the kidnapping of americans. it was iran through, i can use the word, asymmetrical warfare/terrorism that drove us out lebanon. lebanon was the piece, the centerpiece of reagan's foreign policy in the middle east. it was lebanon and hostages almost brought the reagan administration down in 1986 with iran contra. i was in beirut at the time. i was, met ollie north there. but what was more important at that point, and we didn't realize what was going on, we were at the beginning of an 18-year war against the most formidable military in the middle east in a sense that, everybody speaks arabic. combat-trained, one won major victories the best equipped military in the middle east. over those 18 years, i take this back to 198, because the first bombing against i will racely was in tooir, november 11th, same thing, car bomb -- tyre. israel managed to cover this up they said it was a political defeat rather than a military defeat. that, the israelis got tired of fighting and came home. now this changed in 2006 during the 34-day war.

the workforce is. now, i compared yemen, u.s. and iran, and you could see that is where they got to find jobs for people. 30% unemployment is unbelievable. by the way in the fourth development plan they hope they will produce 700,000 jobs a year. that is the optimistic situation. 700,000 jobs a year means that there are 300,000 people still perrier who won't get a job. they need roughly a million jobs a year to keep the situation intact. you can see here iran is very high. and inflation, some say it is because oil prices went up and inflation was really high. oil prices went up for audit retain, too. -- for saudi arabia, too. their inflation didn't do anything like iran. they are just spending money like crazy like investing. importing everything. the stock market has done miserably. engineering and technical services have gone down. food industry has gone down. sugar industry has gone done. construction has gone down. so, where does that leave us? the economy is in a mess. unemployment is running at 25% to 30%, inflation at 20%. and they

i compared yemen, the u.s., and iran. you can see that is where they have to find jobs for people. 30% unemployment is unbelievable. in the fourth development plan they are hoping they will produce 700,000 jobs a year. that is an optimistic situation. that means 300,000 people still per year will not get a job. they need roughly a million jobs a year. year. year. inflation, some people say it's because oil prices went up. " prices went up for saudi arabia as well. they had a lot more oil. their inflation did not do anything. they're spending money like crazy rather than investing. they're importing everything. the stock market has done miserably. engineering and technical services are gone. the food industry has gone down as well. construction has gone down. so, where does that leave us? the economy is messed up. unemployment is running at 25% or more. inflation is running at 20. they are debating how to invest the money. behind the scenes it is who is going to control the purse? that is where the big debate is. is it goin

the other thing that people talk about is the gas sector. iran is the second largest gas reserve holder in the world. yet, it is actually a gas importer. a natural gas importer. now the line is very, very close and depending on which statistic you look at, they cross each other but in terms of dollar amounts, even though it may be self-sufficient in natural gas, it is exporting some to turkey and importing at a higher price. it is a drain on the economy. you can see a drop right after the islamic revolution and surprisingly despite the fact that oil prices have been quite high in the past two or three years, the grothse rate has been around 4% or 5% or 6% and recently has actually dropped. this despite the fact that oil revenue has gone through the roof. so the question then becomes you know, what is going on? and you have to look at the fundamentals of the iranian economy. and we have a lot of experts in the room that are probably more expert than i am. when we look at it right now, we have an economy where the government is really around 30%, 3

should they return to the negotiating arena with iran? dn't that mean glossing over the rigged election and accepting president mahmoud ahmadinejad as the head of its government? yes, but it isn't clear what the alternative would be. the problem with iran's nuclear program remains and we're negotiating with them to see if some agreement can be reached. that program continues to grow and refusing to negotiate will not do anything to stop it. and, yet, it seems odd to acas if the extraordinary events of the past month simply didn't happen. so here's one solution. do nothing. the five major powers on the u.n. security council plus germany have already given iran a very generous offer to restart the nuclear negotiations. iran has not responded. so the ball is in tehran's court. until iran responds, the west should simply sit tight, build support for tougher sanctions and more isolation if necessary. it might seem like the west has bad options right now but iran has fewer and worse ones. it's economy is doing very badly. the regime has faced it

youth that make up the democratic majority in iran. feisty women, again trail blazers in the wider islamic world. sanctions, businessmen, two former presidents and a prime minister, taxi drives. members of the national soccer team and senior citizens. one of the most interesting things is the role of the clergy in all of this. several have spoken out adding lenltmassy to the challenge. ayatollah who would have been prime minister had he not decided to speak out months before has issued a fatwa. dismissing the election results and urging iranians to reclaim their dues in calm protests. he warned security forces not to follow orders that might later lead them to be condemned by god. today he wrote censorship and communication lines cannot hide the truth. another outspoken cleric told the guardian council that we must hear the objections that the protesters sa v to the elections. we must let them speak. another ayatollah expressed abhorrence to those behind the violence. he said what belongs to the people should be given to the people. the

the u.s. overture to iran in the context of the iran-contra affair. in which there were many arrests of people close to centers of power. we had the removal of ayatollah month certificate ri as khomeini's designated success accesser in 1989. that seriously shook the regime. we had a serious rift over whether or not to end the iran/iraq war in 1987-'88 when iran was losing, and there were many senior figures that said, no, iran should continue. that was a major rift. in 1999 we had major student riots, several killed. just in 2000 we had -- 2004 we had the council of guardians which vets the candidates, basically disqualified almost all of the major reformist candidates for the parliament, and there were sit-ins and various protests right from within the regime, so the idea of a rift in the regime is new i think is not correct. ayatollah rafsanjani was actually a key figure in many of these rifts. he is a very, very clever back-room operator. he tends to lose elections. he did win for president in '89 and then again in '93, but that was after khomeini d

iran is a very sophisticated country. it is much more sophisticated than iraq. the engineering community in iran -- many have been a educated in america. they do sophisticated things. i am surprised they are so slow in getting to the nuclear age, but i expect that will happen. also there are millions of iranians in the united states that are in touch. >> the analogy of the stick and carrot which always seems to come up in foreign affairs. ron, we apply these. we are talking about applying the sticks to iran. who is applying the stick to us? we know that russia has applied the stick to your. who is applying it to us? >> we're talking about cooperation. europe has been silent or cooperatives, france, germany, certainly in the u.k. -- what are we getting out of this? there is a part of me that sympathizes with this. you start to make people sick, or whether or not you can finish them off with any kind of change of policy or approach. i think that is a real trick. we will not get rid of the regime. at least not for a while. you are looking for behavior modification at t

iran. this is as gates spoke about new tougher sanctions. the possibility of an israeli attack on iran, that's our "lead focus" tonight. we begin with from this report from "worldfocus" producer lion. >> reporter: r made a short visit to israel today to make the case for nuclear negotiation with iran but after meeting with israel's defense minister, ehud barak. >> we're in no position to tell the administration of want an engagement with iran or not but if there is an engagement we believe it should be short in time, well defined in objectives followed by sanctions. we clearly believe that no options should be removed for -- from the table. this is our policy. we mean it. >> reporter: three times during the press conference, barack repeated that no options are off of the take. making it clear that israel is sticking to its hardline approach to tehran, despite u.s. pressure, not make a preemptive strike on iran's nuclear facility. during a stop later in iman jordan, secretary gates threatened new, tougher sanctions if iran doesn't agree to talk s

the world? a challenge not only in iran but across the board. it was interesting, what he did and egypt, deciding to give the speech there -- but he never mentioned the bart -- mentioned mubarek in his speech. we never like to was in power. we are trying to avoid the military option. >> al milikin. how do think israel views the election in their memory of the holocaust? >> i do not know about the second part of the question, but in terms of -- as pointed out, i would assume the israelis look at the iranian situation and essentially see a weakened state, and therefore they are happy about that dynamic. they also see the possibility between the u.s. -- serious possibility -- more remote. again, i think that they see that as a plus for the israeli interest in the region beyond that, i think the israelis are also watching. trying to make sense of the direction of what is going on. at this point, i think it was a welcome addition to their understanding of what is going on in the middle east. i think their reaction was very similar to the reaction tha

on the nuclear weapons issue, iran is isolating itself. it is clear from what is happening in tehran that the iranian people do not want to be isolated. they want to be part of the world. they want to communicate with other people in our countries in the world. what we want to do with iran is to engage and we want to establish with iran a normal relationship. >> and that engagement is what we are seeing right now. the hope is, obviously, the internal circumstance will drive this to a peaceful resolution. let's take the use of force. nobody has taken use of force off the table. people in europe have not done that. there is a concern about israel using force and the united states hasn't taken it off the table either. have people thought about the second and third order of consequences before or after a military strike against tehran? >> the eu adopted in 2003 a security strategy. that is our strategic concept. we are in favor of the diplomatic solutions. we don't think military strikes constitute resolution. we very much wish that this option

iran that is very scary. and they have clearly taken over the dominant role in iran. whatever hopes we may have had from the uprising that we saw graphically on many television screens and read a lot about has proven to be totally inadequate to the forces against them against the grand ayatollah and ahmadinejad. and they now control a government which is benefiting from good oil prices, which is sort of the expansionist muslim country which is threatening the sunni countries, it being a shiite country, which is sponsoring terrorism all around the arab and muslim world. you may recall not too long ago because i happened to be in that country shortly after it was made public that a hezbollah cell was uncovered in egypt. and the purpose of that hezbollah cell was to blow up ships in the suez canal and to blow up sort of major tourist sites. these being the two major industries for egypt. and the hopes that the economic decline that would ensue would destabilize the mubarak regime and bring in the muslim brotherhood which is much more closely affiliated with iran and with

would not stand in the way of an israeli attack on iran. how significant was that? >> well, it seems to have been a serious misstatement. because the chairman of the joint chiefs had said just the opposite. the secretary of defense had said the opposite. the secretary of state had said the opposite. and i think the problem is -- what the vice president may have been saying is that the united states can't block an israeli attack on iran. it can only discourage it. but we've sent mixed signals and given the sort of impetus israel has to attack. that can be very dangerous. >> and there was a report >> and there was a report recently in the "london times" that the director of the massoud had met with saudi officials and that the saudi his granted permission to use their airspace for any attack on iraq. do you think that's really likely? >> to put bluntly i wouldn't regard anything in "the london times" as being as anything as an irresponsible tabloid journal. this is not the newspaper of 20 years ago. it's made up one defense story after another. the saudis have denied t

it comes forward with the repression in iran following the election. at some stage if he's going to continue this, he will start to have to blame themselves. obviously, that will be a nonstarter. i think at the end of the day this policy that was based on the idea that it was always u.s. provocations that caused problems in the world, cannot be sustained for long time. >> i've been in too many talking shops were that approach was sometimes to my surprise by former senior officials of the reagan administration. of give you the names later. but the gentleman blamed the u.s. for all of our troubles in relationships with russia. i will take a question from washington. introduce yourself, please. >> dmitry is my name. the first question is related to iran. as far as i've understand, president obama will have a concession on iran with the discretion of a colleague. based on my information, some people within this administration think that russia has influence in the world and may convince iran to increase its nuclear progress or maybe allow inspectors in the

and about lipitor. >>> i've been telling you that we're monitoring the situation in iran. ere's new pictures now. remember we mentioned there's some chance that had been deliv -- chants that rb delivered in some of these protests? listen to this one. >> all right. that's the one i wanted you to hear right there. i don't speak farsi. i can tell you, we've checked with some of the folks who have been monitoring this throughout the day they're actually chanting there, death to the dictator, death to the dictator. referring to ayatollah. we're going to be all over that as well. the latest piece of video that we're sharing with you there out of iran. >>> meanwhile, this. an alleged $25,000 severance. that's what a man says senator john ensign paid his wife to leave her job. that woman on the right. right there. was also ensign's mistress. what a mess. her job was with ensign's campaign committee. there's more. will this result in an investigation? will this result in his possibly having to step down? that's what many pundits and other insiders are wondering. so are we. some lunc

that's why ahmadinejad can dare defy the iran leader. this might seem like a small sign, but imagine if one day the vatican newspapers stopped calling the pope "his holiness." it's been very difficult to speak with anyone on the ground inside iran, so this is a rare opportunity. let's get started. >>> joining me now from tehran is seyed mohammad mirandi. he is a professor of social studies. welcome. >> thank you. >> let me ask you, how do we make sense of what is going on in iran right now? the only way in which the regime has been able to maintain its control is to use fairly tough methods, brutal methods of repression. it has used the be siege, the revolutionary guard, it is arresting people, it is arresting journalists. this is not what the republic of iran presents to the world as the basis of its regime. it is turning into a military dictatorship, is it not? >> since he and his people went to the streets every day, it was causing trouble in the city of tehran. the police really felt that they had to bring things back to normal. mr. m

the first video into the iran desk. we'll show you the pictures at the top of the hour. >>> i'm elizabeth cohen in atlanta. we all love to get something for nothing, but why you might just want to say no to free drug samples from your doctor. i'll all have of that at the top of the hour. >>> much appreciated. plus, tragedy in one texas town. a man is dragged to his death. two suspects arrested and then released. did race play a role? >>> want to tell you about something special we're doing tomorrow turning our attention to u.s. troops and the challenges facing them on the battlefield and then back at home. >> the first problem is actually getting recognition as being a human alive. and we definitely want to include your stories in all of this. tell us about your experience as a veteran. we'd really like to hear or tell us about the experience of a veteran you know very well, maybe even a family member. in order to do this, we'll head on over here to the heidi mac, if you will. just go to our blog, which is cnn.com/heidi

of its domestic tumor oifment the western countries are trying to get iran into the negotiations. iran appears to be stiffing that offer. they calm -- come back in september and at that point the major powers are going to try to get more sanctions but russia and china are still saying no. so you not only have the confrontation with iran, you have that road block looming in september. >> before the president went away on this trip the white house made a big push to get climate change legislation at least passed through the house. they thought this would give them a little leverage dealing on the national stage. the president went to the jay payton summit, seemed to have come up kind of -- g-8 summit, seemed to have come up kind of short. what happened? >> that was one of those glass half empty things. many the hope was you could get the g-8 countries together in this larger group that was about the g-20, g-15 -- it kept being different numbers -- but you could get the industrializing countries to sign on to tougher targets. they signed out, wouldn't do it. so at the end of the week

of our region is of course iran. if the iranians will achieve nuclear capability, we will see a crazy nuclear arms race in our region. and it's not threat not only for israel, it's a threat for entire world. >> how to respond to iran's nuclear program is again making news. this week, u.s. and israeli officials have boarded a test of a planned missile defense shield for israel. for more on iran, we're joined by cordesman for the strategic and international studies in washington, d.c. thank you for coming back. >> pleasure. >> we haven't heard a lot lately about the possibility that israel might attack iranian nuclear sites. so where downing the israelis are in thinking about that? >> it's certainly a constant preoccupation. it's debated at the political level. it's debated in israeli think-tanks and certainly it's a subject of planning by the israeli defense forces. and while it may not have been visible, israels sent submarines through the suez canal as a gesture. it had egyptian permission do that and the reason that's imp

iran off from the rest of the world. and actually, that's not in our interest or in their interest. >> you're a student of history. does this moment in iran remind you of the general's crackdown in poland? does it remind you the brief flowering of freedom that takes place in various communist countries and then gets reversed? "it remind you of tiananmen square? what is happening right now in iran? >> i think all of those are interesting and suggestive examples, the echoes throughout history of governments which have tried to suppress demonstrations or suppress the anger of their own people are legion. i think -- i add, though, that every country is unique, but almost iran is more unique than others. and i think one has to be quite careful, certainly if you're sitting in my shoes, in suggesting comparisons because i think can that can set off all sorts of processes. what's clear, though, is that there is, for significant sections of the iranian population, a crisis of credibility about the results that were announced, the

the situation in iran is complicated. is the expectation much more will come from the stacks >> the speech that hillary clinton gave today, she gave for a number of reasons. it was directed to the washington elite. as for -- this was for washington policymakers. she has been injured for the past month. she broke her elbow. this is her coming back onto the scene. i do not think it was designed to lay down specific policy markers. i think, as much the american domestic consumption is designed to remind people she is back, the obama administration has as strong policy vision. they will leverage america's smart power, as they'd like to call it these days. they wish to shore up the obama administration's foriegn policy at this. >> more top stories for you from around the world. french officials are saying two people were killed in an explosion in the east of the country. this is a chemicals plant. several others were injured in the blast. the cause is not yet clear. the plant makes material such as polystyrene. officials in mex

the moment? i wod say it is still ira whether or n israel will bomb iran, whether t.s. or the obama in the session will go along with it. that policy has not been there. joe biden,ith a little slip of the tongue. he also unerstands the pow of aipac better than anyone. anybody who has served in congss as long as joe bid knows this. th is a crude w of going after anything. he wou have to overfly parts of iraq. saud arabia will do a nk and and nod. they have 11 air-to-ai refueling tankers. what the chairman o the joint chiefs, mike mlen and others, and i'm surehe president feels the same way, thairan has asymmetrical abiliti up and down the gulf. you n have oil at $0 almost ovnight. take bahrain, two-thirds of the population ishia, and they are under a ruling family. >>et's clarify these term antheir position as oil exporters. it is not just thathey export 1.5 -- two 0.5 million broke -- barrels, but the nation's waterways. >> they had a major nal base there, they can hurt her u.s. and our friends interest up and down t gulf. that doesn't even begito mention hamas. >> seven

the 1999 student protests. and they're celebrated on an annual base nis iran. and i think it underscores, again, the depth of people's sense of injustice and pem's sense of outrage given what transpired three weeks ago at the election results. no one expected the scale of these protests to be similar to what we saw a few weeks ago but still we saw eye witness accounts several thousand people throughout the city. and again i think underscores people's sense of qout rage but also the bravery and great courage of the iranian people. >> lehrer: can you add anything based on your information that you got today as to the extent of these protests -- >> they seem to have been throughout the city but in smaller numbers. what the government has done is try to make sure that they prevent people from being able to gather in very, very large numbers. but nevertheless, the most important point, i think is, that people still went out. even though they knew the consequences. they've seen what has been happening to other protestors. and i think it shows that as the president poi

the caspian sea. a vast lake stretching between russia and northern iran. experts say the caspian sea exercises which began yesterday may mark a new level of cooperation between the two countries at a time when the united states is trying to isolate iran from its pursuit of nuclear weapons. >>> there was new unrest today >>> there was new unrest today in south africa. police there used tear gas and rubber bullets to battle demonstrators protesting poor public services. violent demonstrations have flared up all over the country during the past two months and as we hear now from al jazeera english the roots of that violence go back many years. when the government began promising help for the poorest communities. >> reporter: hunting for troublemakers on foot deep inside the township. shots are fired of the suspects as police continue their sweep. it's a menacing reminder for residents that all is not well where they live. >> guys are throwing stones and making fire. and when close to you they want to kill you. so in a group and they make noises. so be careful.

the bootleggers that risk their lives to smuggle whiskey into iran. and the grand slam title of wimbledon. first in the great depression you saw the rise and fall of the berlin wall. and the famous cartoon selling reporter is selling books by the millions. >> the character of the aga gets the royal seal of approval. of the cartoonist widow is with the famous project at the heart of the project. titen first appeared in a belgium paper in the 20's. the reporter with his dog found a wider audience. along with his friends of good and bad, he's captured a new generation of readers ever since. >> i think he was the father of all european comic strips. and he's still a person in belgium history. and some people think that he actually lived. >> 80 years after his creation, titan is still big business. translated in hundreds of languages, he sells 2 million books a year. >> steven spielberg with an "s". >> he's not come knocking on the image by chance. he's had up's and down's with racism in the 30's and more recently sexism. but he's weathered those storms and

the whole week. we can lookt other pieces of it too. on iran, if you want to know what did hey really wat, they wanted to ove the russians a little bit. ne -- they wanted t get a hearing fortheir bid that the russians have to be tougher and sanctns gwen: because its nuclear weaponsrogram? >> because ofits, iran' nuclear wpons program. andbecause ofthe domestic troubles and e regime is walling itse back in. nosign of medvedev. came out befor the summit an said lok, iran is or prtner, we think sancions are a bad idea. move thepicture tohe g-8 summit and thee the uned states and allies brtain, germany and rance wanted a tough statement bout iran and again, couldn't do it. couldn't ge the ussianes to sign on thehey got an ok statementhat said ira should take this chnce for dplomacy and that we wil come back and reassess in september. that's aut as tough as it got. >> i'm wondering now that we've seen preident obama in a couple of these overeas gatherings and assignents do we have a better idea wht his style is when he's outside te u.s. a up against

>let's move to the iran situation. i understand tre was a lot of intense discussion that last nighthat can you tell us? >> yes yev, last night was the conversation on geo politic issues. and what emerged w a glass half empty, hal full. on iran y did g all of theseinisters to endorse the statement that their own foreign minters had made a couple weeks ag dploring the post-electi violence in iran and calling on ir to respect hun rights, the right pve test, the rig of peaceful dissent. it al went a little rther in that it total condemned the arrt of foreigners and of journalists. and what's more, there was an interesting statement in the statement condemning what mahmohmadinejad had id about denying the holocau which was putn at france instigaon. n the nuclear issue they did not go r endorsin additional sanctions which fran very much wanted. but rusa wa ristant and said that would be counterpductive. but they did set another interim goal of september that is thatt the u.n. meeting ineptember, the g8 are all goingto get tog

>>> protesters from around the world join together with one message for iran. what they say about people reportedly locked up after a disputed presidential vote. >> to put it mildly it's devastating. >> an error prohibiting her from taking the bar exam. >>> he witnessed some of the deadliest battles of war i and waited decades to tell his story. >>> good morning to you. thanks for joining hln. i'm susan hend tricks. >>> police in mexico say they have arrested four people in connection with the killing of a u.s. border agent. police say the suspects are part of an immigration smuggling ring. they won't say what evidence they have against them but they do say one of the suspects told them exactly who shot the agent. he was killed thursday during a suspected border crossing near san diego. some of his attackers may have been injured in that shooting. they asked u.s. and mexican hospitals to report people with suspicious injuries. >>> people around the world held rallies against iran's government yesterday. they called on the government to release hundreds of people

you recall the woman that was shot, she became kind of a global, iconic symbol of iran's protesters and the brutality in which they were met. so it was significant religiously because 40 days after a death in shia islam is known as the arbien and mourning ceremonies take place. but i think it was also significant just because it took place and it shows that the protests are continuing, despite the enormous brutality that is being meted out against the iranian people. do i think that has enormous significance as well. >> do you think that these anti-government protests are likely to continue, perhaps even intensify? >> i think the level of anger is so high, particularly sense we're hearing about all of these new revelations emerging from how many of the protesters that were imprisoned were treated, this massively brutal beatings. there were killings. there were children who were turning up in body bags. but the question remains, martin, is how high a cost are people willing to pay and the authorities have shown they are willing to mete out severe violence against protests. it's important

and the bomb and speculation that israel could potentially attack iranian nuclear facilities if iran gets the bomb and what is the late oens this and the u.s. -- latest on that and the u.s. efforts concerning that. >> reporter: the u.s. wants to prevent an israel unilateral strike on the iranian target and they'll present to the israelis now a bundledal of different sanctions that could be lowered down on iran if it doesn't forgo the nuclear ambitions and the israelis will probably accept that and one thing they've said over and over again, is they want to see the iranian nuclear problem be the world's problem, not just israel's and you also have israelied leaders saying sanctions will not be enough to dissuade the years inniairanian >>amie: downtown baghdad today, a gunman opening fire, killing five people and three employees and two customers and there were 12 others wounded in the attacks and witnesses say the 5 gunmen jumped from a car and opened fire as soon as this entered the office. and apparently tried to pry open a safe, but, took off when they heard police see you rentals.

the safety record i iran it i not good. inveigations have begun to find out the prece use of the crash. the presidents of iran and armenia st condolences to the families of e victims. the armenians clared thursday s a dayf mourning. bbc news >> le's te you livto florida. the space shule is about to take off from the launch pad. > we have main engine start. four, three, two,one. booster ignion and ltoff. fulfiling japan's pe for an out of this world space laboratory. >> there will be se celebrating their. -- there. the launch has be attempd five times. there have been problems including lightning strike if the orbitehadot head off today, nasa wuld have had to wait tohe end of the month. there are only a handful of spac shuttle missions left. naa is kn to finish building the international spe station of course, befor this iconic spacecraft is gne for good. ts is its 60th mison. the space shuttle endeavour there. >> of throttle up. >> u.s. relions with iran may be straid ter elections, but today, t u.s.ecretary of state said th

there is a gap again the government in iran. >> charlie: the economy, president obama on race and a friday sermon when we continue. captioning sponsored by rose communications from our studios in new york city, this is charlie rose. >> charlie: two wall street giant firms report a substantial earnings this week, goldman sachs has a quarterly profit of $3.4 billion the largest in the bank's 140 year history. j.p. morgan chase followed by reporting a $2.7 billion profit in the quarter. both banks received billions in government loans last year but the funds were recently repaid. despite these gains to help the rest of the banking sector remains in question as the recession continues. the banks have received billions in government aid such as citigroup. joining me is floyd norris of the wall street times and dennis berman of the wall street journal. i'm pleased to have both of them at this table. everybody is talking about this. tell me the significance of these two firms. >> this is a phenomenally good time to be running a time, phenomenally good. competition is down. spreads are up. the peo

reza sayah for us the very latest out of iran. reciate it. >>> meanwhile, the tourist strike in the heart of a tourism district. two luxury hotels hit in jakarta, indonesia. talking about the marriott and ritz-carlton there. right now, looking at new video just coming into our newsroom from the explosion from inside the jw mauruate. several americans are among the casualties. we'll just wait here and watch for a moment. once again, brand-new video just coming into the cnn newsroom from inside the marriott hotel. i can tell you a couple things about this, indonesian authorities have detained several witnesses now and others for questioning. there you see the explosion just going off, boy, right in the lobby there, where you would expect quite a few people to be. so, clearly, the plan was to get as many people as possible in all of this. six people were killed, along with two suspected bombers and five of them were inside the ritz-carlton and then one inside the marriott there where you just saw. let's go ahead and look at that video

opposition leaders took the steps to ask permission from iran's government. 3 denied it, but this is significant sign, the opposition leaders are, once again, defying the supreme leader and defying iran'su this opposition leadership with plenty of momentum continuing to thank you. >>> there is an agreement in the house on health care reform, but that doesn't mean everyone is onboard. >>> what do you do if you live in a part of the country that is so cool that you typically don't have air conditioning and it reaches over 100 degrees? western washington, they're lining up at sears to get the air conditioners, fans, you name it. all-time records broke in seattle yesterday. 103. the old record was 100 and portland topped out at 106 and their all time is 107 and they continue to sweat it out today. good luck, my friend. you'll see cooler weather tonight and tomorrow as that cool ocean breeze kicks in. welcome back to the "cnn newsroom." vancouver, washington, all-time record at 108 and portland and seattle, that is just toasty, toasty stuff. hot again today across

the u.s. is still pressing to try to get iran to the table. the president went on in the interview and we were posting a lot of it at cnn.com so people can get more of it there saying look, we're giving this opportunity to the iraniansious it's basically ball in their court. so they're going to try to continue to reach out, but also, talk about putting pressure, maybe down the road more sanctions before the u.n. but the president said he's under no illusion this is a tough diplomatic situation. >> we'll be watching closely when he comes back from the g-8. great interview, thanks so much. >>> ethnic tension still running high in western chooi nachlt one day after 156 people died in the worst riot there in decades. chinese state media report the government-imposed curfew across xinjiang until 8:00 p.m. tomorrow. earlier today, muslim women in head scarves protested saying their husbands and sons had been arrested. there are also new reports of protestors attacking people on the streets again today. we'll follow that story for you. >>> meanwhile

the whole week. we can look a other piecesof it too. on iran, ifyou wantto know what did tey really wan, they wanted to me the russians a little bit. ne -- they wanted toget a hearing for eir bid that the russians have to be tougher and sanctio gwen: because of its nucear weapons pogram? >> because of its, iran's nuclear weapons program. d because of the domesc troubles a the regime is walling itself back in. o sign of medvedev. came out befoe the summit d saidook, iran is our partner, we think santions are a bad idea. move the picture to the g-8 summit and tere the uited states and allie britain, germany andfrance wnted a tough stateme about iran and again, couldn't do it. couldn't t therussianes to sign on he they got an o statemt that said iran shoul take thishance for iplomacy and that weill come back an reassess september that about as tough as t go >> i'm wondering now that we've seen president obama in a couple of these oveseas gatherings and assgnments do we have a beter idea wat his style is when he's outside he u.s.and up agains these

we've been covering the tensions in iran since before the election. he joins us now by phone from philadelphia. thank you very much. what exactly does this mean for iran? >> reporter: i think with the end of the protests in iran, the obvious question is now what? is the opposition movement over? was the government successful in crushing the opposition's voice and is it business as usual? when you have a development like this, the answer is no. the dissent and defiance in iran is not over, but it looks like it shifted into a different form, and that shift appears to show cracks in divisions within the religious establishment, don. >> speaking of the religious establishment, tell us more about the clerics, their influence in all of this. what is their influence? >> reporter: this is a seminary where you have some of the top scholars of shia islam in the world. they were started decades ago by the father of the islamic resolution. they don't lack clout and credibility. they usually stay out of politics. they come out in direct opposition to the president,

the th clear question. charlie: do you believe iran is heade to amilitary dictatorship. it is two choicesn front of the regim the first one needs -- and the other is different. it's theay that sunjani and also before he advised the regi please listen to the protesters, please hear thei voice. andot so late. i think if the supreme leade list to theays of the protesrs and also the adsors, or ayatollah, i think it's the secondhoice will be happen and i hope for the second choice, not the fst choice. >>harlie: do youelieve theocratic vernment has failed in iran. this form of government failed in iran, yes. i mean by this form of theocratic government is the guardianship- the supreme leader imagi divine right f himself and believe in absolute authority, pow for himself, that is above the conitution and allthe governments should obey him absolely, ihink this is style, ts for of regime, tocratic regime has been faile the name of the regime is sothing else. sunjani mentned today it's not sure -- superficialhen call it islamic republican, it has two terms, islam republic. d the in

it was set up in 1986 for iranian fighters who were siding with saddam hussein in the iran/iraq war. the fighting, seen in this amateur video, broke out earlier this week when the government tried to set up a police station inside the camp. the united states and other governments fear that iraq will send the iranians back to their country where they are considered terrorists. >>> as the war in iraq winds down for american forces, the war in afghanistan is expanding for the americans and the british of the casualties are increasing substantially, not just those killed in afghanistan but those who have been wounded. britain's defense ministry said today that 57 soldiers were wounded in the first two weeks of this month alone. the government's trying to deal with the fallout on several fronts, as we hear from jenny wivell of itn. >> reporter: the rate soldiers are being wounded in afghanistan has almost doubled in the last year. along with the 22 service personnel killed in afghanistan this month, 16 troops also suffered serious injuries that put their lives at risk. there are troops lik