UNEXPECTEDLY: BBC altered Hegseth speech on Iran war.
The BBC mistakenly altered a speech by Pete Hegseth on the war in Iran, making him appear to say the United States was targeting the Iranian “people”.
BBC Persian, which broadcasts to audiences inside Iran, mistranslated remarks by the US secretary of defence, telling viewers Washington was bringing death to the Iranian “people”.
In fact, Mr Hegseth had said the Iranian “regime” was being targeted.
The mistake was seized upon by pro-Israel media campaigners, who claimed that it cast doubt on the BBC’s impartiality. It also triggered a backlash on social media.
The row risks putting the BBC on another collision course with Donald Trump, who launched a $10bn (£7.5bn) lawsuit against the corporation last year after The Telegraph revealed it had altered a speech in a way that made him appear to encourage the Capitol Hill riot.
Mr Trump has justified the ongoing war in the Middle East by arguing that Tehran’s leadership, not its population, poses a direct threat to American national security after repeatedly calling for “death to America”.
The BBC, which carried Mr Hegseth’s Pentagon address live on Monday, translated the word “regime” as “mardom”, the Persian word for “people”. It later issued a correction.
Flashback: Roger Kimball: Doctored Footage Fallout: Trump vs. the BBC: Trump’s lawsuit over the BBC’s doctored Jan. 6 clip now threatens to turn the broadcaster’s license-fee crisis into a full-blown reckoning over trust, bias, and billions.
BBC Defenders:
'Mr Trump is a Bad Man. So its perfectly OK to lie about his specches'
'But how do you know he's a bad man?'
'Just listen to his speeches!'
A self-serving, circular, worthless argument.
— Latimer Alder (@latimeralder) November 15, 2025