President Obama news conference, comment on Iran

Описание: (23 Jun 2009)
1. Wide shot briefing room, US President Barack Obama walking in
2. Side shot Obama at podium
3. SOUNDBITE: (English) Barack Obama, US President:
"The United States and the international community have been appalled and outraged by the threats, and the beatings, and imprisonments of the last few days. I strongly condemn these unjust actions, and I join with the American people in mourning each and every innocent life that is lost. I have made it clear that the United States respects the sovereignty of the Islamic Republic of Iran, and is not interfering with Iran's affairs, but we must also bear witness to the courage and the dignity of the Iranian people, and to a remarkable opening within Iranian society. And we deplore the violence against innocent civilians anywhere that it takes place."
4. Cutaway reporters
5. SOUNDBITE: (English) Barack Obama, US President: includes cutaway side shot Obama
"Some in the Iranian government in particular, are trying to avoid that debate by accusing the United States and others in the West of instigating protests over the election. These accusations are patently false. They're (accusations) an obvious attempt to distract people from what is truly taking place within Iran's borders. This tired strategy of using old tensions to scapegoat other countries won't work any more in Iran. This is not about the United States or the West; this is about the people of Iran, and the future that they - and only they - will choose."
6. Rear shot Obama and journalists as one asks question
7. SOUNDBITE: (English) Barack Obama, US President:
"We didn't have international observers on the ground. We can't say definitively what exactly happened at polling places throughout the country. What we know is that a sizeable percentage of the Iranian people themselves, spanning Iranian society, consider this election illegitimate. It's not an isolated instance, a little grumbling here or there; there are significant questions about the legitimacy of the election."
8. SOUNDBITE: (English) Chip Reid, NBC reporter
"Were you influenced at all by John McCain and Lindsey Graham accusing you of being timid and weak?"
9. SOUNDBITE: (English) Barack Obama, US President:
"What do you think?" (laughter)
10. Cutaway of reporters laughing
11. SOUNDBITE: (English) Barack Obama, US President:
"Yeh, I think that all of us share a belief that we want justice to prevail, but only I'm the president of the United States, and I've got responsibilities in making certain that we are continually advancing our national security interests, and that we are not used as a tool to be exploited by other countries."
12. Wide shot of press
13. SOUNDBITE: (English) Suzanne Malveaux, CNN Reporter
"Have you seen this video and what's your reaction to it?" (referring to the video of death by gunshot of Neda Agha Soltan during protest in Iran)
14. SOUNDBITE: (English) Barack Obama, US President:
"It's heartbreaking. It's uh, it's heartbreaking. And I think that anybody who sees it knows that there is something fundamentally unjust about that."
15. Side shot of Obama ending news conference and walking away
STORYLINE:
US President Barack Obama on Tuesday declared the United States and the entire world "appalled and outraged by the threats, and the beatings, and imprisonments of the last few days," referring to Iran's efforts to crush dissent.
"I strongly condemn these unjust actions," Obama said in a news conference at the White House.
He said the Iranian government's strategy of blaming Western governments for instigating protests was "a tired strategy."

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