First large protests in Iran since deadly crackdown
Global News Podcast
BBC
4.3 • 8.3K Ratings
🗓️ 22 February 2026
⏱️ 28 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Students at several universities in Iran have staged anti-government protests - the first on this scale since January's deadly crackdown. It's not immediately clear whether any demonstrators were arrested on Saturday. Also: President Trump says he's increasing his worldwide trade tariff to fifteen per cent. As the fourth anniversary of the Russia-Ukraine war approaches, our reporter in Moscow looks at how the country has changed. A deadly virus has wiped out more than seventy captive tigers in Thailand, prompting anger from animal rights campaigners. There's controversy at the Berlin film festival after comments from the organisers about politics. And how boring are draws in a football match - Japan experiments with getting rid of them in favour of penalty shoot-outs.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | BBC Sounds, Music, Radio, podcasts. |
| 0:05.6 | This is the Global News podcast from the BBC World Service. |
| 0:11.1 | I'm Chris Barrow, and in the early hours of Sunday the 22nd of February, these are our main stories. |
| 0:16.6 | University students in Iran protest against the government again for the first time since last |
| 0:21.3 | month's deadly crackdown. President Trump says he's increasing his worldwide tariff to 15% |
| 0:26.6 | after the US Supreme Court struck down many of his previous trade levies. And there's controversy |
| 0:31.3 | at the Berlin Film Festival after the head of the jury said cinema should stay out of politics. |
| 0:38.5 | Also in this podcast? |
| 0:40.8 | When I used to work, I had a lot of money left for travel for some fun, |
| 0:44.8 | and now almost all my income goes to food. |
| 0:47.9 | We look at how Russia has changed over four years of the Ukraine war, |
| 0:51.5 | and what do the Epstein files tell us about the patriarchy? |
| 0:59.3 | Let's start in Iran. |
| 1:05.3 | Students at several Iranian universities have been protesting against the government again, |
| 1:13.3 | the first large-scale rallies since last month's deadly crackdown by the authorities. |
| 1:17.7 | Thousands of people are known to have been killed in the repression. |
| 1:20.4 | The true figure could be much higher. |
| 1:22.7 | The BBC has verified footage of demonstrators marching on Saturday on the campus of the Sharif University |
| 1:27.8 | of Technology in Tehran. Crowds chanted death to the dictator, a reference to Supreme |
| 1:32.5 | Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and other anti-government slogans. |
| 1:36.5 | Scarfels were later seen breaking out between them and government supporters. |
| 1:40.4 | A sit-in was held at another Tehran University, and a rally was also reported in the northeast. |
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