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[00:11.64]Dear Friday, it's been a week since we've spoken,
[00:13.82]but I just wanted to say you are awesome!
[00:16.52]This is CNN STUDENT NEWS.
[00:17.54]We're starting in the Middle East today.
[00:19.53]Our first story is from Iran.
[00:21.48]Since last summer, we've been reporting on the controversial nuclear deal
[00:24.97]between Iran and several other countries led by the U.S.
[00:28.19]The agreement removed international sanctions on Iran,
[00:31.89]allowing billions of dollars to flow into its economy.
[00:35.01]In exchange, Iran is required to significantly limit its nuclear program.
[00:39.61]But while supporters and critics butted heads in the U.S. about whether
[00:45.46] this agreement was acceptable, the deal was controversial in Iran, too.
[00:47.96]And with the nation voting today on the make up of its parliament,
[00:53.99]its Iran's parliamentary election after the nuclear deal went into effect.
[00:56.40]Fred Pleitgen is there in the Iranian capital reporting on how the issue factors into the vote.
[01:02.15]Campaigning Iranian style.
[01:04.56]Volunteers for the reform movement hand out flyers in Tehran's traffic.
[01:09.03]They say they're confident but not certain they'll win.
[01:12.67]"It's unclear what will happen
[01:15.44]because the Iranians only make up their minds in the last minute," he says.
[01:18.75]"But the moderates' position is much better than that of the conservatives."
[01:22.74]Tehran is plastered with election posters,
[01:25.92]as the fierce battle between the reformers around President Hassan Rouhani
[01:30.49]and the conservatives around the powerful clergy unfolds.
[01:33.12](on camera): Many observers view the upcoming elections as extremely important
[01:38.05]and also as a referendum on Hassan Rouhani's policies of opening Iran up to the West.
[01:45.09](voice-over): The divisions were exacerbated by the recent nuclear agreement
[01:49.80]designed to prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons and return for sanctions relief.
[01:54.60]"We support the Rouhani government and the nuclear deal", this reformist says.
[02:00.47]"We should have a parliament to support and not to block Rouhani's policies."
[02:05.00]But many conservatives view that as a threat.
[02:09.48]"Death to America", they chant at this hard line rally.
[02:14.33]They believe Iran has opened itself to American infiltration with the nuclear agreement.
[02:21.71]"We consider the nuclear deal to be American interference,"
[02:25.95]she says, "and we will fight against it and hopefully defeat it.
[02:29.77]Our nation will not allow America to influence our affairs."
[02:33.66]The decisions Iranian voters make this Friday could do more than just alter the make up of its parliament.
[02:40.40]They could also influence the country's course towards the west
[02:44.76]and some believe the stability of its political system.
[02:46.93](END VIDEOTAPE)
[02:47.39]AZUZ: Crossing the Persian Gulf,
[02:49.17]we come to the United Arab Emirates and a nation a little larger than South Carolina.
[02:53.48]While the U.S. state gets more than 50 inches of rainfall each year,
[02:57.24] the UAE only gets between four and six.
[03:01.01]The vast majority of its land is desert.
[03:04.05]Yes, it borders the Persian Gulf, but it has a massive desalination plant to remove the salt from the sea.
[03:10.38]But without a fresh water source, there are no lakes or rivers in the UAE,
[03:16.55]officials have the challenge of meeting the growing nation's needs for H20.
[03:19.50]There is a way to make it rain, or more specifically to make it rain more.
[03:25.17]It's risky, it's not cheap, and it requires flying a plane into the center of the storm.
[03:29.13](BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
[03:29.73]JON JENSEN, CNN REPORTER (voice-over): At a remote airstrip outside Abu Dhabi,
[03:32.19]New Zealander pilot Mike Anstis is setting off to do something most would consider impossible in a desert.
[03:40.57]He's hoping to make it rain.
[03:46.78]Mike is cloud seeding.
[03:48.03]MIKE ANSTIS, CLOUD SEEDING PILOT: OK, I'm going to fly.
[03:49.22]Let's do it.
[03:49.89]JENSEN: He does it by firing salt compounds into the air, to increase rainfall.
[03:54.43]ANSTIS: On the wings of the aircraft, we've got flares,
[03:58.85]which we fire the flares, it burns and it emits a smoke.
[04:03.77]JENSEN: That smoke then attracts water vapor, creating bigger droplets.
[04:07.80]The flares though are only effective if launch from inside certain thick clouds.
[04:13.09](on camera): If you don't like turbulence,
[04:15.16]this is definitely not the flight for you because if you're cloud seeding,
[04:18.71]kind of like Mike here, they don't avoid storms.
[04:21.91]They head right to the heart of them.
[04:23.44](voice-over): Our plane is tossed around in the wind, side to side, and down.
[04:30.56]ANSTIS: We're dropping.
[04:32.31]There is a calculated risk associated with this.
[04:35.97]We do have to know when it's time to bail out.
[04:39.16]UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How's the weather there?
[04:41.58]JENSEN: On the ground, scientists at the country's meteorology center track the flight.
[04:45.05]They started cloud seeding 15 years ago,
[04:49.49]to help sustain a growing population in the UAE, one of the world's top consumers of water.
[04:56.23]Last year, they flew more than 150 flights.
[05:00.54]Each costs around $5,000.
[05:03.30]But they say it's cheaper and greener than operating desalination plants, UAE's main source of fresh water.
[05:09.57]Our material that we use is environmental salt.
[05:14.35]Very small, small amount that does not affected the environment.
[05:17.95]JENSEN: And it may be working.
[05:20.16]ANSTIS: Rain is starting to come here --
[05:22.12]JENSEN: Back where Mike first fired flares,
[05:26.37]a heavy downpour pounded the plane.
[05:27.87](on camera): Did you just make this rain?
[05:31.23]ANSTIS: It's a natural rain but we're trying to increase it.
[05:36.57]JENSEN (voice-over): Scientists are still studying how much water cloud seeding makes,
[05:40.26] and the long term effects on mother nature.
[05:43.04]But in a region where annual rainfall is just around three inches,
[05:48.80] rainmakers like Mike say this may be the best way to sustain life in the desert.
[05:52.70]John Jensen, CNN, somewhere over the UAE.
