Global News Podcast - Inside Tehran: 'My daughter is under the rubble'

Episode Date: March 27, 2026

Data examined by the BBC shows the devastating impact of the attacks on Iran's capital, Tehran, since the start of the US-Israel war. According to the findings, Israel has dropped 3,600 munitions on the city in the last four weeks. Almost 40 police stations and bases for the paramilitary Basij force have been hit, many in residential areas. BBC Eye has gathered eyewitness testimony, filmed the aftermath of strikes and analysed footage from social media and satellite imagery. In other news, scientists have managed to film a group of sperm whales supporting a female from their pod giving birth. A former rapper is sworn in as the prime minister of Nepal. And a mother tells us of her struggle to limit the screen time of her young son. The Global News Podcast brings you the breaking news you need to hear, as it happens. Listen for the latest headlines and current affairs from around the world. Politics, economics, climate, business, technology, health – we cover it all with expert analysis and insight. Get the news that matters, delivered twice a day on weekdays and daily at weekends, plus special bonus episodes reacting to urgent breaking stories. Follow or subscribe now and never miss a moment. Get in touch: [e-mail]

This BBC podcast is supported by ads outside the UK. Have you ever received a call from a stranger regarding student loans you don't owe? An unpaid parking ticket for a car that you don't even own? If so, you might have been the target of a scam orchestrated by criminals thousands of miles away. I'm Tristan Redman, one of the hosts of the Global Story podcast, and we're taking an inside look at the highly lucrative scam factories of Southeast Asia. Listen to The Global Story on BBC.com or wherever you get your podcasts.

This is the Global News podcast from the BBC World Service. I'm Celia Hatton, and at 16 hours GMT on Friday, the 27th of March, these are our main stories. With the war in Iran continuing, a BBC investigation tracks the effects of airstrikes on Tehran. We'll hear from our Jerusalem correspondent on Israel's military strategy. and Ukraine signs a deal to share expertise with Saudi Arabia on combating drones and missiles gained over four years of war with Russia. Also in this podcast, a moment rarely witnessed. The whales were thrashing about, and then there was a gush of blood that came up in the middle.

But amongst these 11 female whales, each about 40 feet, the small whale emerges. sperm whales helping one of their pod give birth. We start with the BBC investigation into how the war is being waged inside Iran and who is being hit in those attacks. For the last month, Iran's capital, Tehran, has been under assault. Data examined by the BBC shows that Israel has dropped 3,600 munitions on the city in the last four weeks and has hit 38 police stations and bases of the Basij, which is a large voluntary militia connected to the Islamic Revolutionary Guards.

Many of those strikes have hit into the heart of residential areas. The U.S. is involved in this war too, and it says it's carried out more than 9,000 attacks across Iran. Both the United States and Israel say they do not deliberately target civilians. With rare access inside Tehran and using satellite imagery, social media content, and interviews, Our senior international investigations correspondent, Nowal al-Maghafi, reports. In Ressalat, eastern Tehran, a mother in agony. Her daughter has been trapped under the rubble for three days. My daughter's scared of the dark, she cries.

She calls out for her child. Mariam, she wails. But help has come, too late. It's been three days since this neighborhood was attacked by Israeli forces. They told us they were targeting a military compound of the Iranian besiege, part of the Revolutionary Guard. We confirmed the building they targeted was used by the besieged militia. The bomb hit so suddenly it threw me. Then there was another storm.

But that day, three other residential buildings were also struck in quick succession. I hit the wall and then fell. I tried to stand up three times, but I was knocked into the wall. This man, who we're calling Ali, has lived in the neighborhood for 50 years. His building was badly damaged in the attack. I stood up again and I don't know what happened. Rubble fell on my head. My hands, my back, my legs and my ears were bleeding. I don't have anything now. We gathered as much evidence as we could on the ground

and examined satellite imagery from after the strike. Our investigations showed that four buildings were completely obliterated, and the blast damaged homes and businesses in a 65-metres radius. Hours after the attack, the local mayor spoke to the media. Unfortunately, they destroyed 30 residences. This was no pinpoint attack. They have caused a lot of damage. Rescuers worked through the night to try and find survivors.

Local authorities and residents said at least 40 people were killed, but they said the besiege building had been evacuated. Military experts told us that the scale and spread of the damage in this attack is consistent with the use of one of the largest bombs, the Mark 80, which weighs 2,000 pounds. Rasalat is one of the 38 police stations and besiege bases we've identified as being hit in Tehran alone, most of them, indently popular.

areas. Finally, to the great proud people of Iran, I say tonight that the hour of your freedom is at hand. The U.S. and Israel say by targeting police and besiege installations, they're preparing the ground for the Iranian people to overthrow the government. Stay sheltered. Don't leave your home. It's very dangerous outside. bombs will be dropping everywhere. When we are finished, take over your government. It will be yours to take, this will be probably your only chance for generations. But it's the Iranian people that are getting caught in the crossfire. I don't know who's okay or not. I just know my friends at the end of the alley are all dead. And we have more on this story with Nawal al-Maghafi on our YouTube channel. Search for BBC News on YouTube,

and you'll find Global News Podcast in the podcast section. That report from Noal, as Israel says it will step up strikes against Iran as a result of its continued missile fire. Our Middle East correspondent Yolanel is in Jerusalem. The defense minister Israel Katz was quoted from a briefing with military officials. He said, the Prime Minister and I warned the Iranian regime to stop the missile fire towards civilians in Israel. And he says, despite the warnings, the fire continues.

therefore IDF strikes in Iran will intensify and expand to additional targets. This, after the Israeli military, said it carried out another wide-scale wave of attacks in Iran overnight. It said specifically that it bombed Iran's central naval arms production site and ballistic missile factories this morning. And after a lengthy lull overnight, sirens went off this morning also in southern Israel, in settlements and parts of the West Bank. There was a missile that was downed with no injuries or property damage reported. A short time ago, there were sirens here in Jerusalem, sending people into shelters and now just had another alert for a new attack on southern Israel.

On another front, though, Israel's been attacking targets in Lebanon. That's right. An Israeli airstrike targeted the southern suburbs of Beirut this morning. That's an area that's really known as a Hezbollah stronghold. There have been a real kind of uptick in attacks by Hezbollah in the past day, or so, and they seem to be escalating at the same time as Israel is expanding its occupation of southern Lebanon. The Israeli military has said that it needs more troops to carry out that big deployment. That's where it says it's trying to set up what it calls a buffer zone

to protect its own citizens. On that note, though, Israel's main opposition leader, Yer Lapid, has accused the government of steering the country towards a security disaster because of a shortage of combat soldiers? That's right. He's really worried after having security briefings about the issue of strains on Israel's military manpower. And, you know, he said that the government is sending the army into a multi-front war without a strategy, without the necessary means and with far too few soldiers. And that is important because up to now, the political opposition has largely been aligned with the government on the war effort in both Iran and Lebanon.

Yolan Nell. Ukraine's president, Volodymyr Zelensky, says he signed a defense cooperation agreement with Saudi Arabia. He said his country was ready to share its expertise in combating drones and ballistic missiles, the kind of weapons that Saudi Arabia has been facing from Iran over recent weeks. In return, Ukraine could get help in defending itself against Russia, particularly now that the U.S. is distracted with its own war in Iran. Mr Zelensky is currently on a visit to Saudi Arabia. So what can Ukraine offer the Saudis?

I spoke to Vitaly Shibchenko, BBC Monitoring's chief analyst in Kiev. First of all, it's the drones. As you say, Celia, the Gulf states have been facing them over the past weeks, and Ukraine has been facing them over the past four years. So clearly they know a thing or two about how to deal with those drones, especially given that many of those drones are of the same type, the Shahid drones that are attacking both the Gulf States and Ukraine. So we're talking about actual interceptor drones, such as the P-1-S-U-N. Then also there's the issue of integrating these intercepted drones with raiders because they don't work on their own.

they have to be deployed as part of a system. And thirdly, Ukraine's expertise, as far as we understand, about 230 Ukrainian experts, members of the Ukrainian military have experienced in fighting drones, they are already in the Gulf. So this is what Ukraine is offering to the Gulf States. Remarkable, though, Vitaly, because we have to remember that Ukraine is still very much. fighting a war with Russia. How much can the Ukrainians realistically offer other countries right now? That's a question that we asked here in Kiev in conversations with a number of Ukrainian drone manufacturers. And they're all saying that they're confident that they can scale up production, no problem.

It's only a question of money. And money is what the Gulf states do not seem to have a shortage of. But the government in Kiev is really keen for this to be not just a commercial transaction. Voldem Rezolensky is saying that he wants to put Ukraine on the map as a donor of security. That's the phrase that he used this morning. So that's why those drone manufacturers in Ukraine that we've been talking to, they're saying, look, we've got the kits, we've got the products. The Gulf states want to buy it. Countries like Saudi Arabia and Kuwait have approached Ukrainian drone manufacturers.

but everyone is waiting for the green light from the Ukrainian president. How's this all being received inside Ukraine? There's a feeling that the tables have been turned. Ukraine for so many years has been a recipient of aid and technology and reliant on what others were willing to give to Kiev. Right now, Ukraine is being asked for help. That's why there's a sense of national pride attach. to all this as well.

Vitaly Shivchenko. Well, the war in Iran is having an effect far beyond the Middle East. It's causing problems and economic sectors you might not even have heard of. In South Korea, there's a shortage of a raw material used to make plastic bags and other packaging.

The process needs a chemical called NAFTA, much of which is imported from the Middle East through the Strait of Hormuz. There are now fears of a shortage of plastic bags and packaging in South Korea. Jake Kwan is our correspondent in Seoul. NAFTA is a crucial ingredient in making plastic products and especially in this case, plastic

bags. And I think some of our listeners might think, so what or oh good, it will make people use reusable bags instead. But this isn't a small problem here because South Korea has a rule that everyone must use plastic bags for their waste. So, and not just any plastic bag, but everyone must buy these government printed bags to throw out their food and general trash. So there was a bit of a panic as people wondered whether they should run to the store and stock up on them before what they feared would happen next month. And there are, of course, plenty of other products that use plastic parts or wrappings. We're talking diapers, the plastic box, South Korea's many takeout restaurants rely on to sell their food. It makes us think about the importance of plastic, doesn't it?

I mean, what other measures is the government in Seoul introducing to cope with the fuel crisis? Every day there has been an emergency meeting by the government to figure out if this really tough and unsolvable problem. The government is talking about finding a different source of oil and gas. They also want to nip the panic at the butt. Before the price of petrol runs away, the government introduced price cap and promised stern punishment to companies that might try to profit off of this by hoarding the supply. And they're also tackling it from the demand side. The government had urged the public to cut back on electricity use,

suggesting all kinds of measures, including taking shorter showers and turning down the heaters and AC. Jake, it's not only South Korea that's taking steps. Over in Japan, the government's acting there too. The government there says it's going to allow the increased use of coal-fired power stations because of fuel shortages. That seems like a big decision. It is a big measure for a big problem. I mean, starting next month, Japan will lift restrictions. It has been placing on coal power to fight climate.

change to cut down on the fossil fuel. And this is because Japan depends on the Middle East for most of its energy needs. One measure shows that around 90% of its oil comes through the Strait of Hormuz. And they're trying to switch lanes to importing coal, which mainly comes from Australia. Jake Kwan in South Korea. Still to come in this podcast, how much screen time should a two-year-old get? It's on my mind every day, but at the same time, it's just like, You've got other pressures and most of the time it is to avoid conflicts, meltdowns and to give yourself a bit of a break. New advice for parents. Have you ever received a call from a stranger regarding student loans you don't owe?

An unpaid parking ticket for a car that you don't even own? If so, you might have been the target of a scam orchestrated by criminals of thousands of miles away. I'm Tristan Redmond, one of the hosts of the global story. podcast and we're taking a inside look at the highly lucrative scam factories of Southeast Asia. Listen to the global story on BBC.com or wherever you get your podcast. This is the Global News podcast. Let's move away from the conflict in the Middle East now and have a look at a couple of other stories. Nepal has a new prime minister. The United States of Nepal's jantta.

Nepal to the subidane prune prudent. Newly elected MPs giving their oaths at a ceremony to swear in the new Prime Minister, the rapper-turned-politician Belendra Shah. Earlier this month, his party won a landslide victory. It was the country's first election since protests that were driven by young people toppled Nepal's government. From Mumbai, the BBC's South Asia correspondent, Yogata Lamaya, reports. 35-year-old Balindra Shah took oath as Nepal's Prime Minister in a ceremony that included Hindu and Buddhist rituals in the capital Kathmandu.

His party swept to power riding on public anger against Nepal's political old guard. Deeply entrenched corruption and rising unemployment were among the key reasons why masses of young people took to the streets in September last year, ousting Nepal's leadership. Balindra Shah, who's won an unprecedented mandate, has promised that his government will tackle corruption, deliver social justice, expand the economy and create jobs. These are daunting challenges for a relative. inexperienced politician. Trained as an engineer, Balindra Shah was a rapper before he turned to politics

and was accused of a high-handed leadership style when he was Kathmandu's mayor. Yogatalaamaya. Scientists have observed a group of sperm whales supporting a mother whale giving birth and then helping the newborn calf take its first breath out of the water. The observations took place in the eastern Caribbean off the coast of Dominica. Professor David Gruber is the founder of Project SETI and one of the researchers who captured that moment on film. He spoke to James Menendez about what they saw.

The crazy thing is that we came across these whales quite early in the morning. There was 11 members of a unit known as Unit A, which our lead biologist knows each individually as family members. And we just saw this kind of very odd behavior where they were all kind of facing inward, and they were just going up and down and doing these shallow dives. And then about two hours in,

there was just tremendous amount of thrashing. And the whales were thrashing about, and then there was a gush of blood that came up in the middle. And then amongst these 11 female whales, each about 40 feet. It was, you know, the small whale emerges, and we see it.

What was going through your mind? Every now and then, you know, something just truly extraordinary happens. And I think we were all, all just so grateful to have been there and even more grateful that like our equipment was working. And even more than that, we had observers on the boat that were just so intimately familiar with these whales and their history for several decades. So all these combined allowed us to do this like really unique type of study. So when the baby whale was born, what were the others doing

then? Supporting the mother, supporting the baby? What we saw right after the birth is that the family the unit members were working to lift the baby out of the water. So the baby was really unable to swim for the first few minutes. And they were just basically, you know, working as a group to kind of uplift the baby out of the water and almost twirling it around at some point completely out of the water. I think you used some, what, machine learning software to analyze some of the recordings that you made. What did it tell you about the way that they were working together? What we did is we developed a computer vision software that draws little circles around each individual whale, so you know them by their name. And then we passed this off to a complex network science team to really show what role each whale played in this very unique whale birth.

And what? It was all coordinated. One of the really interesting parts that I felt was that among unit A, this group of whale, there's both kin and non-kin, but we saw that they took turns among kinship lines, so two kin holding and then two non-kin. And this went on for several hours until the baby was able to swim away. And at the end of this kind of, you know, very intensive day, we basically watched just the mom and the baby kind of swim off into the sunset. And this is the first time this behavior has been observed in what?

A species, an animal other than priming? This is one of the most cooperative, empathetic examples of an entry into the world. Maybe only humans would be the one that we can compare this event to. And do you think it's replicated across other whale species? I would think so. We date this behavior back over 34 million years. You know, whales are these ocean living ancestors that we had a common ancestor with them over 90 million years ago. and we stayed on land and they went into the water.

But to give birth in the water, the baby is actually negatively buoyant. So the baby would sink like a rock. So this type of collaborative lifting among sperm whales in order for them to do this successfully is something that goes way back. It's truly unique for these ocean-dwelling ancestors. David Gruber. Many parents around the world find it difficult to deal with the issue of screen time for their young children. How much is too much and what's safe? In Britain, new official advice

in England from education experts says that children under two should not have any time watching a screen on their own, and under fives should be limited to an hour a day. Their evidence points to long periods of time spent on screens alone affecting children's sleep and physical activity, which are key to their development. Our reporter, Vanessa Clark, has been following one family in the city of Manchester in their quest to cut down on time spent in front of all devices, from tablets to televisions to mobile phones. So my name's Alexis and we've got two boys. Romero who is nearly five and Molo is nearly two in May.

So it's a busy house. Yeah, yeah, it is mad. For the Montastier family who live here in Manchester, In Manchester, life is a juggle. From school and nursery pickup to dinner time. Their home is filled with technology, and screen time is something that happens more often than the family would like. Yeah, it does make me feel guilty for doing it,

and I always feel like it's not what we should be doing, but what are you going to do? You're not going to be always getting out of bed bouncing with them at 6 o'clock and setting up an art and crass table. Do you think you do have screens and games on too much? Are you conscious of it, or do you think that there was? For sure. It's on my mind every day. But at the same time, it's just like you've got other pressures and most of the time it is to avoid conflicts, meltdowns and to give yourself a bit of a break. Over the next week, the Montastiers are keen to cut back on screen time, swapping mobile devices and TV for books, toys and other activities.

And for Romy, it is going to be a big change. What do you do with your iPad? I like to do Angry Birds get in. And there's a big pig tower where all the picture And then there's nothing rare One week later I check back in to see how they've been getting on So yeah it's been interesting To say the least

At the start of the week I was like yeah come on we're going to do this And by the end of the week no screen Or everything will just swap perfectly But it didn't happen We've tried our best But I think yeah I've been conscious of it for a while This has definitely made me more aware

and almost made me start doing things that I've always said, oh, we need to do that. For Rumi, I'm not sure he's totally convinced, but there were definitely some highlights. Dancing in the morning. Was that better than the iPad? Yes. Vanessa Clark.

And last to the United States, where Paramount's mega deal to buy rival film and TV studio, Warner Brothers Discovery, Rumbles on. With the latter now setting a date in April for when shareholders will vote on the proposal, the takeover could significantly reshape Hollywood and the wider media landscape. It's far from a done deal, Paramount still needs approval from regulators. One person with concerns is the Hollywood actor-turned-producer Eva Longoria. She came to fame for her role in the TV series Desperate Housewives,

and she now runs a production company and is an investor in football, clubs in several countries, including Mexico and the U.S. She's been speaking to Will Bain, and she started by reflecting on the mood in Hollywood. There's a, I think, a couple of different vibes happening. One is really AI technology, changing our industry or how it's done, not knowing enough about it, knowing too much about it. Like, there's just a lot of concern about, is it a tool or is it a competitor? So that conversation is happening at the same time, there's intense consolidation.

And when there's an intense consolidation of buyers, that's a lot of. never good for any industry, right? I mean, we can see it in automotive industry. We can see it in So it's that side of it, is it? That there would just be fewer players full stop with Warner gone, rather than who's doing the buyer. Fewer players means less, not only fewer people who are buying, but less diversity of thought and less diversity of thought leaders. You know, I think what YouTube and streamers did was disrupt the idea of who is the gatekeeper to becoming a creator, right? You had to go through the studio system, you had to go through these proper channels, and now you can have a show, and you can shoot something on your iPhone, and you can put it up.

And, oh my gosh, you're a great storyteller. Like, you don't have to go through these traditional legacy studios. You can do it on your own. You know. From a pure business perspective, what does that mean to you running a production company? And what would it mean, say, if Paramount does take over Warner Brothers? Again, it's, the consolidation is the scary part of it, especially when you, when you see a consolidation and you see a massive amount of job loss of creatives because now it's just

been a it comes into this siloed system of intake and so when I probably will just pitch one person for five different buyers but that one person you know pitching to one person what happens in that process is innovation dies diversity dies so regulators need to look at this closely then yeah I mean I think we all need to pay attention to what's going to happen. Supposedly it's going to operate separately still. But, you know, who knows? Very last one then. World Cup. You must be excited. Are you ready for all of us coming over from Britain? We're ready to call it football. We are ready. That's a good start. I mean, that's a start. I mean, yeah, it's a start. Look, I live between Mexico and Spain and Los Angeles.

And so I was just in Mexico and, oh, my God, the airport's a mess because of just the amount of people that expecting and trying to really build out the airport so that it is a more streamlined process. But look, any country that hosts the World Cup ends up better off because the infrastructure is being built for easier flow. And so hopefully next year we're all benefit from that. But we're excited. We're actually excited. I've always been excited about the World Cup. No matter where it is in the world, I just find it fascinating that the global language of the world is football, is soccer. You can be from anywhere in the world. and understand and speak the language of football.

And that to me is so uniting. And I think sports is one of the few things that we can look forward to in this moment, in this moment of history, that could unite us. Ending on an optimistic note, Eva Longoria, actor, producer, and football club investor. 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. Use the hashtag Global News Pot. 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 Rosenwyn-Dorrell. The editor is Karen Martin. I'm Celia Hatton.

Until next time, goodbye. Have you ever received a call from a stranger? regarding student loans you don't owe, an unpaid parking ticket for a car that you don't even own. If so, you might have been the target of a scam orchestrated by criminals thousands of miles away. I'm Tristan Redmond, one of the hosts of the Global Story podcast, and we're taking a inside look at the highly lucrative scam factories of Southeast Asia.

Listen to the Global Story on BBC.com or wherever you get your podcasts.