Iran: BBC in Tehran for first time since protest crackdown
Newshour
BBC
4.2 • 1.1K Ratings
🗓️ 10 February 2026
⏱️ 43 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
The BBC's chief international correspondent Lyse Doucet is reporting from Tehran for the first time since the crackdown by security forces on nationwide anti-government protests last month. Iran's leaders are marking 47 years since the Islamic Revolution, with bunting and flags decorating the streets of Tehran. But the pain is still raw after unprecedented force was used to put down the protests.
Also in the programme: we speak to US Congressman on viewing the underacted Epstein files; and we look at new research which suggests brain exercises could help delay the onset of dementia.
(Photo: People walk next to a mural with a picture of Iran's Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, on a street in Tehran. Credit: Majid Asgaripour/WANA/Reuters)
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | BBC Sounds, Music, radio, podcasts. |
| 0:09.1 | Hello and welcome to NewsHour from the BBC World Service. |
| 0:13.4 | Coming to you live from London, I'm Leila Nathu. |
| 0:16.7 | Later on the programme, we'll hear from Congressman Suhuss Subramaniam on interviewing Jeffrey Epstein's |
| 0:22.7 | associate Galane Maxwell. Also coming up, new research that suggests brain exercises could help delay |
| 0:29.4 | the onset of dementia. It doesn't mean you ward it off. It doesn't mean it will never happen. |
| 0:36.0 | It's just reduction of risk. |
| 0:38.5 | But let us start in Iran. It's been a month since the regime's brutal suppression of mass |
| 0:45.0 | anti-government protests, which left thousands dead. Five prominent opposition figures are reported |
| 0:51.1 | to have been arrested in recent days in a sign of a further crackdown on |
| 0:55.2 | dissent. Meanwhile, with a US military build-up in the region, the threat of a US attack still looms, |
| 1:01.6 | despite mediated talks between Washington and Tehran in Amman last week to try to reach a deal |
| 1:07.3 | on Iran's nuclear program. Here on NewsHour, we did manage to hear from some people in |
| 1:12.6 | Iran during the January uprising, despite the communications blackout. But for the first time |
| 1:18.3 | since the demonstrations, the BBC has gained access to the country. Our chief international correspondent |
| 1:24.7 | Leis Doucette is on the ground in Tehran for us. She's been allowed |
| 1:28.6 | in on the condition that none of her material is used on the BBC's Persian service. These |
| 1:33.8 | restrictions apply to all international media organisations operating in Iran. I spoke to her just |
| 1:39.5 | before we came on air. The last time we were in Iran was the 12-day war between Iran and Israel |
| 1:45.0 | war, which also drew in the United States. And I have to say that this visit now, |
| 1:50.9 | the mood is strikingly different. The streets are decked out with flags and bunting |
| 1:57.2 | and newly painted, bright murals with smiling Iranians, all of this part of the |
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