BBCPERSIAN — broadcast
20260915 133000 UTC
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[00:00:22] Headline
[00:00:22] news
[00:00:28] economics.
[00:00:30] Worried about the escalating crisis in the Strait of Hormuz,
[00:00:33] Bab al-Mandab, Saudi Arabia promises a decisive
[00:00:36] response to Houthi attacks. Iran says
[00:00:39] equations related to oil and straits have
[00:00:43] changed.
[00:00:45] Confirmation of strategic arms shortages due to the war with
[00:00:49] Iran in the report of the Inspector General of the US
[00:00:52] Department of Defense. Trump had repeatedly dismissed concerns about declining
[00:00:56] arms stockpiles. The
[00:01:00] plan to annex part of the perimeter of Persepolis to
[00:01:04] Marvdasht County. Cultural heritage activists
[00:01:07] say they are worried about the start of construction
[00:01:11] and destruction of the perimeter of this
[00:01:14] ancient site.
[00:01:18] A proposal from one of the technology
[00:01:21] giants to create an emergency stop switch
[00:01:25] for artificial
[00:01:26] intelligence systems.
[00:01:49] it will respond decisively to Yemeni Houthi
[00:01:53] attacks. According to Riyadh, in the latest
[00:01:55] attacks by the Iran-backed group, 12 people from
[00:01:59] Saudi Arabia were injured. Houthis
[00:02:02] recently, in addition to escalating attacks on Saudi Arabia,
[00:02:06] captured strategic points on Yemen's western coast
[00:02:09] and consolidated their control over the Strait of
[00:02:12] Bab al-Mandab. The
[00:02:16] possibility of further disruption to shipping in this important waterway,
[00:02:19] alongside the Strait of Hormuz, has increased
[00:02:23] concerns about an escalating energy crisis in the
[00:02:26] world. Brent oil prices rose by two percent today
[00:02:30] to over $18 per
[00:02:33] barrel. Mohammed bin Salman, the Saudi Crown Prince, met yesterday
[00:02:37] with the commander of the US Army Central Command
[00:02:39] regarding this crisis and is scheduled to meet
[00:02:43] with the Egyptian president today.
[00:02:47] More details from Barana
[00:02:48] Abbasi.
[00:02:52] Taiz, southwest Yemen. The Houthis' advance
[00:02:55] after capturing several strategic cities
[00:02:59] that were previously in the hands of the official Yemeni
[00:03:01] government. Perim Island at the mouth of the
[00:03:05] Bab al-Mandab Strait, which has consolidated the control
[00:03:08] of this Iran-backed group over this important waterway.
[00:03:11] A waterway whose potential closure could
[00:03:14] exacerbate the energy crisis in the world.
[00:03:17] What Qatar has warned about its severe
[00:03:21] consequences. The
[00:03:24] world is already facing enough problems with the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, and we cannot allow
[00:03:27] the Bab al-Mandab Strait to be added to this
[00:03:31] equation. This would be catastrophic for the entire
[00:03:35] world. Therefore, Qatar emphasizes diplomacy and
[00:03:39] dialogue. The
[00:03:41] Houthis have banned Saudi ships from passing through this strait for weeks.
[00:03:45] At the same time, the group has escalated its attacks
[00:03:49] on Saudi territory. This
[00:03:52] photo, which the Saudi Civil Defense Organization
[00:03:56] says is the aftermath of one of these attacks on a mosque in Jizan. However, the Houthis
[00:03:59] say they targeted military targets in response to these
[00:04:03] attacks by Saudi Arabia and the official Yemeni government.
[00:04:07] This has raised concerns about further disruption to energy
[00:04:10] supplies, especially after the attack a few days ago on the
[00:04:14] east-west pipeline in Saudi Arabia. This
[00:04:17] satellite image shows a section of this pipeline south of Medina
[00:04:21] before the attack, and this is the same location after the
[00:04:24] incident. Saudi Arabia blames Iran's proxies in
[00:04:28] Iraq for this attack.
[00:04:30] An attack that has currently halted oil flow through this
[00:04:34] pipeline. Saudi Arabia's tool to transfer
[00:04:37] oil to the Red Sea without needing to pass through the Strait of
[00:04:40] Hormuz.
[00:04:42] The Islamic Republic says the Houthis and other militias supported by it
[00:04:46] act independently. However, the escalation of
[00:04:49] tensions in the Bab al-Mandab Strait, alongside the Strait of
[00:04:53] Hormuz, has become another pressure lever in Iran's
[00:04:56] hands. Over the past few days,
[00:05:06] with the contradictory messages from the US president, "There are no negotiations," to "We are
[00:05:10] ready for talks." Don't get distracted. The equations
[00:05:13] related to oil and the straits have changed.
[00:05:17] Efforts to manage the damage cannot
[00:05:20] stop what is coming. As long as Iran's
[00:05:23] conditions are not met, there will be no
[00:05:27] negotiations. That's it. Conditions that,
[00:05:30] according to the IRGC spokesman, also include what has been called
[00:05:34] the end of the siege of Yemen. Along with the
[00:05:37] complete cessation of the war, Israel's withdrawal from
[00:05:40] Lebanon, the release of $24 billion of Iran's blocked
[00:05:44] assets, and the end of what has been described as US interference in Iran's
[00:05:48] nuclear and missile capabilities. The
[00:05:51] question is whether relying on the levers of the Strait of Hormuz and now
[00:05:55] Bab al-Mandab may bring Iran to these
[00:05:58] demands. Or will increasing pressure on vital energy
[00:06:02] transit routes ultimately lead to a bigger crisis
[00:06:05] whose consequences will be difficult for Iran
[00:06:08] to control. Baran Abbasi, BBC.
[00:06:14] Ammar Goli, international affairs analyst from
[00:06:24] look at this situation of war in Saudi Arabia between
[00:06:28] Saudi forces and the Houthis,
[00:06:31] Saudi Arabia's statement today is that
[00:06:34] we will give a decisive response to the Houthis.
[00:06:37] Well, the question that arises is why these
[00:06:41] gentlemen did not give a decisive response
[00:06:44] before. Now, three or four weeks have passed since this
[00:06:55] Saudi Arabia or Saudi Arabian officials have
[00:06:58] announced does not have a fundamental difference
[00:07:01] from what happened before. Let's not forget that this war, which
[00:07:05] is currently more ignited, started at least in
[00:07:08] 2015 with the Arab coalition that Saudi
[00:07:12] Arabia formed. At that time, even
[00:07:15] ground forces
[00:07:18] entered. The United Arab Emirates sent troops, even
[00:07:21] partially Egypt sent troops, and many
[00:07:25] Arab countries in the region, from Sudan
[00:07:28] and even mercenaries
[00:07:30] who came from Libya and other countries,
[00:07:33] and in the end, the result
[00:07:36] they got was to sit at the negotiating
[00:07:40] table and reach an agreement.
[00:07:46] Currently, the situation has not
[00:07:49] only not changed compared to the previous
[00:07:52] round of conflicts, but in my opinion, the situation is not in
[00:07:56] favor of Saudi Arabia, because currently, neither the
[00:07:59] forces supported by the United Arab Emirates
[00:08:03] are willing to actively engage in the conflict,
[00:08:06] nor is Egypt willing to send
[00:08:10] significant ground forces into this conflict. And on the other
[00:08:13] hand, the forces supported by Saudi Arabia, the Saleh
[00:08:17] forces, have not been able to hold
[00:08:21] their ground, despite the amount of weaponry
[00:08:25] and support they have received.
[00:08:28] On the other hand, the Houthis have been able to control
[00:08:31] a very important and strategic geographical area in less
[00:08:34] than two weeks,
[00:08:43] statement. If the so-called
[00:08:46] Yemeni government forces cannot stand
[00:08:50] against the Houthis, so to speak, this question
[00:08:53] arises: Well, they must have had Saudi Arabian
[00:08:57] airstrikes behind them,
[00:09:01] right? Or if they didn't,
[00:09:04] why didn't they, and why did this
[00:09:07] happen? They actually had
[00:09:11] air support. Saudi Arabia has increased its
[00:09:14] air attacks as much as it could.
[00:09:18] The naval blockade of the Houthis has continued,
[00:09:21] both logistically and
[00:09:24] in terms of weaponry, to put pressure on the Houthis.
[00:09:27] But as I mentioned,
[00:09:30] this conflict specifically in Yemen, the northern
[00:09:33] part, or the northeast or northwest, is not an area
[00:09:36] where any army can easily or any military force
[00:09:40] can stand against the forces present in that
[00:09:44] area, whether Houthis or Houthi
[00:09:47] allies, and have a very
[00:09:50] strong ability to confront them. Let's not forget that in the 1960s,
[00:09:54] Egyptian army forces
[00:09:58] sent about 70,000 to 80,000 troops to support the republicans
[00:10:02] and faced a very major defeat
[00:10:06] that even Gamal Abdel Nasser called those conflicts
[00:10:09] Egypt's Vietnam.
[00:10:12] Therefore, I don't think that militarily, Saudi
[00:10:16] Arabia has the ability to at
[00:10:20] least reverse the
[00:10:22] fronts and push back
[00:10:26] the Houthi forces. And I think
[00:10:29] it's possible that in the coming days, weeks, even the city of
[00:10:33] Taiz will be completely besieged, and its
[00:10:36] fall is very likely. Very briefly, how likely
[00:10:39] is it that Egypt will send troops now? Very briefly.
[00:10:42] It's very unlikely that Egypt will send
[00:10:46] troops. The most Egypt can do is send its
[00:10:49] naval forces to control the logistical
[00:10:52] routes to prevent
[00:10:55] an economic problem in the
[00:11:07] of the US Department of Defense, in a report, confirmed
[00:11:11] strategic arms shortages as a result of the war with Iran.
[00:11:14] An issue that US President Donald Trump had repeatedly denied.
[00:11:18] The report states that ammunition consumption in the war
[00:11:22] with Iran, with the operation dubbed "Massive Fury," has led to
[00:11:26] strategic shortages in stockpiles
[00:11:30] and has exposed bottlenecks in the industrial
[00:11:33] base for ammunition supply. To
[00:11:37] further review this report, Bahman
[00:11:41] Kalbasi, our colleague from
[00:11:47] to ask if the publication
[00:11:51] of such a report on the state of
[00:11:54] ammunition in the middle of a
[00:11:58] war is not strange. This is
[00:12:01] part of a US Congress resolution that every six months after the
[00:12:05] war, a report must be submitted by the Inspector General
[00:12:08] to the Department of Defense regarding the
[00:12:11] overall existing stockpiles, strategic weapons, etc.
[00:12:15] As a result, the publication of this report
[00:12:19] was in compliance with the law, despite the fact that
[00:12:22] one might imagine that the Trump are not interested
[00:12:26] in such reports being published. Before that, a large part of
[00:12:29] the information that reached the American media about the shortage
[00:12:32] of stockpiles and the consumption of many of these strategic
[00:12:35] weapons was from leaks,
[00:12:39] information leaks that the body of the Department
[00:12:43] of Defense and the body of the American army provided to the American
[00:12:46] media. As a result, this
[00:12:49] is just stating the obvious, and everyone knew it before. Mr.
[00:12:53] Trump, even while denying it, it is clear
[00:12:57] that they know the situation is not good, because he has repeatedly said
[00:13:00] that our situation is good, but he has emphasized
[00:13:04] that we are replacing them quickly. If there was no shortage, there would be no need
[00:13:08] for quick replacement. As a result, this is a picture that has been
[00:13:11] established in America for
[00:13:13] weeks that the situation is not
[00:13:17] good, and the speed of manufacturing these weapons
[00:13:20] is also not such that it can replace
[00:13:24] everything that has been consumed, or a large part of what has been consumed,
[00:13:28] and the other costs of war are also naturally
[00:13:31] increasing. The figure we had was from 25
[00:13:34] billion to 29 billion, now nearly 40 billion
[00:13:38] is just the costs of the army, and many experts say this is also much
[00:13:42] less than what is actually happening, because
[00:13:45] calculations are based on the cost of buying these
[00:13:49] munitions several years ago, 10 years, 5 years, 3 years
[00:13:52] ago, but to buy them again,
[00:13:55] the US government now has to pay higher prices to the
[00:13:58] US arms industry. As a result, in
[00:14:02] total, the cost and shortage
[00:14:05] of stockpiles are beyond what the government, the Secretary of Defense, and Mr.
[00:14:08] Trump want. The image they want to create,
[00:14:17] my colleague from New York, with us.
[00:14:19] Thank you. A few short
[00:14:22] news items. The United Nations has called
[00:14:26] for inspectors to have access to all areas of Gaza. This
[00:14:30] request comes as hundreds of other bodies
[00:14:33] have been recovered from under the rubble of destroyed
[00:14:36] buildings in recent days. Volker Turk,
[00:14:40] the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, said
[00:14:44] that the discovery of remains,
[00:14:47] most of which belong to women and
[00:14:50] children, years after their homes were bombed in
[00:14:53] Israeli attacks, indicates that war crimes may
[00:14:57] have occurred. He called for more efforts
[00:15:01] to identify victims, preserve forensic information and
[00:15:05] evidence, record the burial locations
[00:15:08] of the bodies, and inform the victims' families.
[00:15:11] China,
[00:15:14] warning about an arms race in space, has
[00:15:18] asked the US not to seek to create war in
[00:15:21] space. Beijing's response
[00:15:25] came hours after the US confirmed that it had deployed
[00:15:28] a space weapon in Earth's orbit, an
[00:15:31] action that Washington publicly confirmed for the first
[00:15:35] time. Senior US military
[00:15:38] officials had previously cited Russia and China's
[00:15:41] plans to disrupt US satellites
[00:15:45] as the reason for this action in space.
[00:15:48] Russia
[00:15:51] and Ukraine continued their attacks on each other's
[00:15:55] energy facilities last night. This comes as US President
[00:15:58] Donald Trump claimed yesterday that the two sides had agreed
[00:16:02] not to target energy facilities.
[00:16:05] Last night's Russian attacks
[00:16:08] led to power disruptions in some areas of Ukraine
[00:16:12] and damage to port infrastructure in Odesa.
[00:16:15] In response, Ukraine also targeted
[00:16:17] the region
[00:16:21] with missiles and drones.
[00:16:25] At the same time, Volodymyr Zelensky has said Ukraine
[00:16:29] is ready to de-escalate if Russia
[00:16:32] is willing to end the war.
[00:16:35] In Japan, for the first
[00:16:39] time, the number of people aged 100 and above
[00:16:43] exceeded 100,000. About 90 percent of them
[00:16:46] are women. The oldest person
[00:16:50] is a 114-year-old woman from Kyoto.
[00:16:54] This is while in 1963,
[00:16:57] when official recording of these statistics began, only
[00:17:00] 153 people aged 100 lived in
[00:17:04] Japan. Reports
[00:17:07] published from Iran indicate that, according to
[00:17:11] a document approved in Marvdasht County,
[00:17:15] a part of the Persepolis
[00:17:17] perimeter is to be annexed to this county.
[00:17:21] Cultural heritage activists have strongly
[00:17:24] protested and are concerned that parts of Persepolis
[00:17:28] will be subjected to urban construction
[00:17:31] and developments due to this resolution, which will
[00:17:34] damage this site.
[00:17:38] Siavash Ardalan
[00:17:39] reports.
[00:17:43] Nowhere else symbolizes ancient Iran like Persepolis.
[00:17:47] Therefore, the news that the perimeter of
[00:17:50] Persepolis might be subjected to urban construction has
[00:17:54] enraged cultural heritage enthusiasts.
[00:17:58] Marvdasht County is located 45 kilometers
[00:18:01] from Shiraz and 12 kilometers from Persepolis.
[00:18:04] But its municipal officials are now eyeing
[00:18:08] parts of the Persepolis perimeter. They have
[00:18:12] approved a document called the "Comprehensive Plan for Marvdasht
[00:18:15] City," according to which tens of hectares of Persepolis
[00:18:19] land will become part of the official Marvdasht
[00:18:22] area. As a result, concern about the encroachment
[00:18:25] of land speculators and builders towards Persepolis
[00:18:29] and multi-story buildings and density sales near
[00:18:32] the most famous archaeological site has
[00:18:36] intensified.
[00:18:47] Mining and agriculture, especially the depletion of groundwater wells, have made the entire
[00:18:51] Persepolis perimeter vulnerable. It is said
[00:18:55] that the head of an organization called the Persepolis World
[00:18:58] Heritage Site resigned in protest.
[00:19:00] However,
[00:19:04] Marvdasht officials, including the representative,
[00:19:54] and cultural heritage enthusiasts had warned
[00:19:56] that Marvdasht Municipality was seeking to generate
[00:19:59] revenue through tower construction, land sales,
[00:20:03] and land use changes in an area known
[00:20:06] as Zone 2 of Persepolis. This is a
[00:20:09] conflict between preserving cultural
[00:20:12] heritage and economic and urban
[00:20:15] development. Only direct intervention by the
[00:20:18] Cultural Heritage Organization and serious efforts by civil
[00:20:21] society may be able to prevent
[00:20:24] the annexation of part of Persepolis to
[00:20:28] Marvdasht. Siavash Ardalan, BBC.
[00:20:31] Ahmad Shahroudi,
[00:20:34] forensic engineering expert and construction
[00:20:38] litigation judge from Ottawa, Canada, is with us. Mr. Shahroudi,
[00:20:41] thank you for being with us. Mr. Shahroudi, the Member of
[00:20:45] Parliament from Marvdasht is not concerned. Should we be
[00:20:49] concerned?
[00:20:51] Hello to you and your esteemed viewers.
[00:20:55] Yes, we should be concerned because
[00:20:58] the Persepolis complex, the Persepolis site,
[00:21:02] which has three zones, this Zone 2
[00:21:06] is relatively close to it, and yes, transferring
[00:21:09] its ownership to the municipality and then
[00:21:12] acting for construction, which they now call actually
[00:21:16] disciplining and organizing existing constructions, but
[00:21:20] no one really believes this, and it will lead to development
[00:21:23] and more construction and revenue for the municipality. For the
[00:21:27] Persepolis monument and the historical site of Persepolis, it will
[00:21:31] certainly be harmful. What is this story of the second
[00:21:34] perimeter? Apparently, there is a primary perimeter and a
[00:21:37] second perimeter, and this second
[00:21:41] perimeter is not insignificant.
[00:21:45] We even have a third perimeter for Persepolis, which is a mountainous
[00:21:49] area. Yes, many structures that are registered,
[00:21:52] and even structures that are sometimes not registered, but
[00:21:56] in fact, around the structure, there are still other
[00:22:00] structures, either surface or underground historical structures.
[00:22:03] They are demarcated and named according
[00:22:07] to the center, which is Persepolis here, and perimeter number one is located.
[00:22:10] And in fact, in this particular
[00:22:14] case, in the second perimeter, I almost have the statistics,
[00:22:16] there are over 100 historical
[00:22:20] sites, which, although not as important as Persepolis, are completely
[00:22:24] important from a cultural and heritage perspective for us
[00:22:27] Iranians, and therefore the second perimeter is also very important,
[00:22:31] and its transfer to the municipality for construction, especially in the way
[00:22:35] the municipality does it, which we have seen
[00:23:30] Anthropic, one of the largest artificial intelligence companies in the
[00:23:34] world, told the BBC that perhaps companies in this field should
[00:23:37] be required to have an emergency kill
[00:23:40] switch so that if this
[00:23:43] technology gets out of control, it can be
[00:23:46] stopped. On the other hand, US President Donald
[00:23:50] Trump called concerns about the threat of artificial intelligence
[00:23:53] to humanity a big hoax. Faisal
[00:23:57] Islam, BBC economics reporter, has a report
[00:24:00] whose translation we will watch together.
[00:24:04] One of the giants of artificial intelligence, Anthropic
[00:24:07] company, has called for a slowdown in competition in this field.
[00:24:10] One of the whistleblowers and a number of safety experts at this company
[00:24:14] say that there is a 10% chance that this technology
[00:24:17] could lead to the destruction of all humans.
[00:24:36] Threats that were once only discussed in academia or at a theoretical
[00:24:40] level, we are now seeing their initial signs. What
[00:24:44] do you think is the main threat? That groups of artificial intelligence
[00:24:47] systems take control of the
[00:24:50] internet, shut down power plants, or destroy financial institutions?
[00:24:54] I think it's time to clarify what this threat actually
[00:24:57] looks like. The main threat is how much
[00:25:01] chance we have of confronting a system that is 100 times smarter than the smartest
[00:25:05] human on Earth? In my opinion, the probability that you can
[00:25:08] control such a situation and emerge from it safely is very low.
[00:25:12] In a general sense, artificial intelligence should be controlled as a technology,
[00:25:16] because we are building things that may be smarter than humans.
[00:25:20] And things that are smarter than humans can be very
[00:25:23] dangerous. This is an issue that raises
[00:25:26] the discussion of some kind of emergency kill switch. Do
[00:25:30] you have such a capability? Can you shut down the system? I think
[00:25:33] most companies have various ways to stop their systems.
[00:25:37] Yes, we also have some ways to do this, but this issue should be part of
[00:25:40] a broader discussion about policymaking. Should companies
[00:25:44] be required to have a kill switch? Can an independent body
[00:25:48] ensure the actual functioning of this switch? I think society wants
[00:25:51] answers to these questions, and perhaps ultimately,
[00:25:55] laws will need to be enacted in this regard. But it might already be too
[00:25:59] late.
[00:26:30] The only place where control is needed is within itself.
[00:26:33] Calls for international cooperation and establishing a set of basic
[00:26:37] principles in this area are increasing. This has happened before
[00:26:40] with technologies that have dual use, meaning they have both beneficial
[00:26:44] and harmful applications. Let's not forget that artificial intelligence has tremendous
[00:26:48] benefits for us, but we must also be fully aware
[00:26:52] of its potential harms. Currently, investment in artificial intelligence
[00:26:56] seems to be helping the UK economy grow. There is even
[00:27:00] talk of using this technology to treat cancer.
[00:27:26] If we develop this technology correctly, we can change the
[00:27:30] world in many positive ways.
[00:27:36] We can truly revolutionize the face of science and healthcare services, and expand the boundaries of our own capabilities and those of our children.
[00:27:39] But if we make a mistake, we will severely
[00:27:43] disrupt the economy and plunge people into poverty
[00:27:45] and misery.
[00:27:50] The clear message is that we still have the ability to control
[00:27:54] the pace of artificial intelligence development, but not
[00:27:57] much time is left.
[00:27:59] The news is ending.
[00:30:29] TV, a documentary.