The BBC has admitted to a mistranslation during its Persian-language broadcast of a speech by US defence secretary Pete Hegseth about the war involving Iran, an error that critics say significantly altered the meaning of his remarks and added to concerns about the broadcaster’s editorial standards.
BBC Persian translated Hegseth’s reference to the Iranian “regime” as “mardom”, the Persian word for “people”, while carrying his address from the Pentagon earlier this week.
The translation suggested that the United States was directing its actions against the Iranian population rather than the country’s ruling authorities.
The broadcaster later issued a correction, saying the error occurred during a live simultaneous translation.
In the original speech, 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.”
However, the version broadcast in Persian stated: “It turns out the people that chanted ‘death to America and death to Israel’ was gifted death from America and death from Israel.”
The mistranslation quickly drew criticism from analysts and media monitoring groups, who argued that the wording fundamentally changed the meaning of the defence secretary’s comments by conflating Iran’s leadership with its civilian population.
Thamar Eilam-Gindin, an Iran expert and Persian linguist at Haifa University, said the error significantly altered the message delivered in the speech.
“By mistranslating the English word ‘regime’ into the Persian word ‘mardom’, meaning ‘people’, the BBC’s Persian service fundamentally altered the meaning of the US secretary of defence’s speech, making it appear as though he were attacking all Iranians rather than the Islamic Republic.
“Among members of the Iranian diaspora in the West, with whom I am in regular contact, this incident reinforces what they perceive as a long-standing pro-regime editorial line at BBC Persian.”
A spokesman for Camera UK, a media monitoring organisation focused on coverage of Israel and the Middle East, also criticised the translation.
“Once again, the already problematic reputation of BBC World Service is further damaged by a mistranslation that manipulates the original meaning of the text. Just as ‘Jews’ are not synonymous with ‘Israelis’ in Arabic, the ‘people’ of Iran are not the same as its ‘regime’ in Persian.”
The BBC said the mistranslation resulted from human error during the live broadcast.
“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,” a BBC spokesman said.
The incident adds to a series of controversies surrounding the broadcaster’s reporting and editorial decisions in recent years.
The corporation is currently facing a multibillion-dollar defamation lawsuit brought by Donald Trump over a Panorama documentary about the 2021 Capitol riot. The programme, titled Trump: A Second Chance?, aired shortly before the 2024 US presidential election and was accused of editing a speech by Trump in a way that critics say changed its meaning and suggested he had encouraged the storming of the US Capitol.
According to a complaint filed in a federal court in Florida, Trump described the documentary as a “brazen attempt” to influence the election contest between himself and Democratic candidate Kamala Harris. The lawsuit seeks $5bn in damages and a further $5bn over alleged violations of state trade practices law.
The case followed the emergence of an internal whistleblower memo, reported last year, which claimed the programme had “completely misled” viewers about Trump’s remarks.
BBC Persian itself has long been at the centre of tensions with the Iranian authorities. Journalists working for the service have reported that relatives living in Iran have faced pressure from the government because of their reporting.
Staff members have said family members have been interrogated or detained by Iranian authorities in attempts to force journalists to stop covering protests and unrest in the country. Relatives have reportedly been threatened with arrest, confiscation of assets and the removal of business licences.
“In addition to enduring personal security threats from Iranian state actors operating beyond Iran’s borders, BBC News Persian journalists are now witnessing a disturbing rise in the persecution of their family members inside Iran,” Tim Davie said in June last year.
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