D.C. Metro Trains Collide; Iranians Continue Protests
WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Happening now, we're following breaking news on several fronts. Right here in Washington, two subway trains crash, and the accident now is deadly. We're getting new pictures and information coming in. Also, rage and fear in the eyes of Iranians -- this hour, powerful firsthand accounts of the unrest in Iran after an attack on protesters by riot police. And President Obama cracks down on the habit he can't break, and now he's squaring a tough new anti-smoking law with his own struggle with tobacco. Also, a fraud watchdog is fired. Did the White House boot him for being critical of an Obama supporter? What's going on? We want to welcome our viewers in the United States and around the world. I'm Wolf Blitzer. You're in THE SITUATION ROOM. But, first, the breaking news from Iran. This hour, Iran's powerful security forces bracing for more anti-government protests and issuing its sternest warning yet that demonstrators will pay a price. Protesters defied those threats today, gathering in a Tehran square to vent their anger about Iran's disputed presidential election. But riot police quickly moved in, reportedly attacking hundreds of people with tear gas and firing live bullets in the air. Listen to this. A surprise admission today from the Iranian government that more ballots were cast in 50 -- 50 -- cities than the number of people eligible to vote in those cities. But authorities insist that would not have changed the outcome of the election. Britain is certainly a target of anger in Iran, and it's now evacuating the families of diplomats from its embassy in Tehran. It's the first country to do that since this crisis erupted. The Iranian regime is calling for a review of its ties to the U.K., accusing it of meddling. And a new call to action today for Iranian protesters from the opposition leader himself. Let's go to our Internet reporter, Abbi Tatton. She's at the Iran desk at CNN's global headquarters monitoring what's going on. First, Abbi, tell us about this call from Mir Hossein Mousavi.</s>ABBI TATTON, CNN INTERNET REPORTER: Wolf, this was a recent update to the Facebook page of Mir Hossein Mousavi, calling for a protest, a demonstration, a peaceful demonstration, according to this update, on the streets of Tehran on Thursday. It says stay tuned for further details, that they're being worked out right now, the protest called to honor the martyrs, according to this post on the Facebook page, and that call for a further demonstration, despite warnings from Ayatollah Khamenei on Thursday -- on Friday -- I'm sorry -- that the protesters would suffer consequences if they were to take to the streets again. But that's an update from the Facebook page of Mir Hossein Mousavi. We're here at the Iran desk in Atlanta at the CNN Center, where we have teams of people monitoring state television. We have Farsi speakers going through the videos that we're bringing to you, sources on the ground corroborating the information that we're showing you right now. And I wanted to bring this tape, which shows what the protesters are up against. Right now, this is at a sports complex which seems to have been turned into a dispatch center for the gang-like forces who have been patrolling the streets. You saw motorcycles lining up there. Take a look at the protesters running in this video here, running to the left. You're wondering why they're doing that. The camera then pans to the right. And look at these motorcycles come down the street, two, four, six, eight. You see them patrolling the streets. You see the protesters very quickly intimidated and getting out of the way of the Basij, of these gang-like forces who have been out on the streets, ready to meet any of the people that take -- go out and demonstrate -- Wolf.</s>BLITZER: They are very frightening, these black-clad Basij guys on their motorcycles with the batons and the tear gas. Abbi, stand by. I want to get back to you. CNN is harnessing all of its resources to bring you the latest information from inside Iran, but the country is putting severe restrictions on our reporters and many others, kicking a lot of journalists out of the country. I spoke just a short while ago with one of the few journalists, Western journalists, left in Iran, "The New York Times" columnist Roger Cohen.</s>BLITZER: How worried should the main opposition leader, Mir Hossein Mousavi, be for his own personal security and perhaps for being arrested or even killed?</s>ROGER COHEN, COLUMNIST, "THE NEW YORK TIMES": I think there's a very serious risk that he could be arrested. Everybody has been arrested. I mean, all the people I saw when I arrived here almost two weeks ago, all the people around him, his aides, all the reformist intellectuals, they're all in jail. They're all in prison. And he could very easily be arrested. He's clearly being limited in his movements. He's not been seen, to my knowledge, since last Thursday. He made a powerful statement Saturday morning. Then he was invisible and silent for 36 hours or so, which caused some disarray. Then he did come out today again in the early hours of today and says that people have the right to protest this -- what he regards as this fraudulent vote. So, he's clearly limited in his movements. And, yes, the danger is there that he could be arrested. Killed, I would doubt that at this point.</s>BLITZER: What about you, Roger? How worried are you about your safety in Tehran right now?</s>COHEN: Well, it's very tense. And most people are gone. So it's kind of lonely. But, you know, I'm just trying to -- obviously, I think the story's of huge and fundamental importance. And I'm just trying to report it out until somebody tells me to stop, which, thankfully, hasn't happened yet.</s>BLITZER: Did you have a chance today to really walk around Tehran and get a personal feel of the tension, the fear factor in what's going on?</s>COHEN: Yes, I moved around a fair amount today, and I have certainly moved around a lot in recent days. And, you know, tensions were absolutely at fever pitch on -- on Saturday and all of last week. The city is a -- is a little calmer now. But if you look into anybody's eyes, you see -- many people's eyes -- you see this smoldering rage. And there's a lot of fear about. And as soon as you get to the downtown area, around Revolution Street and Revolution Square and Freedom Square, where a lot of the protests have taken place and where the security forces are really massed, the tension is very severe. And I -- clearly, because I -- I'm conspicuous at this point, I'm looking over my shoulder. And everybody is, I think. And there's still a tremendous amount of tension in the air. And tonight, once again, the cries of "Death to the dictator," and "Allahu akbar," "God is great," were reverberating around the city just as strongly as ever.</s>BLITZER: And when they say, "Death to the dictator," specifically, who do they have in mind?</s>COHEN: Well, that's unclear. I think, at the beginning, they had in mind President Ahmadinejad. One of the things that happened, has happened here over the last 10 days is that a movement that was directed very specifically at annulling the election and recovering votes that millions of people thought had been fraudulently lost has shifted, for many people, not for Mousavi himself -- and I think he's right, tactically, because the clerical establishment won't go along with a counter-revolution, but, for many people, it's shifted to the whole regime. And at the apex of that regime, of course, stands the supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.</s>BLITZER: Well, Roger, we will check back with you tomorrow. Please be careful over there, Roger Cohen, the columnist from "The New York Times," an eyewitness to history unfolding right now. Thanks, Roger.</s>COHEN: Thanks, Wolf. Bye.</s>ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.</s>BLITZER: All right, there's also a major development here in the nation's capital, in Washington, D.C. Two D.C. metro trains have collided within the past hour, this occurring during rush hour. Elaine Quijano is standing by. I think she's at the scene. Elaine, are you there?</s>ELAINE QUIJANO, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: I am, Wolf. I am standing on a bridge overlooking the train tracks. There is a stopped Metro train below me with its doors open. We also see Metro Transit police on the tracks. They have been evacuating passengers from the train using stretchers, also carrying some of these passengers. From what we could tell, some of the passengers, at least one of them that I saw, did seem able to walk. There are -- there are, though, however, reports -- Metro officials have confirmed that two people have died in this train collision here. We understand that there are people trapped as well. From our vantage point, we -- I have to tell you, we got pushed back from where we originally were, and so I have not seen ambulances or fire trucks on this particular side of the bridge where we are. But they are obviously working to rescue the people who remain trapped at this hour. Quite a number of emergency vehicles, Wolf, we should tell you, really descending on the scene on our way up here. And the Metro officials, in fact, are working to brief reporters just a few feet away from me, Wolf. But, again, the latest is, Metro officials are confirming, Wolf, two people have died. There are, of course, serious injuries here and reports of people still trapped in the trains -- Wolf.</s>BLITZER: All right, Elaine, stand by, because Taryn McNeil is joining us on the phone right now. She's a spokesman for the Metro Transit Authority. Taryn, how many dead and injured based on your latest information?</s>LISA FARBSTEIN, SPOKESWOMAN, D.C. METRO TRANSIT: Taryn had to take another call. This is Lisa Farbstein with Metro.</s>BLITZER: Can you answer the questions, Lisa?</s>FARBSTEIN: We have a report of, I can confirm, two fatalities and several serious injuries. Obviously, our main concern is to treat the people who are injured and get them all the medical attention that they can and that we can get for them to make sure that, you know, they are treated properly.</s>BLITZER: Was this a head-on collision?</s>FARBSTEIN: I don't have any information as to the cause of the collision at this time. It's likely to be several days before we do have any kind of preliminary information on that.</s>BLITZER: And do we know how many people were in these cars, how many people are affected by -- by this collision?</s>FARBSTEIN: Well, they're -- the trains would have been fairly full, because it happened at 5:00, at the start of the rush hour. How many that would be, I have no way of knowing at this time.</s>BLITZER: But you are confirming two dead right now and many others injured. That's right?</s>FARBSTEIN: Yes, indeed. Unfortunately, that is the case.</s>BLITZER: All right, Lisa...</s>FARBSTEIN: And, obviously, you can see from the images on your screen that there are emergency medical personnel at the scene doing everything they can to treat those individuals.</s>BLITZER: All right, Lisa, we will check back with you. Thank you. The general manager of the D.C. Metro, John Catoe, said this.</s>JOHN CATOE, GENERAL MANAGER, D.C. METRO: What I know thus far is approximately at</s>BLITZER: All right, he's obviously -- that tape came in before we have confirmed that there are two fatalities, not one, and several people injured. Peter Goelz is joining us, formerly with the National Transportation Safety Board. It's going to be a thorough investigation whenever you have a collision like this. What's the immediate sense you're getting, Peter?</s>PETER GOELZ, FORMER MANAGING DIRECTOR, NATIONAL TRANSPORTATION SAFETY BOARD: Well, the NTSB will launch a team, and they will be there shortly. They have -- you know, they have gone out three times in the last three years for the Washington system, twice on track workers being killed by passing trains, once on a derailment. But they will look at this very carefully, because there -- there have been increasing concerns about the safety of aging Metro lines.</s>BLITZER: How safe are these trains, not only in Washington? But there are cities all over the country that have these subway systems, these trains. How worried should folks watching this be right now?</s>GOELZ: Well, I mean, it's a pretty safe form of transportation, but there have been some disturbing trends recently. In Boston, in the Metro system up there, they have had a couple of incidents where the engineers were distracted by texting or using cell phones. Same thing -- there was a tragic accident in California on a larger rail -- on a commuter rail line on the same thing. I would say that this is -- this accident's going to get a lot of attention.</s>BLITZER: I don't know if you have access to what we're showing our viewers, Peter, right now in the screen. Do you see CNN right now?</s>GOELZ: I don't. No, I'm sorry.</s>BLITZER: Oh, because you clearly see these two trains in a collision, one train on top -- one cabin on top of another one. And it looks pretty, pretty devastating when you show that image. I don't know if we can get back to that, that picture. But it's a horrible, horrible picture.</s>GOELZ: Yes. And that -- and that would indicate some fairly high speeds. This -- this was not a low speed accident. I have seen some of the clips already. So, I'm just not watching it exactly now. But this is -- the -- the NTSB will have a full -- full team out there to look at this. And they will look at the operations, the switching and exactly how you get two trains on the same -- same track. And you can see one cabin, one train is directly above another train, so it must have been going at high speed to simply be elevated like that and wind up sitting on another train completely. It's a pretty devastating picture. And for the millions of people who take subways and trains every single day, it's a source of concern, obviously not only here in the nation's capital -- there's that picture right there from our affiliate WJLA -- but it's a source of concern for folks all over the country. All right, we will stay on top of this story and update you once we get more information, at least two dead here in Washington with this crash, and lots of others injured. Let's check in with Jack Cafferty for "The Cafferty File" -- Jack.</s>JACK CAFFERTY, CNN ANCHOR: Goldman Sachs, the investment bank, is on track to make the biggest bonus payouts in the 140-year history of that venerable company, according to a report in the British newspaper "The Guardian." Goldman staff in London were reportedly told they could expect record bonuses if the company, as predicted, has its most profitable year ever. The investment bank's earnings are up for several reasons, including a lack of competition, along with increased revenue from trading foreign currency, bonds, and fixed-income products. Last week, Goldman Sachs repaid the U.S. government $10 billion in TARP money which it had received, which now leaves it free to do pretty much whatever it wants. Yet, the company is denying these reports about these record bonuses, calling them pure speculation. They say they won't know what the bonuses will be until the end of December. But the company's CEO told lawmakers recently the firm is obligated to -- quote -- "ensure that compensation reflects the true performance of the firm and motivates proper behavior" -- unquote. Critics say the culture of excessive risk and excessive bonuses is what brought down the financial system in the first place. And in light of the ongoing recession and record unemployment, and home foreclosures, and a whole range of economic woes, some could argue if this is the best time for Goldman to be considering paying out record bonuses. It's believed the firm paid $1 million or more to nearly 1,000 of its investment bankers last year. So, here's the question: What message would it send if Goldman Sachs makes the biggest bonus payouts in its 140-year history? Go to CNN.com/caffertyfile. Post a comment on my blog. You get a bonus this year, Wolf?</s>BLITZER: No. But it means that business must be pretty good, I guess.</s>CAFFERTY: I think Goldman Sachs is doing all right.</s>BLITZER: Yes, I guess so. All right, Jack, thanks very much. I want to show our viewers this very dramatic picture of what's happening here in Washington, D.C. There it is. Take a look at this shot, if we can get it up on the screen. Two Metro trains collided here in Washington within the past hour or so. And one train is now on top of the other train, at least two dead. There you see it right now. That's a live picture coming in from our affiliate WJLA. And we are going to update you on what we know and the lessons learned from this accident in Washington right in the middle of rush hour in Washington, D.C. Also, haunting images coming out of Iran right now. We will hear from an Iranian who lived through the 1979 revolution and is still haunted by the memories. Plus, President Obama says the U.S. is ready for any move North Korea might make. How seriously should the U.S. take that regime's missile threats? Stay with us. You're in THE SITUATION ROOM.