A video aired on Iranian state television has compared accusations that Russia sought to influence the 2016 US presidential elections with biased and fake news to the efforts of the UK-funded BBC to influence Iranian domestic policy and topple its government — in the process airing footage of the arrest of a jailed dual British-Iranian citizen and her alleged links to outlawed Iranian websites.
The video – taking the shape of a documentary — began with clips of US officials criticizing then-candidate Donald Trump, highlighting comments by Sen. Lindsay Graham calling Trump a “jackass” and former Gov. Mitt Romney calling Trump a “phony.” It also showed clips of then-Sen. Al Franken during a hearing asking how Facebook did not catch why electoral advertisements were being paid in rubles.
The video then transitioned to the BBC, saying it “pursues British foreign policy” and the creation of the BBC radio service during World War II for an Iranian audience “prepared society for an invasion” during the rule of Shah Reza Pahlavi. In 1941, the British and Soviets invaded Iran and forced the shah to abdicate, exiling him and eventually bringing his young son, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, to the throne. The latter was overthrown in the 1979 Islamic Revolution. The video also recounted how the BBC advocated for the toppling of the government of Prime Minister Mohammad Mossadegh in the early 1950s, receiving praise from the British foreign secretary.
The video then showed clips of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, a dual British-Iranian citizen who was arrested in April 2016 and sentenced to five years in prison for allegedly plotting to overthrow the government. The video claimed that she became involved with a project called ZigZag, which is referred to as “one of the most important soft war projects by the UK against the Islamic Republic.” The video said that ZigZag would “educate anti-revolutionary forces,” referring to staff for the then-nascent BBC Persian television channel. In this vein, the program referred to London-based Zaghari-Ratcliffe and Mahmoud Enayat as two of the main Iranian individuals behind the organization. Of note, ZigZag was a journalism development program run by the BBC World Service Trust from 2006 to 2010. The BBC Persian television station was launched in 2009.
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