Transcript of CNN's coverage of the FOR delegation Iran

The following is the transcript of CNN coverage of the FOR's May delegation to Iran. The report originally aired on May 17, 2006 on CNN International, and on the CNN program "Live From" in the United States.

Iran says no nukes from Europe. Iran's president says that his country isn't looking for incentives to drop his uranium-enrichment program, even if they includes a so-called light-water nuclear reactor. That's said to be an idea floated by Britain, France and Germany, aimed at blunting Iran's homegrown nuclear research. Light- water reactors are harder to use for weapons production, which Iran has always said, it's not its goal anyway. Tension between Iran and the west is nothing new, but some Americans hope to ease it, using only their passports, visas and open minds.

Here's CNN's Aneesh Raman.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ANEESH RAMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In this ancient Iranian city of Isfahan, just past a street musician, playing what could be described as Persian bagpipes, Iranians who travel here in droves to see relics of their past, today find themselves walking by a modern marvel, a group of Americans. These Americans are sightseers themselves with a purpose, 23 interfaith peace activists who call themselves the "Fellowship of Reconciliation," who paid their way to come to Iran for a 12-day visit.

Twenty-eight-year-old New Yorker Melissa Van put preconceptions aside.

MELISSA VAN, FELLOWSHIP OF RECONCILIATION: When I decided to come, everybody was really afraid for me, oh, you're going to get killed.

RAMAN: She hasn't. Instead, she and the others have relished their spontaneous encounters with average Iranians. They fear war is on the horizon, that the U.S. should talk to Iran about its nuclear concerns.

But is this an elaborate protests against President Bush?

VAN: I think this is beyond the particular president and the particular situation right now. I think for a long time there has been a lot of misunderstanding between the two countries. RAMAN: Melissa is putting her impressions on a blog about how Iranians openly complain that signs like this give Americans the wrong impression of their country.

VAN: Most Iranians are concerned that people in the U.S. will think of them as terrorists, as ignorant, as people living in trees, and they want to really dispel that myth.

RAMAN (on camera): At night, Isfahan goes from ancient to much more modern. It is Iran's second city. And we've come to track down the Americans who are having some authentic Persian dinner just down the street there.

(voice-over): Inside, it's not a given that Americans stand out. Isfahan is a tourist draw for many foreigners, those who can get visas, a place where worlds collide over the kabobs.

VAN: You know, there's a sense that they're so much different, and I don't think that that's true. I don't think there's that much difference.

RAMAN: Melissa's is a group hoping dialogue can emerge between the U.S. and Iran. But getting governments to compromise, they know, is far more difficult than getting people to connect.

Aneesh Raman, CNN, Isfahan, Iran.

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