on thursday, in the regional city of mashad with a single demonstration against as you said economic hardship, especially the price of food. but overnight, it just morphed and spread like wildfire. to the capital, tehran, where crowd vandalized one of the main shopping avenues. and to dozens of smaller cities across the country which is very unusual. now the protesters are especially young people and the working poor and they're angry about everything from corruption and unemployment to lack of freedom and religious rule. the police have broken up appropriate tests here and there with water cannons. they have arrested hundred of people. but we have not yet anyway seen the kind of violent crackdown in 2009 when security forces shot and killed people in the street for protesting election results. >> liz, how have authority handled the protests this time? >> president hassan rouhani, a moderate went on television with a surprisingly measured response. he said people did have a legitimate right to protest, as long as there was no violence. now, that may have been a warning to the securit

he writes according to witnesses i spoke to the protests were initiated by in mashad by religious hardliners who sought to take advantage of the populations legitimate economic grievances to score points against the rouhani government which they consider too moderate so before we start getting behind protests in iran everybody all those people we saw it we need to figure out who actually are these protesters and how much the cia is kind of in the the scene there were guys these important questions. some say golf is for the birds and it was constant one golf course developers actually using golf to save birds according to the american bird conservancy in the united states almost three hundred of the seven hundred fifty native bird species are declining and population that's nearly thirty seven percent of the total population being sensitive to environmental and habitat changes birds are an important tool for ecologists protecting egos predicting an ecosystem development agriculture wildlife water and even tourism and the kirkland warbler has managed an impressive comeback on its onsen due to

he writes according to witnesses i spoke to the protests were initiated by in mashad by religious hardliners who sought to take advantage of the population's legitimate economic grievances to score points against the rouhani government which they consider too moderate so before we start getting behind protests in iran everybody all those people we saw we need to figure out who actually are these protesters and how much the cia is kind of in the the scene there were guys these important questions. some say golf is for the birds and it was constant one golf course developers actually using golf to save birds according to the american bird conservancy in the united states almost three hundred of the seven hundred fifty native bird species are declining and population that's nearly thirty seven percent of the total population being sensitive to environmental and habitat changes birds are an important tool for ecologists protecting eco's predicting ecosystem development agriculture wildlife water and even tourism and the kirkland warbler has managed an impressive comeback on its onsen due to cons

recent unrest at least twenty two people have died in the anti-government protests which began in mashad last thursday and then spread across the country. in a surprise move ethiopia's leader has announced plans to drop charges against political prisoners and close a notorious prison camp the prime minister high limit am at this and he says it's part of efforts to widen the democratic space for old it comes after months of anti-government protests in a romania and ammara charges will be dropped for all political prisoners on the prosecution with pardons issued to those over eighty serving sentences. norway is a banning the weapons exports to the united arab emirates over its participation in the war in yemen the u.a.e. is a key member of the saudi led coalition fighting who the rebels in the country the coalition has imposed a blockade on yemen leading to widespread food shortages and the major health crisis. north korea's leader has reopened the key cross border communication channel with south korea for the first time in nearly two years it comes after kim jong un suggested in his new

government has plenty of public support and is here to stay speaking to a crowd in the northern city of mashad even a political rival of iran's president in the last election said the predictions by force of an imminent overthrow of the government was a miscalculation. that. this crowd is glorious and meaningful when iranian people felt the footprint of the enemy they came to the scene and declared their hatred of america's zionists and all the arrogant powers. in recent days would suggest that a majority of iranians are in favor of maintaining iran's way of government especially in the face of violent instability. but they don't necessarily support president hassan rouhani policies the economic problems that sparked in the waning anti-government demonstrations in the first place are still a challenge for the rouhani administration. the main issue for the papal is currently inflation and the economy economic problems have resulted in corruption and moral issues in society economic stability is very important everyone who takes office makes some promises but they can't fulfill them. the recent

he writes according to witnesses i spoke to the protests were initiated by in mashad by religious hardliners who sought to take advantage of the population's legitimate economic grievances to score points against the rouhani government which they consider too moderate so before we start getting behind protests in iran everybody all those people we saw that we need to figure out who actually are these protesters and how much the cia is kind of in the scene there were guys these important questions. some say golf is for the birds and it was constant one golf course developers actually using golf to save birds according to the american bird conservancy in the united states almost three hundred of the seven hundred fifty native bird species are declining and population that's nearly thirty seven percent of the total population being sensitive to environmental and habitat changes birds are an important tool for ecologists protected eco's predicting an ecosystem development agriculture wildlife water and even tourism and the kirkland warbler has managed an impressive comeback on its onsen due to c

recent arrests of these twenty two people have died in the anti-government protests which began in mashad last thursday and spread across the country. north korea's leader has reopened a key cross border communication channel with south korea for the first time in nearly two years it comes after kim jong un suggested in his new year's address that he would like to ease hostilities with seoul. and these forty people have been killed in air strikes in syria this is the aftermath of a strike which destroyed a hospital on the outskirts of it three people were killed eleven people died in airstrikes in hama also in the northwest syrian opposition says russian and government forces carried out those strikes. desire current headline stay with us amount is zero witness call taken you see a bit later. musicians have this thing that you know we were victims of you know the way bugs bunny is a work you know so i mean there are people who who've become hugely successful who get their art out who have an audience you know they've they've managed to struggle they made it you know you're going to get yo

elementings that have come into the streets, sometimes in cities known for their religious piety, from mashad, to najafabad, which has the distinction of having more people in iraq in terms of the number of people killed. these are now the centers of activities, and this gradual grind of double-digit unemployment, double-dig inflation, no prospects of economic improvement, remarkable cronyism, recent publication of budget figures that show millions of doll verse been given to religious endowments that have done virtually nothing to contribute. all of that i think created a tipping point. >> drew: so what. >> woodruff: so what do you make, professor, of the regime's response in today, among other things, the supreme leader said that it's enemies of the country that are behind this. >> i think he has a paranoid view of the world. he does not believe that he has made any mistakes. he has yet to accept any mistakes for any of the major policy decisions that he is directly responsible for. i think many in the regime, including rouhani, have long realized that the status quo is not tenable. they kn

december two thousand and seventeen when hundreds of iranians gathered in a largely peaceful manner in mashad the country's second largest city chanting slogans against economic hardship. over the following days. protests or kurds in other cities other urban areas including. as well as in many other areas some of the slogans also expressed disappointment at slow or limited change in social strictures and political freedoms and criticized what the demonstrators decried as the privileged position of the clergy and elements of the country's security establishment in other cases demonstrators demanded that iran sees costly involvement in the region as the protests escalated some turned violent videos posted on social media platforms several of which remain largely blocked by the government and footage broadcast by state t.v. channels showed the beating of protesters as well as the burning of government offices banks and religious and yes according to reports carried by official raney and media more than twenty iranians including a teenage boy and a policeman have died during the protests iran's m

going to speak about if he spoke here was a study that he is completing for us about the city of mashad where this demonstration started. there are well over a million sunnis living there. they are very unhappy. they are subject to a great deal of discrimination. isis is doing quite an successful job in recruiting from there. iran is beginning to have a serious isis problem on its hands because of the way it treats its sunnis. there are a lot of ethnic minority problems in iran. when the heartland starts demonstrating, that comes out. there were a fair number of demands. ethnic nationalism is also a problem. there's the azerbaijani nationalism, the big thing is on december 22, you get hundreds of thousands marching four hours up a mountaintop -- that's what they do. how you get them to march in a mountain full of snow, i do not know. >> can i ask you, this issue of the budget and how much iran spends on its foreign ventures has been noticed a lot in the western media as something that seems to be animating some of these protests. how has that reverberated in lebanon, which is the destin

american people and my colleagues to take the time to inform yourself about kabriz ke isfahan and and mashad and to think about the women and men who have the courage to walk through the threshold of a door of a home where when they leave they know full well they may very well not come back. the time is now, the cause is just, the mullah regime must go. enough is enough. mr. speaker, with that i ask that we recognize excuse me, i have to find my sheet. the gentleman from utah, mr. curtis. or five minutes. mr. curtis: thank you, congressman fware rhett. a speaker, i want to take howminutes to express about iran has trampled on the rights of its people to express their discontent with the current regime which has resulted in 21 deaths and more than 50 arrests. it is quite frankly disturbing the way the iranian government has used its military might to show an unacceptable and disproportionate amount of force to quell and attempt to control protests. additionally, iran's jew -- iran's judiciary has ignored the rights of protesters to express themselves and assemble by issuing harsh punishments.