The BBC has been accused of mistranslating remarks by Pete Hegseth about the conflict with Iran, after a speech was altered in a way that suggested the United States was targeting the Iranian “people”.
BBC Persian, which broadcasts to audiences inside Iran, translated comments by the US defence secretary as saying Washington was bringing death to the Iranian “people”.
However, Mr Hegseth had in fact referred to the Iranian “regime” as the target.
The error was quickly highlighted by pro-Israel media campaigners, who argued it raised questions about the BBC’s impartiality. The translation also sparked criticism and debate across social media.
The dispute threatens to place the BBC on another collision course with Donald Trump, who last year launched a $10bn (£7.5bn) lawsuit against the broadcaster after The Telegraph revealed a speech of his had been edited in a way that appeared to suggest he was encouraging the Capitol Hill riot.
Mr Trump has repeatedly defended the ongoing conflict in the Middle East by arguing that Iran’s leadership – rather than its citizens – poses a direct threat to US national security, pointing to years of chants of “death to America” from Tehran’s rulers.
However, when the BBC aired Mr Hegseth’s address from the Pentagon live on Monday, BBC Persian translated the word “regime” as “mardom”, the Persian term for “people”. The broadcaster later issued a correction.
The translation quickly sparked criticism online from some Iranians, who accused the BBC of blurring the distinction between ordinary citizens and the country’s ruling authorities and of altering the meaning of Mr Hegseth’s remarks. Others defended the wording, arguing the translation was acceptable.
Pete Hegseth’s speech was altered by the BBC
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The US President has also previously urged Iranians to rise up against their leaders. On Monday, Mr Hegseth echoed that sentiment, encouraging civilians to “take advantage of this incredible opportunity”.
In the speech, Mr Hegseth said: “It turns out the regime that chanted ‘death to America and death to Israel’ was gifted death from America and death from Israel. This is not a so-called regime-change war, but the regime sure did change and the world is better off for it.”
In the Persian translation broadcast by the BBC, however, the line was rendered as: “It turns out the people that chanted ‘death to America and death to Israel’ was gifted death from America and death from Israel.”
A BBC spokesman said: “This mistranslated word was a mistake, as a result of human error, during the live simultaneous translation of a speech. We issued a correction to Persian audiences on air and on social media.”
Donald Trump told GB News about his plans to take the BBC to court
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GB NEWSIt follows Mr Trump’s confirmation in December that he is taking legal action against the BBC.
He filed a lawsuit against the corporation and is seeking up to $10billion (£7.5billion) in damages in response to the editing of a speech he made before the 2021 attack on the Capitol.
The President’s lawyers argue the depiction of him given in the edit, which aired in a Panorama documentary a week before the results of the 2024 US election, “was false and defamatory” and they also said “the BBC intentionally and maliciously sought to fully mislead its viewers around the world”.
In the Panorama programme, a clip from Mr Trump’s speech on January 6 2021 was spliced to show him saying: “We’re going to walk down to the Capitol… and I’ll be there with you. And we fight. We fight like hell.”
President Trump has accused the BBC of defaming him by splicing together parts of a January 6, 2021, speech | BBCThe lawsuit is seeking five billion dollars (£3.7 billion) in damages on two counts: for an allegation of defamation, and for a violation of the Florida Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act.
A BBC spokesperson said: “As we have made clear previously, we will be defending this case. We are not going to make further comment on ongoing legal proceedings.”
The Panorama programme was not broadcast in the US, but the lawsuit says it can be watched on the BritBox subscription streaming platform and also claims “millions of Florida citizens use a virtual private network (VPN) to view content such as the Panorama documentary”.
