The role of BBC in Iran’s Politics: From the Shah to Khamenei

This study investigates the role that the British Broadcasting Corporation Persian Service (BBCPS) played in Iran’s internal politics both before and after the Islamic revolution. It focuses on two historical conjunctures. First, it explores the assistance that the BBCPS gave to Ayatollah Khomeini while in exile, to broadcast his speeches against the Shah’s regime. Second, the study explains the BBCPS assistance to Iranian people during the presidential election protests in 2009. The research attempts to provide an answer to the reasons that the BBCPS has been engaging in Iran’s internal politics, for instance by assisting the Iranian revolutionaries against the Shah during the 1979 revolution, and assisting the Green Movement in the 2009 presidential election protests against the Iranian government. It is assumed that the BBCPS acts as a tool of British interest and integral part of British policy-making in Iran