What does Iran think of the West?
The Inquiry
BBC
4.6 • 1.7K Ratings
🗓️ 19 July 2018
⏱️ 24 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
As relations with Iran and the West reach a new low point with the collapse earlier this year of the nuclear deal and the reintroduction of strict economic sanctions we ask: what does Iran think of the West? Pooneh Ghoddoosi explores a long and tortuous history of outside interference in the country. It dates back to the Western desire for Iran's rich oil reserves in the early 20th century, and continues through the CIA-backed coup in 1953, which strengthened the Shah's grip on the throne. The Western powers supported Saddam Hussein during the Iran-Iraq War, while the US is believed to have unleashed a highly effective cyber-weapon against the Iranian nuclear programme. Iran has reasons to be equally suspicious of Moscow - with the Russian Empire seizing large parts of historical Persia in the 19th century.
Producer: Matthew Chapman
Image: An Iranian cleric and a woman walk past an anti-US mural outside the former US embassy in Tehran, Iran (Credit: European Photopress Agency)
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | You're listening to the inquiry on the BBC World Service with me Pune Godusey. Each week we bring you four expert witnesses answering |
| 0:16.3 | one pressing question from the news. When I was a girl growing up in Tehran, my school day would always start in the same way. |
| 0:26.0 | We would all line up in front of the headmistress in the school yard, and we'd shout, |
| 0:31.0 | Death to America, Death to Israel, death to the Soviet Union, and of course, |
| 0:36.4 | Marguer Inglis. |
| 0:38.2 | Literally, that meant death to England. |
| 0:41.7 | Fast forward to this year, and it was the turn of the Iranian parliamentarians to chant |
| 0:46.3 | death to America as they burnt the American flag. |
| 0:51.2 | They were protesting against President Trump's decision to pull out of the |
| 0:57.9 | international deal which aimed to end Iran's nuclear weapons program. |
| 1:03.0 | Iranians are bracing themselves for the reintroduction of economic sanctions in just a few weeks time on August the 6th. |
| 1:11.0 | Who will they blame their own government or the West? History might help us |
| 1:16.3 | understand. As a nine-year-old schoolgirl I never really understood why we were |
| 1:21.7 | made to chant these slogans, But the older I got, the more |
| 1:25.2 | I discovered about my country and its relationship with the Western powers. That history will |
| 1:31.1 | influence how Iran reacts to being isolated from the world. |
| 1:36.1 | This week we're asking, how does Iran see the West? |
| 1:43.0 | Part 1 Foreign Exchange |
| 1:47.0 | This is a story. This is a story of our time. In some ways the story of our time. Maybe you think that all the tales of adventure and high romance belong to ages past. |
| 2:07.0 | Well, don't you believe it? |
| 2:10.0 | The romance that this pathway news documentary is referring to is Britain's love of Iranian oil. |
| 2:17.0 | It was an affair that has proved to have tragic results for Iran. |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from BBC, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of BBC and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.