? caller: i have been awake for the last 48 hours because many people that did not vote, they should have quoted. the other candidate is not the best one, but he is back now.

they were talking about the students and intellectual communities. students are killed in iran and are not afraid of anything. host: you have talked to them by phone, online? how do you communicate with them? caller: it is very difficult. it is hard for them to get through on the internet and up load a video. go and see what is happening there. i am grateful to the young students. many of them are in jail for standing up for what they believe. host: thank you for your call.

texas, democratic line. caller: good morning. the headlines that you read seemed to indicate that the iranian people elected this, whatever his name is -- host: ahmadinejad. caller: that they reelected this man in a landslide. i believe that is because of two reasons. they know their history better than we've done -- we do. those people remember, the united states helped to put the criminal of the shot iran into power. he slaughtered millions of iranians. even some people from iraq. you can even go back to the 1950's, when the cia be stabilized that country's

government. they know that a lot of the stuff that we are hearing in the american papers and around the world is nothing more than a pretense. that is a sovereign state over there. these people know their history, the united states should last country in the face of the earth talking about needing to help these people with you and rights and freedoms when we helped to put the shah of iran in. when we were caught red handed killing those people, he fled the country and came here to live out the last of his life -- rest of his life. that is something to think about. host: another twitter, "i

respect you for the u.s. 2000 election analogy. it would have been comical if the iranian government said it was monitoring the u.s. election." dave, republican line. you are on. caller: i want to say that it makes it tough for the united states in a couple of ways. a lot of people do not want to except that iran, that this guy was elected. now it makes it tougher because we have painted him and his country as such a demon that we may be forced their hand to vote that way. israel may now try to put more pressure on the united states, saying that now you need to go in there. none of those seem to be good options for us.

i do not see how it makes things any easier. host: thank you for your call. this call is coming to us from tehran. are you there? caller: yes. it is insane. i am a visitor. my parents were from here, so i voted and stuff like that. this is insane. from inside of the nation, we know that 22 million votes went away from ahmadinejad. last night they cut off all of the cell phones. a bunch of my friends got. they killed some people. it is insane. do not believe the papers right now. host: how are you getting this call out? caller: through a cell phone. host: you said that they were caught off.

caller: they did that last night. i was in the streets last night. there was not 1 inch of red available, everyone was in green. all of our friends reported that they were all kicked out, the votes were not allowed to be counted. within a few hours they trapped the opposition in his house. host: what do you see on iran in television or radio? caller: nothing. at 10:00 p.m. they declared the winner before any votes were counted. the only thing shown around the world is that ahmadinejad won by an elect -- won by a landslide, but that is not the

case. they are trying to show other nations that we accept this when we do not. host: what are you going to be doing today? caller: we will be taking to the streets. they have already said four buses on fire, and protesters are still getting hit. there is a lot of clashing in the streets. host: have you found that you are being targeted by police at all? caller: by the citizens who are radical islamists. child, woman, man, they are going by and hitting people with clubs consistently. host: how long are you going to stay?

caller: i do none no, it will be difficult to leave now. this is part of my blood, my heritage and culture. host: is there a time limit on your visa, or can you stay indefinitely? caller: indefinitely, if i want to. host: how much concern to you have for your own safety? caller: if we go out for more than one second, they see us and they will come after us. police go after normal people here, just because they are part of an islamist group. host: do you see any other presence of an runyon's who live in the united states that came back for the -- presence of the iranians who live in the united states the came back for the election? election? caller: most students are in