BBC Under Fire for Quoting Iranian ‘OK With’ Being Nuked by Trump

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The BBC has come under fire for publishing a news report quoting an anonymous source based in Iran who said he would “be OK with” the US dropping a nuclear bomb on his country. 

The report was quietly amended approximately seven hours later to remove the most controversial part of the quote after online backlash, and the BBC didn’t add any clarification to the report indicating that an update had been made until around 16 hours later.

The report from 6 April, by BBC News Persian’s senior reporter Ghoncheh Habibiazad, features quotes from people she describes as “ordinary Iranians” reacting to US president Donald Trump’s threat to “destroy” major civilian infrastructure in Iran unless it opens the Strait of Hormuz. 

One quote – attributed to a man given the name “Radin” – read: “About them hitting energy infrastructure, using an atomic bomb, or levelling Iran. My honest reaction is that I’m OK with all of these. Or anything else they might have in mind.”

All the Iranian civilians quoted in the BBC News report have been given new names to protect their identities. “Radin” is described as “in his 20s and living in Tehran”.

When asked by Novara Media, the BBC confirmed that the quote in the original article was “made directly to the BBC”, but did not confirm that the quote was accurate. The BBC also did not confirm whether or not it has a general editorial guideline, formal or informal, in place against speaking with pro-government civilian Iranians. 

Des Freedman, a professor of Media and Communications at Goldsmiths, University of London, slammed the BBC’s story as “a million miles from impartial journalism”.

“Iran has 90 million citizens and yet the BBC manages to find one who claims to be ‘OK’ with using nuclear weapons against his own country,” Freedman told Novara Media. “There isn’t a single reference in the entire story to the fact that the attacks are illegal and seen by many as war crimes. 

“Instead, the BBC repeats its preferred practice of ‘due impartiality’ where you balance different views against each other. Except that it is a million miles from impartial journalism to report, just ahead of Trump’s promise to bomb Iran back to the ‘Stone Ages’, that while many are scared witless, there are some who are ‘OK’ with their country being razed to the ground. 

“This ends up as journalism that doesn’t scrutinise Trump’s warmongering so much as help to normalise it.”

After criticism online over the “Radin” quote, the report was amended to cut the offending part. It now reads: “If attacking targets in the country brings down the Islamic Republic, I’m fine with that. Because if the Islamic Republic survives this war, it will stay forever.”

The BBC did not immediately add a note to the news report to reflect that it had been updated. If a correction or update is made to a published article that’s more significant than the fixing of a typo, it is standard digital journalism practice to immediately include a line stating the time, date and specific change made. 

The corporation instead took approximately 16 hours to add an update note to the news report, which states: “Radin’s comments were made directly to the BBC and were initially included in full to illustrate the strength of feeling of some of those who are opposed to the country’s leadership. 

“However, after further review, this part of the quote was removed from the article due to concerns over the way in which the speaker expressed his views and the extent to which they reflected wider Iranian viewpoints.” 

A BBC spokesperson told Novara Media: “On 7 April, an update was added to the online article highlighting this change to readers. We apologise that this wasn’t done when the change was initially made.”

Musician and activist Kareem Dennis, better known as Lowkey, picked up on the contentious quote from “Radin” last night, posting on X: “The BBC claims to have found an Iranian inside Tehran to whom it attributes the following statement: ‘About them using an atomic bomb or levelling Iran… I’m OK with all of these.’”

Lowkey told Novara Media: “It is very strange that this quote would be published and then promptly edited without explanation. That seems to me to imply journalistic malpractice.” 

He added that he fears the BBC “may be seeking to manufacture consent for the use of nuclear weapons against Iran”.

Trump made the threat of destroying Iranian power plants and bridges in an expletive-laded Truth Social post on Sunday. Legal experts are clear that the intentional destruction of life-supporting civilian infrastructure would constitute a war crime. 

Two former judge advocate general (JAG) officers, Margaret Donovan and retired lieutenant-colonel Rachel VanLandingham clarified that “Iranian power plants and other critical civilian infrastructure are protected from attacks by the law of war the United States helped craft after World War II”. They stated that Trump’s statements “place service members in a profoundly challenging situation”. 

The US president repeated his threat at a news conference on Monday, saying that Iran will be sent back to the “Stone Ages” if the deadline passes without Iran’s compliance. He added: “They’re going to have no bridges. They’re going to have no power plants.”

VanLandingham also told PBS News that Trump engaging in rhetoric where he threatened to “destroy” civilian infrastructure is a war crime in and of itself, saying: “The law of war prohibits measures of intimidation against a civilian population, including threats of violence whose primary purpose is to sow terror amongst that civilian population.” 

Freedman told Novara Media that the BBC’s update to its story isn’t good enough.“Online criticism may have forced the corporation to remove the claim that ‘using an atomic bomb, or levelling Iran’ can ever been seen to be OK, but the story still quotes the individual saying they’re ‘fine’ with the US attacks.”

Additional reporting by Steven Methven.