BBC mistranslates Pete Hegseth's speech on Iran, mistakenly swaps Iranian 'regime' to Iranian 'people'

08 Mar 2026 By foxnews

The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) Persian mistranslated part of Secretary of War Pete Hegseth's Monday speech on Iran, making it appear that the United States was targeting the Iranian "people" rather than the Iranian "regime."

During BBC Persian's broadcast of the war secretary's speech to audiences inside Iran, the network mistranslated the word "regime" as "mardom," which means "people" in Persian.

This mix-up led audiences to believe that the Iranian people were being targeted by the U.S., when in reality, Hegseth had said the Iranian regime was being targeted by American forces.

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"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," Hegseth said.

When translated to Persian by the network, the war secretary's speech 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 BBC has since issued a correction.

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"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," the network's statement read.

As reported by The Telegraph, Iran expert and Persian linguist Thamar Eilam-Gindin argued that the BBC had "fundamentally altered the meaning" of Hegseth's 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," he explained.

"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."

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When reached for comment about the error, the BBC pointed Fox News Digital to its original statement.

The BBC Persian X account also posted a correction: The English text for the post with video stated, "Correction and Explanation Regarding the Simultaneous Translation of the US Secretary of Defense's Remarks."

The network's translation error comes amid a $10 billion lawsuit against the BBC from President Donald Trump.

The BBC has come under intense scrutiny over a 2024 Panorama documentary about Trump's Jan. 6, 2021, speech delivered before the riot at the U.S. Capitol. Critics called the documentary misleading because it omitted Trump's call for supporters to protest peacefully. Trump sued the BBC in December for both defamation and for a violation of Florida's Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act for $5 billion apiece, seeking $10 billion total.

While ABC and CBS have both settled lawsuits with Trump in the past year, the BBC has vowed to fight the case. The two sides agreed on John W. Thornton, Esq., to serve as a pretrial mediator, who will seek a resolution.

"The BBC defamed President Trump by intentionally and deceitfully editing its documentary in order to try and interfere in the Presidential election. President Trump will continue to hold accountable those who traffic in lies, deception, and fake news," a spokesperson for Trump's legal team told Fox News Digital.

The BBC did not respond to an earlier request for comment about the lawsuit.

Fox News Digital's Brian Flood contributed to this report.