BBC backtrack on Iran nuclear attack quote

Did the BBC really think it was unremarkable that a young Iranian told its reporters he would be ‘fine’ with a nuclear strike on his own country?

On Tuesday 7th April 2026, it ran a piece called ‘We’re sinking deeper’: Iranians brace for infrastructure strikes as Trump deadline nears – and included his quote without challenge or caveat.

BBC have lost it

In the initial piece the BBC quoted Radin, 20, from Tehran, saying:

About them hitting energy infrastructure, using an atomic bomb, or levelling Iran. My honest reaction is that I’m OK with all of these.

Lowkey shared the screenshot of the initial article.

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.” pic.twitter.com/pllyexaCI2

— Lowkey (@Lowkey0nline) April 6, 2026

The latest version of the article has now changed the quote to:

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 has added a clarification saying –

Update 7 April: This article originally included a longer quote from “Radin” in which he spoke about the attacks on Iranian energy infrastructure and referred to the levels of destruction which he suggested would be personally acceptable to him to bring down the Islamic Republic. 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.

No explanation has been given for why the BBC originally thought it was acceptable to publish a young man’s apparent endorsement of a nuclear strike on his own country, and people have noticed.

The BBC has belatedly included a note explaining its removal of a quote from a young Iranian claiming to be “OK” with a nuclear strike on his country. This whole episode raises questions about the journalistic ethics/integrity of BBC News Persian & BBC News online as a whole pic.twitter.com/y6MRePpM4f

— Nicholas Guyatt (@NicholasGuyatt) April 7, 2026

History professor Nicholas Guyatt said the whole episode raised questions about journalistic ethics and the integrity of BBC News Persian and BBC News.

The BBC has not explained what changed between Monday, April 6, when the article was first published, and Tuesday, April 7, when the quote was replaced and a clarification was added, other than public criticism.

Whitewashing war crimes

The BBC’s decision to run the initial quote is egregious, especially given the extraordinary nuclear threat facing Iran from American and Zionist forces.

‘A whole civilisation will die tonight, never to be brought back again, I don’t want this to happen, but it probably will’ is Trump’s latest escalation which seemingly calls for the nuclear genocide of Iranians.

Why did the BBC dangerously normalise the unthinkable for Iran? And, it did so in the exact same manner that it has manufactured consent for attacks on Gaza and Lebanon.

For instance, the BBC, in a piece on Lebanon in March, the broadcaster described Israel’s Gaza genocide, and its replication of the same tactics in its war of aggression on Lebanon, as Israel’s “path to peace.”

This is a pattern – BBC has repeatedly whitewashed crimes by the UK/USA/Israel’s war on West Asia.

The BBC is complicit in Israel and the US’s war crimes — and maybe one day the world will hold it accountable.

Featured image via the Canary

Comments 1

Leo William Cullen says:

3 months ago

Orwell wrote 1984 based on his experience of working for the BBC. The truly amazing thing is how the home of Jimmy Saville has any credibility left whatsoever. Memory-holing, falsification of history, NewSpeak all came from Orwells direct knowledge of BBC propaganda techniques.