like in 2009 when the iranian people rose up to confront the corruption of the regime, these iranians had been met with harsh violence and have been murdered in the streets. thousands of others have been imprisoned. in 2009, however, the united states sat in the stands as a spectators and watched the ayatollah crush freedom. i applaud this president to show his support for freedom in iran. the united states must show political and public support for our friends for liberty in iran. as president kennedy once said, let every nation know whether it wishes us ill that we will pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship to support any friend oppose any foe in order to assure the survival and the success of liberty. like our friends in iran. and that's just the way it is. i'll yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from texas yields back. for what purpose does the gentlelady from texas seek recognition? without objection, you're recognized for one minute. ms. jackson lee: mr. speaker, i've often come to this floor to remind my colleagues of the devastation that the people

according to reports carried by official iranian media, more than 20 iranians, including a teenage boy and a policeman, have died during the protests. iran's ministry of interior stated that over 1000 protesters have been detained. although they have since been released. with very limited presence on the ground, the secretariat cannot confirm or deny the authenticity of the images that have been broadcast or the extent of the violence. however, we have received reports that the police, rather than the military forces, where -- were responding to the protests. on january 3, iran's revolutionary guards announced the end of antigovernment protests. recent reports indicate smaller and scattered demonstrations. meanwhile, from the 3rd to the 5th of january, large rallies were reportedly held across the country with participants expressing support for the supreme leader and condemning violence. mr. president, members of the security council, on the first of december 2017, president rouhani told a cabinet meeting that the radiance should be allowed space to protest and criticize their governm

it was sold that way to iranians. one of the questions we will all be watching, and thinking about to what extent are sort of expectations raised around the nuclear deal part of the mix that has created this very radical element that is deeply alienated from the islamic system as a whole. my guess rouhani's problems, even if the security forces manage to get control rouhani's challenges are greater than ever. there will be greater political division making his economic reforms more difficult. the political risk factor and u.s. policy will loom large for interhavings investors in a way it might not even a month ago. >> right. you brought up the sort of washington part of this narrative. so first of all, how have we affected or not affected things so far? you mentioned that already the government has decided to creates a part of its narrative this is imposed by the west, imposed by the united states. another cia plot against the country. when in doubt that is usually a pretty good course for any threatened government in

protests in iran this with the united states accusing tehran of stifling the voices of its people iranian leaders say larger pro-government rallies suggest other was otherwise this is the scene at the security council ahead of that meeting the situation is that it's an open meeting on the protests in iran it being made the request the united states but it's likely that russia will cool a procedural vote russia and some of the countries that believe these protests should be on the council agenda later view is that perhaps the united states will get its way and the talks will proceed will learn more about that in just a moment from across what mike hanna who's live the united nations but first let's head now from ravi who's in the iranian capital of tehran. another day of pro-government rallies in iran seemingly part of a two pronged approach to keep detractors off the streets a large show of public support and a heavy police presence across the country with critics inside and outside iran predicting the downfall of the islamic republic the government is determined to publicly project the p

primary fear for iranians. in the early 20th century when there was chaos in the country and people could not travel between cities, the father of the shah took over the country, he established rule of -- certain rule of law and the people were happy with his rule for a long time. then during the 1953 there was chaos on the streets and seemed to be out of control and there was that coup, people do not come to the streets and support him. and at the moment, the government knows that people really fear insecurity in the country. and they're taking advantage of scenes of violence -- torching the mosques, violence, slogans, in order to portray these demonstrators as the government calls them 40,000 hooligans who are being manipulated by outside forces. susan: well, that's a very resonant one. let's talk about the causes and who are these people. -- you talkedt about how quickly it spread to different cities. one of the things that commentators remarked on it does not appear to be the traditional upper middle class,

iranians have been arrested. in an effort to silence the protesters, the iranian government has blocked access to social media platforms used to organize and spread the word of the demonstrations. this most recent crackdown is part of a long history of human rights abuses by the iranian government. both at home and throughout the violent oppression and abroad through funding of groups who support terror. mr. speaker, i am proud that last month the house passed my amendment to the iranian leadership asset transparency act to help crack down on the iranian human rights abusers and to ensure u.s. sanctions are best positioned to improve the human rights situation in iran. this is but one step. we need to do more to stop iran's persecution of different religious faiths including sunni muslims, christians and ba' hai -- baha'is. we must do more to protect the iranian's people's right to freedom of expression. can i have 15 seconds? mr. sherman: i yield the gentleman 30 seconds. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman i

and is in favor of iran is a protecting iran in the l a t was not really convincing to the iranians iranians see on those we're seeing on those the mistaken that we need you to take care of us though basically all of the was being said well not really because has not been convincing to the people the second point i think in that context we have to mention that again the stablish meant did not consult the people on its foreign policy it basically it did it based on it is on the view and the interest of this stablish went in there and that is itself and assuming that this represent the iranians their interest and i think this them station will not affect the decision of iranian government were to go after this the only thing i assume they would have impact is that the guy about you know the guy between the government that is jim and the people will be why they and why the word comes to the foreign policy and the iranian behavior in the region mr horsham are we likely to see the government heed some of those concerns voiced by the people particularly comes to the visual involvement or do you be

-iranian relations. a brief time ago i spoke to cliff kupchan, chairman of the eurasia group, and we spoke about the evolving relationship between the u.s. and china. cliff: the risk has been developing under president obama but really got on jet skis under president trump. the u.s. is in retrenchment, and china loves a vacuum. president xi jinping has declared that china will be a takeraker, not a rule moving forward. trade, writing checks, lashing out at big companies. not imposing their values on other countries. it is an increasingly appealing model. laura: you say that it is more appealing, china's political model, than america's. what could that mean in the coming year? cliff: first of all, there is polling data to show that. as china rises, america and its allies are going to start to bristle as to whether it is in trade, the south china sea, there are lots of potential flashpoints. china's systemic structural rise creates preconditions for conflicts in a number of areas. laura: you also talk abou

his death led to funerals and protests and that's actually how it iranian revolution started. it started in 1978. some came and demonstrated. there were funerals for those people, every 14 days or demonstrations and that led to 1979 revolution. i'm not saying this will lead to revolution but i'm saying there are similarities between what happened in the soviet union. >> my name is adam. i would asked the panelists to speculate if and how and to what degree the conservatives elements of the iranian power structure are capable of and inclined to reform, just for their own survival, in other words the honeys tried, these are the elements that blocked them. is there a possibility that in this moment of self reflection and analysis they say we've got a loosen up or take some measures to prevent this from happening again and rather than just do it with the iron fist they find some other more concealed or evolutionary way to do it. i know it's a longshot, but you think it's possible? >> great question. >> i was talking to an analyst a few months ago and according to him who is very c

president trump he was not happy with the deal he was not happy with of iranian foreign policy and he started with demonizing iran again and we went back to the time where republicans are bush the father and the son were in power so basically that time is coming back with donald trump and he was his throughout he started to criticize iran and focusing on the nuclear the itself as a reason to help iraq and i think that was an important issue to see these kind of demonstrations. i would like to go back to the proposed a budget for two thousand and eighteen which many believe was the main target of the protests it's suggests slashing some of the social welfare programs but at the same time it expands the budget for or the. locations for the military establishment particularly the revolutionary guard and for some of the clerical establishment in iran do you think that this budget will be shelved and a new one with the presented to. and says some of the concerns of the people you know essentially should be paid for the fact that well before two thousand and five or six the americans tried

earlier who said in a tweet the people of iran are finally acting against the brutal and corrupt iranian regime all of the money that president obama so foolishly gave them went into terrorism and into their pockets the people have little food big inflation and no human rights the u.s. is watching. this little evidence in the streets of tehran of the turmoil evident in some other parts of the country but there are deep concerns expressed about the rise in food prices and drop in employment i mean john a call i'm working but in this society i'm always stressed about the possibility of getting fired the next day always being worried about my job my family the security of my family the main problems people are grappling with are their security the economy and their livelihood ammonia dance that there are some who are poor and cannot make ends meet what should they do life is really difficult we have tenants i have a daughter and son both at school the high prices really put me under pressure at home iran's supreme leader has broken his silence on the protests accusing iran's enemies of resp

i think the iranian government understands the power of the iranian people.six months ago, the recess 70% rouhanito vote for after the elections. i was there. there was hundreds of thousands of people in the streets demonstrating. i think the iranian government understands that if there is a severe crackdown, these people can come out and there could be a repeat of 2009. i think they showed relative restraint. when it comes to reaction from the u.s. government, i think many people in iran believe that the u.s. government's intention is regime change. i think there is a lot of indications that this movement in washington, led by the trump administration, that has altered iranian foreign-policy that was cautious engagement under president obama, the confrontation are pushing for these demonstrations, to grow. and i think in the coming days, you will see more of that. iran areany people in very skeptical of the u.s. expressing their concern about the a rainy of people and alleged human rights violations and reactions to the protest. amy: let's play with the whit

we hope to get acquainted with the iranian people and the iranian culture so that we can repay you for[speaking farsi] ♪ >> now i was in iran as an army advisor. how strange it all seemed at first. [speaking farsi] >> i had been trained for over a year and brought halfway around the world to serve for two years as a member of the military assistance advisory group in iran. u.s. army special forces mobile training teams during the course of the next two years will visit for short periods to instruct in specific subjects to help the iranian army train as special forces groups. being able to speak the language and participating in the activities of the unit helped to bridge the gap that many times separates a stranger from the people of the country he is in. ♪ >> my counterpart, the commander of the iranian special forces group, proved to be a good leader with a keen understanding of an advisor's problem. ♪ ♪ >> as the american advisor to the iranian special forces group, i participated in the unit's training in order to pass on those techniques i felt were most important. [speaking farsi

isolation on the iranian regime. it took an enormous amount of diplomatic heavy lifting. and so because we've released those sanctions, it's just very, very difficult to get that isolation back on the regime. but i believe the u.s. approach has been good. you don't certify if you can't certify the iran deal you can continue to levy sanctions on the missile program. you support the protesters. i really like the point, you don't want to give the protesters false hope that the united states is going to do more. i would actually even say that i would caution our own government that we don't become overly optimistic about what we can actually accomplish here. because that is -- that has been a bipartisan american tendency to have an overly optimistic view of what we can actually do. and i think that is actually to president trump's credit, his instincts on this are right, which is that we are trying to dial back and lower the expectations about what the united states can actually do in some of these countries. and this ne

this is not a new iranian revolution, though it is clear that many iranians are fed up with increasingears of repression. the fact the protests are happening at all is very significant, for iran, its allies and enemies, in a chaotic part of the world. jeremy bowen, bbc news. joining me now from washington, dc is reza marashi, research director at the national iranian american council. welcome, thank you very much for your time. where do you see this headed? it is hard to say at this point, you know, six, seven days in. but i think the proper metric to look at over the next week or so is how the government responds with regards to addressing the fully legitimate economic and political and social grievances of people of iran, but frankly have been long—standing. and if the government ta ke ste ps long—standing. and if the government take steps to properly address those grievances in a tangible and sustainable fashion, then protest will likely die down. if they don't, thenit will likely die down. if they don't, then it runs the risk of becoming something bigger. and how do you expect them

we applaud the tremendous courage of the iranian people. of iran isent attempting to stop social media and other arms of to medication that allow their citizens' voices to be heard. we want to help amplify the voices of the iranian people. here are some of the messages they are chanting today. all these brigades have come out to the streets, they have come out against the leader. political prisoners must be freed. independence, freedom, iranian republic. neither gaza nor lebanon, my life only for around -- iran. takell die, but we will iran back. do not be afraid, we are altogether. in reference to the supreme shame, let gosome of the country." .hose are not my words those are not the words of the united states. those are the words of the brave people of iran. dictatorship is trying to do what it always does, which is to say the protests were designed by iran's enemies. we all know that is complete nonsense. the demonstrations are they arey spontaneous, virtually in every city and iran. this is the precise picture of a rising upssed people

of the iranian government. touch withident in any of these exile groups, notably the national council for resistance in iran? >> i am not aware of any direct conversations. i have been verified no one in the administration has had those conversations. i am not prepared to answer extensively. the president took credit for it zero commercial airline deaths in 2017. there hasn't been a commercial airline crash since 2009. shouldn't obama deserve credit? >> the president has race -- raised the bar for aviation safety and security in our nation. the president modernized air traffic control last year. leadership in the department of homeland security led to increased security members. the president is very happy there were no commercial airline deaths in 2017 and we hope that trend continues. faa administrator, is an obama holdover in his term expires. information? >> not on that front. teams that are going to be in the football championship come from georgia and alabama. right in the heart of trump country. ofs the

so what my message to the outside world is don't let the iranian people gone down yet again don't make the same mistakes as some of these recent before have done today the people are risking their lives but what they want is to know that you stand there starving. and the president elect of the national council of resistance of iran who some say a controversial iranian cult shared a video praising the protest this activist linda sarsour saw wrote in a facebook post we must also remember as we watch what some fording on social media activity that iranians are not a monolith so what's really fueling the protests in iran with hundreds of arrested more than twenty killed and a leaderless movement to we know what's behind the recent arrest here with us to discuss in iran i made him a savvy is a professor of political science at the university of tehran of said we have who signed that auction is a media analyst and also new garnet a savvy is a journalist and commentator who also be bringing us purpose perspective from farsi speakers online thank you everybody for joining us so much talk about

for french companies my coins lying opportunities in the nuclear arrow space and food sectors and iranian oil tanker that collided with a freighter off china's east coast on saturdays still on fire a dozen rescue boats have spent three days trying to contrary control the blaze rescuers are looking for thirty one crew members who are still missing the syrian government in russian airstrikes have targeted several towns in eastern guta near the capital damascus twenty three people have been killed the rebel stronghold has been under heavy people bartman. protesters have marched on to the white house because a two hundred thousand immigrants from el salvador face expulsion from the united states the government says it will draw the temporary residency status granted to el salvadorans who fled the earthquake disaster seventeen years ago families who made a new life in the u.s. here being torn apart and some in the latino community are accusing donald trump of persecution you upset with headlines on al-jazeera the stream is coming up next here do stay with us. head of the september twenty fourt

from people who pretend to care about the iranian people but who could not care less about the iranianple. start with donald trump who tweeted his concern for the welfare of iranians, the same president who not more than three months ago announced a ban on iranians coming to the united states. he has aligned with the world's worst and most savage dictators, including in saudi arabia and other places around the world, lots of western commentators who are posturing about being concerned about human rights in iran are people in think tanks funded by other dictatorships and repressive tyrants in the same region. when itd be skeptical comes to people like donald trump or people in washington think tanks pretending to want to intervene in iran out of concern for human rights or the welfare of the iranian people. when it comes to foreign policy, the best we can hope for is the united states stays out of what is a matter of political dispute inside iran. >> you mention saudi arabia, not just saudi arabia but egypt, or the philippines, all countries for which donald trump has had praise for the

iranians eat 353 pounds of bread a year. think about that. famously, egg prices and chicken prices are up sharply. furthermore, the rich in iran are flaunting their wealth. i recommend the instagram famously, egg prices and chicken prices are up sharply. furthermore, the rich in iran account that has well over a quarter million followers which is called rich kids of tehran. is called rich kids of tehran. you can see the lifestyles of the truly ostentatious. if you're in the market for a nice maserati, you can see a good selection of them. the parties that they throw, the clothes that they wear. i know enough about clothing to say that is expensive. frankly, it looks like nothing so much, the feel and iran right now is nothing so much like what happened in the shah's days. where he organized a coronation ceremony, bringing thousands of foreign guests, chefs from france, they drank over 2000 bottles of wine. the ostentatious wealth. and the shah's government really shifted from concentrating on national economic development to concentrating on

mr president it is up to the iranians and to the iranians alone to pursue peaceful dialogue a dialogue based on full respect for the fundamental rights and freedoms of the iranian people we must react appropriately to what's been going on in other words we must ensure that we remain watchful and vigilant about what is happening during these peaceful protests following that we heard from other members of the fifteen member body we heard from china other countries and we heard from the russian representative now the russian representatives. question why this meeting was taking place as this was unrest in iran and then emphasized the importance of stability in the region and opposing the spread of terrorism and why it was probably not a good idea for foreign countries to be escalating and promoting unrest in iran. why did the u.s. call for an emergency meeting if the political situation in iran has stabilized we should think washington in this case since america's energetic and broad could have messages to the arena and people who have brought them closer together in their anti-american f

the iranian ambassador called the meeting a farce.tests were directed from abroad. there is a long history of bullying at the un, but this is a preposterous example, the purely internal affairs of a nation, in this case protesting that the iranian government has addressed with utmost respect for the rights of the protesters and with every attempt to deal with it peacefully despite violent infiltrators. 0ther council members urged tehran to allow free and peaceful demonstrations, and the russian ambassador accused the us of playing politics. some suggested it was not an internal matter, not a threat. the russian ambassador accused the americans of playing politics. translation: mr president, the real reason for convening today's meeting is not an attempt to protect human rights or promote the interests of the iranian people, but rather as a veiled attempt to use the current moment to continue to undermine the joint comprehensive plan of action. that's the agreement which restricts iran's nuclear programme, which mr trump says is deeply

when we see iranian troops in syria, iranian malicious in iraq and other iranian-supported shia, malicious in lebanon and bahrain and even in saudi arabia, they have what is called the hezbollah and the hijaz. - from their perspective, syria, was always considered a trojan horse for the iranians. if they lost iraq to the iranians, we need to take syria back and i think, that probably what made syria a win or lose situation for them. - what they do want is to see the emergence of at sunni led government which would be friendly to saudi arabia and hostile to iran and what you've had since 2012 is essentially this spiraling, escalating regional proxy war which is basically so intense because it's so thoroughly penetrated be regional politics. - [narrator] saudis are the dominant power in the gulf cooperation council. the military alliance has carried out an intense spamming campaign in yemen where the houthis, a shia rebel group backed by iran, overthrew the sunni government. - that look like to them that now, the iranians were actually trying to establish a beach hut on the peninsula itself

the iranian people are angry at the rising tide of corruption in their daily lives. the people are tired of paying the price for their violent and corrupt rulers. a result, we are now seeing uprising popular organized by brave iranian citizens on the largest scale 2009. but the international community cannot sit silent as it did then. supports states iranian people and call on the regime to respect its citizen's right to peacefully express their desire for change. america longs for the day when will take their alongside the free people of the world. as the president said in october, we stand in total iranian y with the regime longest suffering victims. its own people. paid aizens of iran have heavy price for the violence and extremism of their leaders. iranian people long to reclaim their country's proud civilization re, and its cooperation with its neighbors. on an even more somber note, we sad to have to announce a brave american service member ied in afghanistan and we are going through the notification process and d.o.d. will provide updates on that situation as

the state department is encouraging iranians to use vpn services to circumvent iranian government controls. the statement continues by saying the administration calls on iran to unblock social media and is asking tech companies to do all they can to ensure people there can communicate. as for possible policy shifts, make no mistake about it, the administration will certainly take a closer look at the sanctions that are currently in place. we received no word about possible changes yet, but i wouldn't doubt that that is a question the press secretary sarah sanders will get to sometime today. >> dana: indeed she will. the iran story line is percolating at the same time that president trump is criticizing leaders in pakistan and has the white house heard reaction from the capital there? >> you may remember this, the president talking about the billions, $33 billion to pakistan. he's been very critical of the leadership of the leadership iy have not done enough to stop terrorism. the flow of terror is not only into afghanistan but around the world but as you also know, the leadership there was

so we applaud the tremendous iranian people. the government of iran is actively attempting to stop and other forms of communication that allow their citizens' voices to be heard. so we want to help amplify the voices of the iranian people. are some of the messages that they're chanting today. all these brigades have come out to the streets. out against the leader. prisoners must be freed. independence, freedom, iranian republic. gaza nor lebanon, my life only for iran. let go of syria. think of us. we will die but we'll take iran back. don't be afraid. don't be afraid. we're all together. and in reference to the supreme "feel some shame. let go of the country." those are not my words. those are not the words of the united states. the words of the brave people of iran. now, the iranian dictatorship is do what it always does which is to say that the iran'ss were designed by enemies. we all know that's complete nonsense. demonstrations are completely spontaneous. they are virtually in every city iran. this is the precise picture of

against the iranian regime. and there are lots of practical things that congress and the administration can do. you don't have to like donald trump to hope that the trump administration does sensible things in terms of sanctions on the iogc to deter people from using the force to help protesters get communications among each other, pressuring companies, not to help the iranian regime, cut off communications among the protesters. and congress and the trump administration can do this. and i'm heartened by the fact that people from the obama administration, are getting together with people who are critics of the nuclear deal. to say, let's put aside the past disputes and help the iranian people. this is a huge moment and we shouldn't be distracted by disliking trump or disliking obama or liking obama. let's help the iranian people against their repressive regime. >> excellent points, bill. i want to stay on who the protesters are. because we have heard some shouting slogans, you know the region better than i do, th

undermining the morale of the opposition is key to how the iranians do it. they basically focus on, as i mentioned decaptation, what do you do in the current circumstances, you have a leaderless opposition. it doesn't work. demoralization, pushing back gradually over time i think is their preferred, wait, quote, of doing things. let me quote a news week correspondent in tehran in 2009, to cover the uprising then, where he talked about what he was told by a government about the techniques for dealing with these problems. the minister said the problem with the shah's secret police they thought they could break the will through physical pressure. that hardened the victim's resolve. how to break a man's soul without using much soul against his body. i think that really encapsulates kind of the regime's approach to dealing with these kind of problems. so, how does this end and where does it go? first of all, i have no idea the exact future trajectory of violence and opposition in iran. these things are impossible to predict. to some extent it will be a function o

president trump has voiced his support for the iranian people. thousands of them have taken to streets and a wave of antigovernment protests across the country. at least 20 have died, including a child as the regime cracks down on the demonstrations. the president tweeted -- conor powell live with the latest information on the ground. you are covering this from jerusalem. connor? >> harris, the u.s. is watching in the world is watching as well. president trump offering strong support for the protesters, who for the sixth straight day have defied their government, taking to streets across the country in protest on thursday in smaller, more rural, religious cities across the country and they have spread to a lot of other places. the main motivation appears to be the economic stagnation and widespread corruption that is the real problem in iran. it's not the more urban iranians that are leading this movement but instead traditional rural and conservative states of the islamic regime have taken to the streets. iran's supreme leader today it blamed ou

that iranian weapons have been supplied to what the rebels u.n. experts were also critical of saudi led coalition airstrikes which of course the majority of civilian deaths. leaders of the catholic church of the democratic republic of congo have vowed to continue fighting for justice following violent protests for months demonstrators have been demanding president joseph kabila step down the church has organized a. many of those rallies compared us to expire a year ago catherine sawyer reports from the capital kinshasa. catholic faithful in kinshasa hold a mass for people killed by police in reason political unrest the charge had called for protests a new year's eve after the expiry of a political deal between the ruling party and opposition signing to sixteen when the presidential election failed to happen the politicians had agreed to for the poor last december that did not happen either the deal had been brokered by the catholic church was shocked and ashamed by the. disorder and. victim or why desire to hang on to power at a cemetery a distanc

that iranians weapon iranian weapons rather have been supplied to the rebels and experts are also critical of saudi led coalition air strikes which have caused the majority of civilian deaths let's get more now from our diplomatic editor james face who was at that meeting james tell us more about what's in this report. well this is was not your meeting it's a report that's been circulated to members of the u.n. security council the fifteen members of the security council they will meet to discuss it at a later stage it is not a public corrupt fought but i have been allowed to look at a copy and it's a very very hard hitting report with criticism for all parties of the war in yemen political particularly worth looking at some of the criticism facing the who thiis in iran saying that they have been helping each other and saying that there are military remnants that that are of iranian origin and were introduced into yemen after the arms embargo in twenty fifteen but it's not just iran that's in trouble here the saudi led coalition is in serious trouble with allegations that they've been targ

president donald trump has extended the landmark iranian nuclear deal but said that this is the last time he'll do so he's warned that america's european allies that he'll withdraw from the twenty fifteen agreement if his demands for changes are not met alan fischer has more from washington d.c. . europe's diplomats met in brussels to urge the u.s. to continue with the iran nuclear deal seeing they believe it improved global security know donald trump has agreed but says he won't do it again in a statement issued from the white house he called on his european allies to negotiate a supplemental deal in the next one hundred twenty days which would place a fresh restrictions on iran saying today i am waving the application of certain nuclear sanctions but all the in order to secure our european allies agreement to fix the terrible flaws of the iran nuclear deal this is the last chance in the absence of such an agreement the united states will not again we have sanctions in order to stay in the iran nuclear deal and he warned those who for whatever reason choose not to work with us will