Our chief international correspondent, Lyse Doucet, reported from Tehran, where the regime was staging mass pro-government rallies. Our coverage came on the condition that none of her material was used on the BBC’s Persian Service, a restriction that applies to all international media organisations operating inside the country. We transparently explained this to our audiences.

Reporting from Iran is an ongoing challenge. In October 2022, the Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a statement naming BBC Persian in a list of individuals and organisations sanctioned for what it called their deliberate actions in support of terrorism, and inciting violence and hate speech and human rights abuses. Our colleagues in the BBC Persian Service are not allowed into the country, suffer daily harassment, and their families back home are persecuted.

As such, we put high importance on seeing the situation on the ground, despite not being allowed to share material with BBC Persian. Lyse’s reporting featured powerful testimonies from ordinary Iranians on the protests, who told us how they had witnessed people being killed, and spoke about their frustrations and anger with the current regime. It is highly unusual to hear voices like this from Iran.

We were clear that these pro-government rallies came just weeks after the authorities used unprecedented force to kill thousands of anti-government protesters. Those we spoke to described not sleeping properly since the protests, and expressed scepticism at the government’s claims the protestors were “rioters”.  

Earlier this year, we reported on these protests extensively across all of our platforms, including our main news bulletins on television and radio in English and via BBC News Persian. The protests were also covered on BBC Radio 4 news programming, including Today, the BBC News channel and the BBC News website. There was a live feed covering the protests on the BBC Persian website, and BBC Verify has also been investigating the protests. For instance, we have reported on photos revealing the faces of those killed during Iran's violent crackdown.

As such, we don’t feel we have legitimised the Iranian authorities' response to the protests, nor normalised the regime itself. We were clear that Iran’s clerical rulers now face the most serious challenge since the Islamic revolution of 1979. As with all on-the-ground reporting, it’s important to use appropriate language to capture what we are witnessing for the audience.

We can assure you that our coverage was produced to the highest journalistic standards.