Reza Sayah
CNN

Editor’s Note: Saying it had completed an investigation into alleged voter irregularities, Iran's election authority on Monday stood by its findings that gave hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad an overwhelming victory and sparked more than two weeks of chaos in the streets.

There was "no tangible irregularity," Guardian Council spokesman Abbas Ali Kadkhodaei told government-run Press TV after reporting that a recount of some 10 percent of the votes found no significant differences. "After this, the file will be closed and from today on in the presidential election, the file has been closed."

Meanwhile, today Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad  called the death of Neda Agha-Soltan "suspicious" and urged the country's authorities to identify those responsible for it, Iran's semi-official Fars news agency reported Monday. What now? We spoke with CNN's Reza Sayah, at CNN's Iran Desk in Atlanta.

Reza Sayah | BIO
CNN International Correspondent

1. Iran's electoral oversight group, the Guardian Council, announced today that it confirmed the election results. What now? Does opposition leader Moussavi have any recourse?

Sayah: Moussavi doesn't have any legal recourse. People will be interested to see what he does. The best he can hope for at this point is behind the scenes, lining up religious senior clerics to establish coalitions. Bottom line, the military is behind Ahmadinejad. He really doesn’t have any more options.

2.  Security forces reportedly flooded the streets after that announcement on the election results came out. Is there a sense that the heavy-handed tactics are really working for the Iranian government?

Sayah: Security forces were out in full force today, everywhere. They've been the key to this. Whenever you have a conflict like this, security forces really play the key and they’re malleable. If they see more favorable interests in the powers that be, they'll side with them, in this case Ahmadinejad. If the military sees a better play with opposition, they'll head to them.

For most Iranians, in the short run, this aggressive crackdown has snuffed out these protests. In the long run, will it demoralize them, or will this crackdown further radicalize the opposition for the long run? Time till tell.

3. A woman killed in a protest a week and a half ago named Neda has very much become the face of this struggle. Today President Ahmadinejad called her death “suspicious” and requested an investigation. Will that quell any of the uproar over her death?

Sayah: Probably not. They won't be satisfied with his explanation. Government officials have offered 3 different sets of explanation for her death at this point: the CIA, protestors themselves and banned terrorist groups. People are convinced that it was members of the Basij. President Ahmadinjad had this to say in regards to Neda: "The massive propaganda of the foreign media, as well as other evidence, proves the interference of the enemies of the Iranian nation who want to take political advantage and darken the pure face of the Islamic Republic.

Editor's Note: Pakistan looked like it might be descending into chaos over the past 48 hours. Several bombs went off in two major cities on Thursday, just hours after the Taliban warned people to flee. That's on top of attacks in another city the day before that killed more than two dozen people. All this despite - or because - the Pakistan army launched an offensive to push militants back from the capital. Is Pakistan - a nuclear power and key U.S. ally, with an army long focused on India, not on an insurgency - in imminent danger? We spoke with CNN's Reza Sayah, in Islamabad.

Pakistanis look Thursday at the rubble of a police building in Lahore hit by a suicide bomb on Wednesday.

1. Reza, what is the latest.. is Pakistan's stability deteriorating?

A: Taliban becoming more daring..and dangerous.. stepping up bombings of govt buildings..of civilian targets.. in key cities that were thought to be under control.. showing how much power and control they wield by threatening bombings, and carrying them out, with the government or military unable to stop them

2. It wasn't supposed to be this way, right? Pakistan launched a major offensive against the Taliban, and push them back from the capitol. Isn't it working?

A: The Pakistan military did attack the Taliban in the Swat Valley, northeast of Islamabad. The problem is the Taliban isn't a conventional military.. they don't wear uniforms.. they look like civilians.. so it's not clear who the enemy is.. So the army has just swept hundreds of thousands of people from their homes.. setting off a massive refugee crisis.. the army SAYS it has killed 1200 militants and captured more.. but if you look at the pictures, you can't tell who those people are.. there's no proof they're Taliban..

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Reza Sayah | BIO
CNN Islamabad Correspondent

It’s getting ugly in Pakistan.

Last week a massive suicide truck bomb killed more than 50 and destroyed the Islamabad Marriott. Extremists are getting more aggressive and sophisticated than ever. Instead of working together against militants, U.S. and Pakistani troops are firing shots and accusation at one another.

On Thursday the Pentagon said Pakistani troops opened fire on a U.S. chopper flying in Afghan airspace near the Pakistani border. The Pakistani Army said they fired at the chopper because it violated Pakistani airspace. The chopper fired back, they said. Washington and Islamabad are supposed to be partners in the fight against extremists. It doesn’t take a military genius to know partners don’t shoot at one another.

The Pentagon called the incident a misunderstanding, but what’s clear is escalating tension between Washington and Islamabad and rising anti-Americanism among average Pakistanis because of incidents like this.

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Reza Sayah
CNN Islamabad Correspondent

The tears came pouring. They belonged to a 29-year-old Iranian man who drove me to a story shoot. I’ll call him Amir to protect his identity. He started crying next to me in the car, midway through a song about Iran’s soccer team. “I cry every time I hear this,” he said.

Amir tells me Iran’s soccer team represents the freedom he and millions of young Iranians yearn for, a freedom to let loose, celebrate and scream in public, a freedom to dance, a freedom to hold a girlfriend’s hand on a city street, a freedom to follow dreams.

When the Iranian soccer team made it to the world cup in 2006, tens of thousands poured onto the streets of Tehran and danced. “There’s a lot of emotion built up inside,” said Amir, “we need to let it out. Soccer is how we let it out.”

Amir’s tears reminded me how different my life could’ve been. I was born in Iran but left with my family when I was 10. We took a few suitcases and started a new life in Philadelphia. That same year both Amir and Iran’s Islamic Revolution were born. Amir never left. He grew up with the revolution. They’re the same age.

The revolution changed everything in Iran.
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