❓WHAT HAPPENED: The BBC’s Persian service mistranslated remarks by U.S. Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, making it look as though he said U.S. forces were targeting the Iranian “people” rather than the Iranian “regime.”
👤WHO WAS INVOLVED: Pete Hegseth, BBC Persian, and President Donald J. Trump.
📍WHEN & WHERE: The mistranslation occurred during a live broadcast on Monday, with subsequent fallout online and in international media.
💬KEY QUOTE: “This mistranslated word was a mistake, as a result of human error, during the live simultaneous translation of a speech.” – BBC spokesman
🎯IMPACT: The mistranslation has raised questions about the BBC’s impartiality and reignited criticism from Donald Trump, who has a history of disputes with the broadcaster.
The BBC is facing backlash after BBC Persian mistranslated comments made by U.S. Secretary of War Pete Hegseth during a broadcast. In the original speech, Hegseth made clear that U.S. military operations in Iran are aimed at Iran’s regime rather than its citizens, stating, “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.” However, BBC Persian translated this as: “It turns out the people that chanted ‘Death to America and death to Israel’ was gifted death from America and death from Israel,” making it look as though the Iranian people as a whole, rather than the Islamic Republic’s ruling mullahs, are being targeted.
The mistranslation drew swift backlash, and BBC Persian subsequently acknowledged the issue and issued a correction, claiming it was an unintentional mistake made by the interpreter during real-time simultaneous translation.
The incident follows a major scandal involving the BBC doctoring a speech by President Donald J. Trump on January 6, 2021, for a programme aired shortly before the U.S. elections in 2024. BBC Panorama showed a clip of Trump saying, “We’re gonna walk down to the Capitol, and I’ll be with you, and we fight. We fight like hell, and if you don’t fight like hell, you’re not gonna have a country anymore,” making it appear as though he directly incited disorder.
In reality, Trump said, “We’re going to walk down to the Capitol, and we’re going to cheer on our brave senators and congressmen and women”—the BBC had created its clip by splicing together two sections of Trump’s speech close to an hour apart.
The broadcaster’s Director General and Head of News both abruptly resigned following the scandal, but it has not officially admitted any malicious wrongdoing and is fighting a multi-billion-dollar lawsuit from Trump.
Join Pulse+ to comment below, and receive exclusive e-mail analyses.