Iran's new leader in defiant first message

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This is the Global News Podcast from the BBC World Service.

Hello, I'm Anchor Desai and at 16 hours GMT on Thursday 12th March, these are our main stories.

A statement has been read on Iranian television,

reported to be from the country's news supreme leader Mojtaba Khamenei.

The U.S.-Israeli conflict against Iran continues to disrupt all supplies

and create financial market volatility.

And one other headline, a so-called ethnic unity law,

has been passed in China that critics believe will further erode the rights of minorities.

Also in this podcast.

If you have some spare change, may we interest you in a remarkable collection up for auction

featuring guitars from music icons.

Four days after Mojtaba Khamenei was appointed as Iran's supreme leader,

he has spoken to the Iranian people and the world for the very first time.

But it wasn't in person, instead an announcer read his message on Iranian state television.

And gave no clue as to the state of the leader's health.

Some reports say he was injured in the attack that killed his father, his predecessor

on the first day of U.S. and Israeli attacks. Here's some of that statement.

Dear brothers of the armed forces, the demand of the people is to continue this

effective defense that is making the enemy regret its actions.

The lever of blocking this trait of hormones should definitely be used,

regarding opening new fronts in which the enemy has little experience and is vulnerable.

We have carried out assessments and will be putting them into action

in case of the continuation of the war.

And they will be carried out taking into account our interests.

I achieve international correspondently,

to set gave us her reaction to the new supreme leader's message.

The emphasis is on statement because questions are being asked with greater urgency.

Ever since Mojtaba Khamenei was chosen as Iran's new supreme leader,

nothing has been seen of him. In fact, there's been no sign of him since the very first day of the war

of that February the 28th, the Saturday morning with the first Israeli-American salvos,

which killed Mojtaba Khamenei's father, mother, wife, son, niece, sister we understand,

several of his relatives. And very early reports that he had been injured seem to have been confirmed.

But then the question was asked, well, how injured is he if he can't even provide a written

statement? And here comes a written statement. So perhaps we have to treat it with caution as to

whether or not it was written by him, but it certainly is in his name. It is a defiant

statement. It underlines that this is very much in line, the continuity of his father,

basically saying that the war will go on, that the state of Hormuz, that vital shipping lane,

would continue to be closed. He tried to send a sort of conciliatory message to the

neighbors, saying that he believed that Iran believes in friendship with its neighbors,

but the attacks on the U.S. basis would continue. He also, of course, spoke to the people of Iran

calling for national unity. So I think it is roughly what would be expected at a time when

very much those who are calling the shots are the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, the

hardline paramilitary force set up to defend the revolution. He's now their commander-in-chief,

it's widely believed, one of the main reasons why he was chosen, not just that he was his father's

son, but that he's so closely linked to them and of the same ilk. And that promise to continue

retaliating and, of course, the continued U.S. and Israeli attacks on Iran. I mean, all that's

going to be met with, I imagine, dismay by many Iranians. Well, Iran is a very divided country.

It's been divided for many, many years now. We saw it when we were there last month. It's very

much in a crossroads pulling in the direction of those who took to the streets and yet again in

large numbers in January, calling not just for better lives, changes in the economy and end

to spiraling inflation, but also a complete change in the system. And they've shouted death to

Hamaneh, his father. And when he was appointed, they've some shouted from their windows, death to

Mustafa. But the Islamic Republic also has its supporters. And the same way, there are those

who already revile him. There are those who will revere him as their spiritual leader,

who will want to send him to continue with what they call the resistance towards the United States

and Israel. And what's happening now is this war drags on. Even though there were voices of

Iranians inside and outside the country who were saying, well, if the only way we can bring about

change is through an American attack to bring down this system. Even many of those voices,

and some of them are prominent, including the Nobel laureate Shireen Abadi in Britain, the former

prisoner, and Nasidin Zagari Ratlif saying, this is not the war we want. You are not just going

after the leadership in the system. You are destroying the infrastructure of Iran, our national

infrastructure, which is the future of our country. You're actually also damaging our prize

national heritage sites. Least who said, the war has now been going on for 13 days. And the hostilities

show no sign of ending anytime soon. Despite President Trump claiming it would soon be over.

U.S.-Israeli strikes have been intensifying in Iran, and Iranians are retaliating with

missile attacks against their neighbors in the Gulf. In Iran, people are now living in constant

fear, as Mina Joshagani from the BBC Persian reports. The buzzing of Israeli drones. 12 days after

the start of the war, it's neither faded nor become any easier to ignore. The skies over Iran's

capital have turned into a freeway once Iran citizen told me, where Israeli and American fighter jets

move with ease. But for people in Iran, the fear is not only of foreign fire. It is also of their

own government. The situation is awful. Morning, noon and night, we are under bombs. The internet

is cut off. There is no medicine. Many of the doctors aren't around. Inflation is terrifying.

The whole country is basically under martial law. The streets are full of armed men.

If you make the slightest move or say anything out of line, they'll bring the batten down.

Those same armed men and the checkpoints run by their evolutionary guards and the besiege militia

were among the targets of Israeli drone strikes on Wednesday. Iranian media report that at least

10 members of the security forces were killed in the attacks. Iran keeps launching missiles and

drones to Israel and Gulf countries, causing shocks to the global energy market. But with no air

defense, no warning sirens and no shelters, intimidation of citizens has become the government's

most effective weapon. On Wednesday morning, Iran's estate television reported the arrests of

several people accused of sending videos to telegram channels opposed to the regime.

Mixed messages are being heard from the United States. President Trump has for some time now

stopped speaking about Iranian protesters or regime change. Instead, pointing to the Venezuelan

model, calling on someone from within the system to yield to American will. Israel says it wants to

remove the threat posed by the Iranian regime, which is still a standing by its position and

hasn't backed down. And the Islamic Republic, by selecting the son of the previous leader as his

successor, has effectively thomped its nose at them. Meena Joshaghani reporting,

well this war is having a huge impact across the region and all the Iranian attacks on tankers

and facilities in the Gulf have been affecting the oil market in particular. The price of crude oil

again rose to over a hundred dollars a barrel temporarily before dropping back somewhat.

The riots came despite the international energy agency announcing on Wednesday that its members

would release 400 million barrels of oil and refine products from their reserves. John Brown is

former chief executive of the British oil giant BP. The problem at the moment is that the people

who are trading oil can't see the real direction. They don't know how long this conflict is going

to last, how long the straits of almost as an effect closed. We're losing about 15 to 16 million

barrels a day as a result of that. And whether or not these releases, which should be

agreed by the 32 members of the IAA, actually take place. I think only last night I think only

five or six countries had actually identified exactly how much they were going to release.

So I think most people will look at all this and say, show me what's really happening and

I'll tell you what the price is going to be. We got more details from our Asia Business

Reports and Nick Marsh in Singapore. What we just heard there show me what's really happening,

I think is the question that traders are asking and have been asking for the past couple of weeks

now because yes, that was a historic release of stockpiles or agreement to do that. But the reality

on the ground is that ships continue to be attacked. Those two tankers in Iraqi territorial

waters that we just heard about, for example, quite far away from the straits of hormones and

the reality is that barely any ships at all are willing to take the risk. It's still a danger zone,

it's still a war zone. And so long as the flow of oil is stopped and there's a blockage there,

then you're going to keep seeing the price of oil increase. 400 million barrels, it's a lot,

but it's roughly three weeks worth of what would be transiting through the straits of

hormones. And if you're a trader, you make the calculation and you think this crisis is going to

go on for longer than three weeks, then logically the price of oil would go up and we've seen that

reflected today. And what's the significance, particularly for customers in Asia and around the

world? Is there a sort of ripple effect at the moment? I've seen the price of fighter jet fuel

rising faster than all prices, for example, and it's spreading across commodities like

aluminium and fertiliser even. Yeah, exactly. I mean, the price of oil and gas

underpins the price of everything, right? You need it to power factories, you need it to transport

anything, you know, including food. And, you know, it obviously underpins the price of fuel,

right? The petrol that you put into your car or your moped or whatever. Asia is particularly

vulnerable because it imports vast amounts of Middle Eastern oil and gas. I mean, last year, 90%

of all of the oil and gas that went through the straits of hormones was bound for Asia.

So if you're a big economy like Japan or China, you know, you can get by by relying on your

stockpiles and things like that. And governments there have put price caps in. If you're a smaller

country like the Philippines, it gets 95% of its crude oil from the Middle East. You are talking

about weeks worth left and we're seeing that reflected in the panic buying and rising prices as

well already. Nick Marsh reporting. Public approval in the US for the war with Iran is the lowest

at the start of any conflict since the Second World War, with around 41% agreeing with the US

decision to attack Iran. The war has also seen rising petrol prices across the United States,

causing concern for Americans, as well as the President, who had promised no forever wars.

The BBC's North America editor, Sarah Smith, has been in Kentucky, speaking to people there

about the cost of the war. I'm in Louisville, Kentucky, walking down

Muhammad Ali Boulevard. He was a son of the city in the street that bears his names now lined

with sports bars and pizza joints. Muhammad Ali was not just a world championship boxer. He was

also possibly America's best known conscientious objector. He refused to fight in the Vietnam war.

With the US now engaged in another controversial conflict in Iran,

this felt like a good place to meet a modern anti-war activist David Worm. Any time that a country

starts a war like the one that's being waged against the Iranian people that is wholly unjust

and has no real purpose to serve the people in this country or that country is just a

horrific travesty. We have seen some flag drape coffins coming back to the United States with

service members who've been killed. What does that do to how people in America feel about the conflict?

You know, it can be pretty dividing. I think for some people to see service members coming back

in coffins, it makes them buy into these conflicts more because they feel that they need revenge.

There are enough bars along Muhammad Ali Boulevard to create a Kentucky bourbon tasting trail,

which is exactly what Randy Tim and all we're doing until they were interrupted by the BBC.

Of course I support it because I...

They're all backing the attacks on Iran. They believe Donald Trump knows exactly what he's doing.

Bad people are going to do bad things no matter what. There's a big plan. The master plan and the average

person they're going to understand it is everybody's about what are you going to do for me today or

what's affecting me today. I mean I hate that they're there but I definitely understand the logic of

why we're doing what we're doing. Let's get in and out. Do our job. We're preventing things from happening

that we don't want to happen. Kentucky is famous for his love of horses.

Work with me, Thunder. Work with me.

On this farm in Taylor'sville, working with the animals is part of a therapeutic program for

American army veterans. To a wide turn here. Jeremy Harrell served in the Iraq war and saw first

hand how American military adventures in the Middle East can spiral out of control. He is a Trump

supporter who believes action against Iran is justified. I think this is probably 45 years later

than it should have been. Are you concerned about this dragging on and possibly even involving

troops going into Iran? You're talking about human lives, right? You're talking about the very

people that we want to protect, right? And then the family members who then would have to go on and

live and see pictures of their father or mother and never interact with them again. That is a

heavy cost and I think any responsible leader in this country would consider that above all.

Donald Trump is strongly suggesting this attack on Iran may be over soon. He knows that fears of

a prolonged conflict have been driving up global oil prices and increasing costs for Americans at

home. Last night he claimed most people say it's already been won, but then he said he still needs

to finish the job. The White House has been accused of treaching war like a video game,

as they have been releasing edited clips of movies, TV shows and games like Call of Duty

splice together with real-life footage of US strikes on Iranian targets. Any US victory in Iran

may not look like it does on a movie screen. I met Lin-Roman's in the quiet of the Jefferson

town war memorial and she knows exactly what the cost of conflict can be. Her son, Daren,

was killed in the early months of the Iraq war. I don't feel like I know that we're there. Are we

there to change their leadership? Are we there to make their country better? You know, these

countries have been fighting since the beginning of time and why do we think that we have the right

answer for everything? President Trump has been very unclear about his objectives about what he's

trying to achieve in Iran. That may give him the flexibility to declare mission accomplished

whenever he chooses, but may not convince Americans it was worth the cost. An North America

editor Sarah Smith. And for more on the conflict in Iran, search for BBC News on YouTube and you'll

find global news podcast in the podcast section. In the latest edition, I'm Jerusalem correspondent

looks at what Israel wants from the war with Iran and whether it's on the same page as the US.

Still to come in this podcast, the head chef and co-founder of one of the world's most

prestigious restaurants has resigned over allegations that he abused members of staff.

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This is the Global News Podcast. Now to China.

That's the sound of the closing ceremony of the National People's Congress in Beijing,

where delegates clapped during the arrival of the President Xi Jinping.

The Congress has approved a sweeping new law to promote what's called ethnic unity,

which will require all schools to use Mandarin as the standard language.

I asked a correspondent in Beijing, Stephen McDonald, how life will change for China's ethnic minorities?

What are the human rights groups? It's going to speed up the process of the forced assimilation

of China's ethnic minorities into the broader Han Chinese culture by restricting the use of

their own languages, their native languages, and making them use Mandarin more by restricting

cultural practices. Certainly anything that they might do, which would suggest that they might be

considering breaking away from China or something, would get them into a lot of trouble.

And so for that reason, the law has been criticised. People will wonder why would the Chinese government

need a law to do anything, and the truth is they don't need it. The Communist Party can do whatever

it wants here. It's all powerful. But the fact that this law has been passed shows that there's an

intent on the part of the government to really speed up this process, and that's what's worried

groups of say Tibetans and Uyghurs living in Mongolians, you name it, supporting people who are

living here, and also what's worrying human rights groups. And how will that change the

makeup of the country effectively? Well, I mean, it won't make change the numbers, but what's been

already happening here is that for many, many years, the government has deliberately had this

policy of moving Han Chinese people into places previously dominated by other ethnic minorities.

So if you went to Lasa, the regional capital in Tibet, or Rumchi, the regional capital in Xinjiang,

they look like Chinese cities like anywhere else in China. This Han Chinese culture everywhere,

and you might even be struggling to look around defiable. Can I see any locals here? That's been a

deliberate policy. And so the more it's sort of accelerated, the more you're going to see this type of

thing happening. And so going back to the original point of not just schools, but is there a possibility

that parents can be prosecuted to then if they're not teaching their children mandarin from the very

get-go? Not only that, but what they're supposed to be doing is teaching their children the virtues of

the Communist Party as well, which could also get them into trouble if they're not doing that.

There are restrictions on, for example, people under the age of 18 studying Tibetan scripture.

You can't become a monk anymore the way you used to be able to as a young person in Tibet and

start studying Tibetan scripture until you're over 18. Now that's already happening.

So it's not like this is all going to start as a result of this law. The whole worry

is that by turning a policy, if you like, into a law, you're kind of locking it down. It might

come as a surprise to people that mandarin hasn't been already like this. But if you watch television

in China and there's a drama on, you'll notice it has subtitles in Chinese. The reason it has

subtitles in Chinese is that there are so many people, especially older people, who still don't

speak mandarin. And the more these older people that move on, the more that younger people coming

through school are forced to use mandarin, the more that these other cultures are suppressed,

the government's thinking that the more easy it is for them to stop any talk of wiggers or

Mongolians or Tibetans or whoever demanding this and demanding that and especially demanding

greater autonomy or heaven forbid demanding to break away from the country.

Stephen McDonald, of course in Russia, has given life sentences to four men convicted of

carrying out one of the worst terrorist attacks of recent years, the mass shooting at a constant

haul outside of Moscow. 149 people were killed and hundreds of others injured in the attack

at the Crocker City Hall in Krasnogorsk two years ago. From Moscow, here's our Russia editor,

Steve Rosenberg. The attack on the Crocker City concert hall in 2024 was the deadliest in Russia

for 20 years. 149 people were killed and hundreds more injured when gunmen went on a shooting

spree and then set the building on fire. An affiliate of the Islamic State Group had claimed

responsibility. The trial in Moscow has been held behind closed doors. Today, the court delivered

life sentences to the four men accused of being the gunman, the raw citizens of Tajikistan,

and also to 11 alleged accomplices. When the convicted attackers first appeared in court two

years ago, they showed signs of having been beaten. One was barely conscious. Russian officials

continued to claim that Ukraine was somehow linked to the attack, but it provided no evidence,

and the Ukrainian authorities fiercely deny any connection.

Russia editor, Steve Rosenberg. The head chef of Noma, one of the highest rated restaurants in

the world, has resigned amid allegations of abuse. Renae Redzepi announced his exit on social media,

saying, after more than two decades of building and leading this restaurant,

I've decided to step away and allow our extraordinary leaders to now guide the restaurant

into its next chapter. Joanna Keen has more. Renae Redzepi said, when he first started cooking,

shouting humiliation and fear were part of the culture. He vowed never to lead like that,

but after opening Noma in Denmark more than two decades ago, he said the pressure began to grow,

and he became the kind of chef he promised himself he would never be. He's admitted there were

outbursts anger and at times even physical aggression where he shouted and pushed people,

acting in ways that he described as unacceptable. To those who suffered under my leadership,

my bad judgment or my anger, I am deeply sorry, he said, adding that he had worked to change.

Saru Jaira Man, who's campaigning for fair wages and better treatment of staff in the hospitality

industry, says the problem is a wider one. This is not the exception. He is not one bad apple.

He is not unique at all. He's the rule, not the exception. This is the culture in the restaurant

industry worldwide. It is a culture of low or no wages, exploitation, abuse, and frankly much worse

for workers at far less posh restaurants than Noma.

A statement from Noma said meaningful changes had been made to transform the culture over several

years. Its latest venture is a pop-up in Los Angeles where reservations for $1,500 per person

sold out in minutes. But by opening on Wednesday several corporate sponsors including American Express

had withdrawn their backing and protesters holding placards reading Noma broke me gathered outside.

They vowed to keep returning while the restaurant is open in Hollywood.

Joanna Keen reporting. A remarkable collection spanning legendary

guitars, other famous musical instruments, literary artifacts, and sporting and film memorabilia

is up for auction. It belonged to the billionaire American businessman, Jim Erse, who died last year.

He was the owner of the American football team, the Indianapolis Colts. But as you'll hear, his

interests and passions stretched far and wide. James Menendez spoke to Amelia Walker, director

of the auction house Christie's, which is running the sale. She's head of the private collection

department. Jim Erse was a really passionate music fan. He was the CEO and owner of the Indianapolis

Colts. So obviously was a huge sports fan and the collection is peppered with some amazing

items of sports memorabilia. But primarily it was music that drove his collecting and guitar,

guitar magazine called it the greatest guitar collection on earth. The guitar in Jim Erse's

collection that belonged to Kurt Cobain is a 1969 Fender Mustang, a left handed Fender Mustang,

quite a rare vintage guitar in itself because there weren't many left handed guitars made.

And by all accounts it was one of Kurt's favorite instruments. It was the guitar he used in the

music video for Smiles like Teen Spirit, the generational anthem of certainly my generation

and millions of people around the world. Jim Erse bought this at auction fairly recently and when

he bought it in 2022 it achieved the second highest price ever for a guitar at auction at just

over $4.6 million. I think it's also one of the few guitars that Kurt Cobain didn't smash up.

Yeah exactly. I mean he quite famously would destroy his guitars but I think he really treasured

this. It does show the signs of being you know slightly abused. It was smashed into a sound

desk a quite a rowdy gig in Dallas in in late 1992 I think it was but you know he didn't completely

destroy it and that's why we still have it with us today. Now yesterday and today our theatre's been

jammed with newspaper and hundreds of the dogs moral of the nation and these veterans agree with

me that the city never has witnessed the excitement stirred by these junctions from Liverpool

who call themselves the Beatles. Now tonight you're going to twice be entertained by them

right now and again on the second half of our show ladies and gentlemen the Beatles.

Jim Erse's collection was really focused on the Beatles. He was an enormous Beatles fan.

We have on display Ringo Starr's first Ludwig drum kit which he bought in May 1963 and used

exclusively until February 1964. Used on with the Beatles and you know hit records like

I want to hold your hand she loves you you know every every performance and recording in that

period of time really up until the Beatles went to America in February 1964 they didn't take the

whole kit with them because the idea was to buy a new kit they just took Ringo's snare drum

and a brand new logo drum head that greeted 73 million Americans when they turned on their

TV sets and watched the Ed Sullivan show. Wow yeah and what really broke them in America that

appeared and then presumably that's going to go for what seven figures. Well both the drum kit

and the drum head are separately estimated at one to two million dollars. The other thing that caught

my eye was a manuscript Jack Kerrowack. I saw in the clouds huge and masked above the theory golden

desert have even fallen great image of God with four finger pointed straight at me through

halos and rolls and gold folds that would like the existence of a gleaming spear in his right hand

would say it. Come on boy go down across the ground. It's the original manuscript type script scroll

for Jack Kerrowack's on the road the kind of beat generation manifesto if you will it's over 120 feet

long it took Jack Kerrowack I think sort of feverish 20 days to write it in one almost one sitting

and it's a fascinating document it is you know really an incredible artifact which we're

incredibly proud to have back at Christie's. Emily Walker of Christie's there on a remarkable

auction starting today and that's all from us for now if you want to get in touch you can email us

at global podcast at bbc.co.uk you can also find us on x at bbc world service you can use the

hashtag global news pod and don't forget our sister podcast the global story which goes in

depth and beyond the headlines on one big story this edition of the global news podcast was mixed

by Russell new love and the producer was Paul day the editor is Karen Martin and I'm uncle

of this time until next time goodbye