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BBC Persian
BBC Persian (Persian: بیبیسی فارسی) is the Persian language broadcast station and subsidiary of BBC World Service. It broadcasts political, social, economical and sport news relevant to Iran and the world. Its headquarters are in London, United Kingdom.
Persian language has one of the fewest native and total speakers in the BBC World Service, with 35 million native speakers (in Iran), 12 million native speakers (in Afghanistan) and 9 and 5 million native speakers in Tajikistan and Uzbekistan respectively. The total native and secondary speakers of Persian language encompasses approximately 120 million speakers. This is in contrast with Hindi/Urdu, which has around 1.5 billion native speakers and more than 2 billion total speakers.
The BBC first started a Persian radio service during World War II on 29 December 1940, encouraged by the Foreign Office, as part of its Empire Service. The government reasons for prioritising this was concern that the Iranian king, Reza Shah Pahlavi, was sympathetic to Nazi Germany. Following the Anglo-Soviet invasion of Iran in August 1941, the Foreign Office encouraged broadcasting about king's autocratic style and republican systems of Government.
The Persian Service continued after the war as part of the BBC General Overseas Service, with more editorial independence from the UK government. However the risk of the Iranian nationalisation of Anglo-Persian Oil Company created an exceptional circumstance causing the Foreign Office to issue memorandums of advice and lists of points to make to the BBC, and the amount of broadcasting more than doubled. This caused many Iranians to believe the Persian Service was not independent, and an advisor of Prime Minister Mohammad Mosaddegh said the "BBC was the voice of British imperialism and we did not trust it".
In September 2022, the World Service announced the proposed closure of its Persian and Arabic radio service as part of a cost-cutting plan, but an online service will remain.
A radio service in Dari remains as of 18 January 2025. As of 5 January 2025, the Al Ashkharah and Woofferton transmitting stations were known to broadcast Dari programming on varying shortwave frequencies, with the hours ranging from 6 hours to 6 and a half hours a day.
The British government used the BBC's Persian service for advancing its propaganda against democratically elected Prime minister of Iran Mohammad Mosaddegh and anti-Mosaddegh material were repeatedly aired on the radio channel to the extent that Iranian staff at the BBC Persian radio went on strike to protest the move. The BBC was at times even used directly in the operations, sending coded messages to the coup plotters by changing the wording of its broadcasts.
From 1965, the newly formed BBC World Service took over the running of the BBC Persian Service.
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BBC Persian AI simulator
(@BBC Persian_simulator)
BBC Persian
BBC Persian (Persian: بیبیسی فارسی) is the Persian language broadcast station and subsidiary of BBC World Service. It broadcasts political, social, economical and sport news relevant to Iran and the world. Its headquarters are in London, United Kingdom.
Persian language has one of the fewest native and total speakers in the BBC World Service, with 35 million native speakers (in Iran), 12 million native speakers (in Afghanistan) and 9 and 5 million native speakers in Tajikistan and Uzbekistan respectively. The total native and secondary speakers of Persian language encompasses approximately 120 million speakers. This is in contrast with Hindi/Urdu, which has around 1.5 billion native speakers and more than 2 billion total speakers.
The BBC first started a Persian radio service during World War II on 29 December 1940, encouraged by the Foreign Office, as part of its Empire Service. The government reasons for prioritising this was concern that the Iranian king, Reza Shah Pahlavi, was sympathetic to Nazi Germany. Following the Anglo-Soviet invasion of Iran in August 1941, the Foreign Office encouraged broadcasting about king's autocratic style and republican systems of Government.
The Persian Service continued after the war as part of the BBC General Overseas Service, with more editorial independence from the UK government. However the risk of the Iranian nationalisation of Anglo-Persian Oil Company created an exceptional circumstance causing the Foreign Office to issue memorandums of advice and lists of points to make to the BBC, and the amount of broadcasting more than doubled. This caused many Iranians to believe the Persian Service was not independent, and an advisor of Prime Minister Mohammad Mosaddegh said the "BBC was the voice of British imperialism and we did not trust it".
In September 2022, the World Service announced the proposed closure of its Persian and Arabic radio service as part of a cost-cutting plan, but an online service will remain.
A radio service in Dari remains as of 18 January 2025. As of 5 January 2025, the Al Ashkharah and Woofferton transmitting stations were known to broadcast Dari programming on varying shortwave frequencies, with the hours ranging from 6 hours to 6 and a half hours a day.
The British government used the BBC's Persian service for advancing its propaganda against democratically elected Prime minister of Iran Mohammad Mosaddegh and anti-Mosaddegh material were repeatedly aired on the radio channel to the extent that Iranian staff at the BBC Persian radio went on strike to protest the move. The BBC was at times even used directly in the operations, sending coded messages to the coup plotters by changing the wording of its broadcasts.
From 1965, the newly formed BBC World Service took over the running of the BBC Persian Service.