The view from Tehran on US-Iran talks | BBC Global News Podcast

Welcome to the Global News podcast on. YouTube where we go behind the. headlines. Hello, I'm Janat Jal and. today we're looking at the second round. of indirect talks between Iran and the. US since the Iranian government's. crackdown on protests at the start of. the year in which thousands of people. were killed. The Iranian authorities are. talking about progress at the talks, but. what do Iranians themselves make of it? Well, we're joined from Tehran by our. chief international correspondent, Lee.

Ducet. And I should tell you that she's. reporting from Iran on condition that. none of her material is used on the. BBC's Persian service. And these. restrictions apply to all media. organizations operating in Iran. So, Le, the Iranians at the talks in Geneva are. talking of progress. As we uh record this conversation, it's. just about 6:00 in the evening here in. Thran, and we've only heard so far from. the Iranian delegation, but the foreign. minister Abbas Sarachi has said that the.

two sides were able to agree on what he. said was a set of guiding principles. And even more, he said they are going to. both go away and work on the draft text. of a possible deal. Now, if that's. confirmed by the Americans, that does. represent significant progress. Bear in. mind when they went in there was a lot. of discussion. Well, would the United. States agree to Iran's demand to only. focus on its nuclear program, not all. the other issues, including ballistic.

missiles that senior members of. President Trump's team and uh countries. such as Israel are insisting have to be. part of any agreement. Uh I have to say. that here in Thran, we had spoken to one. of the top negotiators, the deputy. foreign minister Majit Tak Raani just. before they left for Geneva and he was. really indicating that the Iranians. understood now that they had to make. compromises if they wanted to see. sanctions lifted. And so we believe that. they did make some compromise proposals.

and that may be helping to move the. talks along. And these talks were held in a context. of saber rattling by both sides. In. particular, the US military buildup in. the region. Yes, both sides are saying they prefer a. deal. They hope they can do it through. diplomacy, but both sides as well are. saying they're preparing for war. You. discussed on this podcast before the. military buildup of American military.

might in the Arabian Sea. It continues. the pace. Uh yesterday Iran announced. that its elite Islamic Revolutionary. Guard Corps were carrying out naval. drills in the straight of Hormuz. That's. an absolutely critical waterway for uh. the world's maritime traffic. So both of. them are saying don't uh for President. Trump, he's saying if you don't do a. deal, I'm going to hit you again. And. remember, Iran did see that 12-day war.

last year with Israel, which drew in the. United States attacking its nuclear. sites. And Iran is saying, "Well, if you. hit us, we're going to hit you back with. even a greater force.". Given that President Trump was when the. protest broke out talking about America. being locked and loaded, about the US. coming to help the protesters, what do. Iranians make of these talks now going. ahead in the wake of so many deaths? We're talking about possibly 7,000,

possibly more people having been killed. in the security forces crackdown on. those protests. >> Yes, there's still no certainty on the. numbers. International human rights. groups have been uh trying to keep track. of the numbers. It's a horrific death. toll. No matter what number you put on. it, the government is still insisting. the number was about 3,100. Human rights groups are saying it's more. than 7,000 and their projections that it. could be even higher. And yes, President.

Trump in it in in his multiplicity of. messages, I think the world knows now. that he does tend to change his mind. And for Iran, it's about that he's. sending conflicting signals. Sometimes. he just talks about a nuclear deal. Sometimes he talks about regime change. And yes, when the protests were were at. their peak and indeed when they were. actually uh were easing because of the. lethal force being used by the. government, he he he reassured the.

protesters that help was on the way. He. called on them to take control of the. institutions. More than one person here. that we've been talking to as we go. about the city said, "Well, President. Trump promised he would come and help. us," the protesters, and no help came. And they felt very, very let down. I I. have to say that on this visit to Iran, I have been so struck by just how. raw the emotion and the anger and the.

pain still is after those protests. When. we go out into the streets and just. asking an open question, what's the main. worry on your mind now? It has triggered. tears on the part of some people, talking about how many people have been. killed, lamenting uh the loss of life. People also talking about how hard it is. to live here with inflation soaring at. 60%, the real currency plummeting. against the dollar. Remember, it was. those economic woes which triggered uh.

this latest wave of unrest which then. spiraled into much broader calls for. much more uh systemic political change. And so for many Iranian I've never seen. this mood in Iran before. So much so. that for the first time I've heard. Iranians say that well if the only thing. which is going to help us is a strike by. the United States then let our country. be attacked. you would never hear that. kind of of of call before. And one woman.

said to us, "No one likes their country. to be attacked." But such is their. desperation at this moment. On the side. of the government, of course, we were. here during the last of the 10 days. marking the 47th anniversary of the. Islamic Republic. They keep keep pushing. back. They organize these massive street. rallies like they do every year. But. this year they wanted to say well look. these are our supporters in the streets. some of the same streets uh which had.

been claimed by the protesters. You. really have a very very palpable sense. that this is a turning point in Iran and. the country is pulling in two. directions. Yes. The government did. organize these big rallies to try to. show there is still support for them. despite that crackdown. as you see it, as you can gauge it from the. restrictions that are being imposed on. you. How much support genuinely is. there? >> It's impossible to put a number on it.

This is a country of some 92 million. people. We've only uh been in Tehran. But of course, the protests last month. went nationwide to towns and cities. across uh this country. The weight of. this economic crisis are bearing down on. on everyone. Everyone that we spoke to. here uh said that they were strong. Even. the government admits that there are uh. as they put it legitimate economic. grievances. The president Masud Peskan. even apologized uh for these the what he.

called the shortcomings of the. government and said the government would. be was doing everything it could do to. to address it. Well, there have been. some e Iranian analysts which put the. percentage of the government support. around uh 10 to 15%, don't forget in the. last uh elections in Iran about 13. million people voted for the most. hardline candidates. How can we say. about those people who filled the.

streets? How many of them were felt they. should come out to so as not to come. under pressure from the government? how. many of that how much of that was. genuine uh support. So the government is. not without support but you get a sense. now uh that they are losing support and. and legitimacy in light of those. protests which unfolded uh in Iran last. month. Of course, there was that uh this. massive internet blackout is being. described as the longest digital.

shutdown anywhere um in history where uh. almost nothing of the reports and. messages could get out because of the. bravery and ingenuity of Iranians. We. were still getting messages at the BBC. about what was happening on the ground. That has been eased now and the. government now feels confident enough to. let international media in. The Iranian. people are very very brave people. They. what we found when we went out into the. streets is that when there was a. television camera people were much more.

much more cautious. They didn't want uh. to identify themselves. But when they. when their identity was hidden when they. could just ensure that their voices and. their views were heard they spoke out. even without asking. people would come. up to us and they would say we want we. want the world to know uh what we're. thinking of especially young people who. who lamented to us that they feel they. have no future here in a sense where. they say we we have nothing to lose now.

but of course there is a nervousness. after the lethal force which was. deployed and I have to say that for all. of the limits and all of the. restrictions it has reinforced my view. that there is no alternative to being on. the ground uh face to face to basically. feel uh what people are are saying, what. what they're going through and that and. really have a much better sense of what. people here have been going through and. what they think. >> And Lee, where does Iran and where do. its people go from here?

>> That's the biggest question of all. You. really feel that this is the the. twilight zone where you have an. 86year-old u uh supreme leader Ayatollah. Ali Khab who his health is is ailing. he's he's always been a very cautious. leader and now he has presided over. there was a war last year 12-day war. after es after Iran was attacked by. Israel it also drew in the United States. there's been this new wave of of.

protests uh huge challenges facing the. Islamic Republic in fact the biggest. challenges that they have faced to their. rule since their own uprising in 1979. which which ousted the Shaw. Is there. going to be a deal? There's some signs. in which there could possibly be a new. deal. Will that be enough? Will it just. be a pause or will there be another. deadly war? It is a moment of great. unpredictability. and also of great peril.

>> Le, thank you. That was Lee Ducet, our. chief international correspondent. reporting from Thran. And if you like. this episode, please do subscribe to us. here on YouTube. And if there are any. other stories you'd like us to cover, please leave a comment below. And for. more international news, you can always. download our global news podcast from. wherever you get your podcasts.