Hegseth: Today ‘most intense’ day of US strikes on Iran

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1:02Hello, I'm Ankara Desai and at 16 GMT on Tuesday, the 10th of March, these are our main stories. The US Defence Secretary, Pete Hexas, as today we'll see the most intense strikes on Iran since the war began and American attacks will continue until Iranian forces are totally defeated. Meanwhile, the world's biggest or producer, Saudi Aramco, has warned of catastrophic consequences if the straight of Hormuz off Iran is blocked for an extended period. We also hear from some crossing the border into Turkey to sense the mood of Iranians as the conflict continues. Also in this podcast, authorities in the US state of New Mexico have launched a surge. It a ranch previously owned by the late convicted sex offender, Jeffrey Epstein, and a new dawn for Nepal as a 35-year-old rapper is sent to become the youngest prime minister in the country's history. In the name of my mother, Sasha. For the past 35 years or so, only three parties have been ruling.

2:03Now there is a small glimmer of hope that the new generation will lead us towards progress. We start in the US where the Secretary of Defence, Pete Hexas, has said that today Iran will see the heaviest bombardment since the beginning of the war. That's a news conference at the Pentagon. He said American attacks would continue until it was totally defeated. On day 10 of Operation Epic Fury, we are winning with an overwhelming and unrelenting focus on our objectives, which are the same as the day I gave my first briefing here on Operation Epic Fury. They're straightforward and we are executing them with ruthless precision. One, destroy their missile stockpiles, their missile launchers, and their defense industrial base, missiles and their ability to make them. Two, destroy their navy.

3:03And three, permanently deny Iran nuclear weapons forever. It's a laser-focused, maximum authority mission, delivered with overwhelming and unrelenting precision. Today will be yet again our most intense day of strikes inside Iran. The most fighters, the most bombers, the most strikes, intelligence more refined and better than ever. Mr. Hexas characterized Iran as weakening, saying it was desperate and scrambling, and said it had made a huge mistake by targeting its neighbors. The ongoing issue of oil prices was also addressed, where the threat that if Iran stopped the flow of oil within the strait of Hormuz, it would be hit harder than ever. I got more details on this from our North America correspondent, Helena Humphrey. Well, certainly I think if you just take a look at the tone, we had that forceful rhetoric from the Secretary of Defense once again. He was saying that US-Israeli forces are winning decisively.

4:07And he said that today would be the most intense day when it comes to those attacks on Iran so far. Now, of course, the question in the room and the question that everybody has been asking in recent days, how long will this last? And the Secretary of Defense wouldn't be drawn on that. He wouldn't give a concrete timeline on how long it will go on for. What he said repeatedly is this is not 2003, so he was insisting it will not be an endless war. And of course, that is something that President Trump campaigned against in the first place in the Defense Secretary pointed that out. He was also asked about what comes next after a war. I thought this was a really interesting point. He said the aftermath is going to be in our interest without saying exactly what that looked like. But it was that similar kind of mixed messaging that we'd heard from President Trump yesterday saying on one hand, okay, this war in Iran could be wrapped up pretty quickly, but also saying the goal for the US is ultimate victory. But I think, you know, from the US perspective, this was an attempt to try and reassure the public

5:07because they will have seen the scenes of another US service member, Army Sergeant Benjamin Pennington, coming home in a dignified transfer yesterday, his coffin at Dover Air Force Base. He's the seventh member of the US military to be killed in this war. Also at a time when we've got oil and gas prices surging yesterday, a mid-concerns over an energy crisis. And those prices starting to come down a little bit today. And Helena, was there any clarification on the attack which hit us school in the recent days? He didn't give further detail on that strike at that school in Minab province. But Peter Hegseth said that the US does not target civilians. And of course, that is something we've heard a number of times from the Trump administration. But what we saw yesterday was a letter from democratic senators who were calling for an investigation into that strike. And they said that they want those results presented in front of Congress. And there was a line in that letter criticizing what they have called a cavalier approach

6:11from the Secretary of Defense. I think something that he would push back on. Helena Humphrey reporting. And we have more on this on our YouTube channel. Search for BBC News on YouTube and you'll find Global News podcast in the podcast section. There's a new story available every weekday. Well, as the US and Israel intensify their attacks on Iran, parts of Tehran and nearby Karaj were rocked by heavy strikes overnight. Residents said the capital was in complete darkness for some time after the electricity supply was interrupted. Iranian state TV reported military leaders dismissing Donald Trump's assertion that the war is almost over. The deputy of IRGC's public relations said the Zionist American enemy's munitions are running out and they are seeking a face-saving exit from the war. But Iran will determine the end of the war. Baranavasi from the BBC Persian Service told us more about the situation there.

7:12The air strikes have continued and what we're hearing from the people. Of course, there is a total internet blackout at the moment in Iran, almost total and not that many people can connect to the outside world and some phone noise don't work either. But we are hearing that people are traumatized and very afraid. So the initial euphoria that we saw in the beginning of the war when the former Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Hominay was killed in the air strikes by Israel. It's been replaced by the horrors of war at the moment. There are no shelters, especially in Tehran, for the people to go to and there are no sirens before an air strike happens. And people would only know about them when they have happened. They are trying to take shelter at home, they are trying to stay at home, but it's not possible for everyone to do so. And because of the internet blackout, it's very difficult for the people to actually find out what is going on. And the state TV does not give them accurate information. So they are confused and they are kept in darkness, basically.

8:15The new Supreme Leader has now been installed. Are there any rumors about when we might hear something from him? So the state TV said that he was injured in the strikes that killed his father and also his mother, one of his three children and also some other family members of him. We don't know the extent of his injuries. We know nothing about his health. And he was a enigmatic figure even before. He was named at the Supreme Leader. Many of the most Iranians have never heard him speak. He has never given an interview or made a public speech. We know that he is close to the IRGC and he was a favorite of the military forces to take over the role of the Supreme Leader. But he has not made any public statements since then. And what we are seeing are AI videos of him showing him taking over the military coordination of the war and greeting his supporters.

9:16But they are all photos, AI videos. We haven't seen anything other than that. Okay, just briefly before you go. The IRGC, they remain defiant after President Trump suggested the war was almost over. What can we sense from their mood and what could happen next? And they are trying to project confidence and continuity, of course. And they seem confident that they have managed to cause the price of oil to spike. And they believe that that is helpful because the Trump administration would soon pull the plug off the wall. Coronavirus from the BBC Persian service. So that's what we know of the reality for those still in Iran. But what of those who are choosing to leave? Emily Weather has been speaking to Iranians on the Iran Turkey border. Iranians crossing the snow-covered border into eastern Turkey are increasingly arriving with stories of how the conflict is spilling into their homes. When I opened my balcony door, the blast was so powerful it threw me back.

10:21A mother from Tehran tells us, her young children shivering from the cold by her side. She says the strikes now come in waves and it's terrifying. This 19-year-old, also traveling from the capital, pulls back his black-hooded jumper to show a large, stitched cut across his head. He was about 50 meters from a police station when it was struck and debris hit him as he ran for cover. Like many Iranians we meet, he's too afraid to give his name. Iranians have told us there's even a sign as they leave the country threatening legal action if they speak to journalists. The regime may have been weakened, but even across the border, its grip is still felt and its survival is as uncertain as when people will feel safe enough to return. People are confused about the future. None of them are happy, but some of them are hopeful. Some of them are scared and they say, okay, that's enough. Let's get back to the normal life.

11:21We can deal with it, we can make some changes hopefully, and then internally we can make it a better country, hopefully. I believe is a good war. The only war, which is a good one, because it's a freedom for people in Iran. The world should know how bad is the regime. They are cancer. We need something more, something heavy to take them down. That's what I believe that I want to say, thanks Donald Trump and BB, you know, to help Iranian peoples to get rid of this cancer. The numbers of people crossing Turkey's three land borders are for now small in number. Iranians tell us huge numbers are leaving the big cities for the safety of the countryside or small towns and villages. Others tell us, even if people wanted to get out, they simply don't have the money to do so, or the internet to plan their journey. Emily with it, reporting. Well, after the most volatile day of all trading in world history on Monday,

12:21the surge in all prices has eased. It's made it clear, though, just how much of an impact this war has already had on the world economy. Iran says it won't let one liter of oil through the straits of Hormuz, the narrow shipping lane, which is usually crucial to the global economy. It was something General Dan Cain, America's top military adviser, referenced in the press conference we talked about at the start of the podcast. We continue to strike the Iranian Navy and their capabilities in order to do things like sustain movement through the straits of Hormuz. One solution the U.S. says it's considering would be for Navy warships to escort oil tankers through. But Tom Sharp, who served for over 25 years in Britain's raw Navy, says it's not an easy task, because Iranian defenses there are formidable. Eskorsik is Navy 101 and as old as Navy's, but it's difficult and it's resource intensive, and that's a very important part of this. But if we just look briefly at the Iranian threat,

13:21what they have to bring to bear there, you can break it into three sections. There's the air threat, which is the missiles, the drones, and the cruise missiles. And we've seen that already across this campaign across the entire region. We know what that looks like, but we also know that if you're very close to the coast, that becomes quite hard to defend against. And they're very mobile. Iran's launches are very mobile. They've configured themselves specifically to be hard to strike back. And so that's threat number one, threat number two is the surface threat, by which I mean they're fast attack craft and they've got well over 3,000 of those. And these aren't pulled up in a base that you can attack. These are dispersed along the coastline and people's garages packed with explosives, and they practice. They've had 30 years to coordinate how to practice this without necessarily getting command control from Tehran. So it's not very sophisticated, but it's very hard to defeat. And then there's the subsurface threat, which is the mini submarines and the mines. And the mines of course could change this metric

14:21on its head almost instantly if they start getting used. So if you're to a score, you have to be able to deal with all those three things, or, and this is critical, and you have to write them down to the point where they are no longer a threat. Well, I asked our Asia business correspondent Nick Marsh about the straight economic importance. This is the very narrow choke point south of Iran through which a fifth of the world's oil and gas supplies have to pass. The vast majority of it, by the way, anchor destined for Asia. These are all really big manufacturing bases. So you can understand how important it is to the world economy and how sensitive these countries are to any constrictions in the supply. One thing that's important to say though is that even though we are seeing a little burst of optimism today, the facts on the ground haven't changed. So even though Donald Trump says the war is ending very soon, it hasn't ended, and it looks to be honest like it's continuing at full pace and the Iranian Revolutionary Guard say there's no rooms to negotiate we're going to carry on.

15:22The Strait of Hormuz is still controlled by Iran. There are no vessels that are daring to take the risk to cross it. So, so long as the facts on the ground don't change, the president's comments can only do so much. And consequently, we're going to see the price of oil rising before we know it. And again, we'll see the, you know, the according market reaction. Nick Marsh reporting. So to come in this podcast, new figures compiled for the BBC suggests the number of class action lawsuits is rising. But critics argue they're starting to damage business as firms worry about potential damage claims. The people who write the rules that govern the courts in the United States decided to tweak the class action and allow people to sue for money as well. And that's really what opens up the floodgates.

16:25This is not the future we were promised. Like hell that out for a tagline for the show. From the BBC, this is the interface. The show that explores how tech is rewiring your week and your world. This isn't about quarterly earnings or about tech reviews. It's about what technology is actually doing to your work and your politics, your everyday life. And all the bizarre ways people are using the internet. Listen on BBC.com or wherever you get your podcasts. Authorities in the US state of New Mexico have launched a search in a ranch previously owned by the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Several survivors have testified that Epstein assaulted teenage girls and women there. But the remote location has never been searched before. Vicki Ward is an investigative journalist who's written extensively about Epstein. She's been speaking to my colleague Tim Franks.

17:26There was this email that's in the files an anonymous email claiming to be from a former employee at the ranch alleging that there are two bodies of foreign girls buried in the hills there. Those allegations have not been corroborated. It's not even clear that the source of the email has been verified. We do know that several of Epstein's victims were abused there. I sat through Gillen Maxwell's criminal trial and two of the four victims who testified at that trial talked about what had happened to them at the ranch. And so it is absolutely extraordinary that it hasn't been searched until now. Has there ever been a reason for that?

18:26I mean, has it been some sort of dispute between the authorities and the federal investigators? Has it slipped between the cracks there? Has it, as you say, it does seem extraordinary? Yeah, it appears. I was speculating a little bit, but based on what's been reported that it did exactly slip through the cracks. Because when Jeffrey Epstein was indicted on federal charges in 2019, you know, that really meant that the feds under the jurisdiction of New York, which is where he was charged, had authority over the investigation. And we know that the New Mexico authorities were beginning to look into the ranch at that time. And they were told to stop and let New York and the feds take over. But that isn't what appears to have happened. It just slipped through the cracks. Unlike all his other properties,

19:26the island, the apartment in Paris, the plain, obviously, New York, it is extraordinary, given that other than New York, which was, and Palm Beach, the two locations that were talked about, most frequently in Galen Maxwell's trial. Obviously, Jeffrey Epstein never had a trial. But that the third property that was mentioned the most was Zorro. And it's just... Zorro being the name of this Russian in New Mexico. And just, I mean, I suppose it's worth just pointing out that, I mean, it's more than a building, isn't it? It's a vast tract of land. It's an absolutely vast tract of land. I think that the house itself is 30,000 feet. Huge squares of land. It is reportedly where Jeffrey Epstein and the last decade of his life talked about spawning children. We know who's very into eugenics. With various women.

20:27And it would have been the perfect place for him to have undertaken something like that, because it was completely isolated. The nearest town was 30 miles away. Vicki Ward, an investigative journalist who's written extensively about Jeffrey Epstein. Now, we've seen realist TV stars and actors become leaders of their country. We're now in South Asia. It's looking like we can add a musician to that list. The rapper turned politician, Valendra Shah. It's said to become the next prime minister of Nepal, his party winning two thirds of the vote. It's a historic result for Nepal five months on from deadly Gen Z anti-corruption protests. Our South Asia correspondent, Asday Machiri, reports from Kathmandu. A seismic result, one that Balan celebrated by standing on top of a car holding his party flag, surrounded by crowds of supporters.

21:27The decades Nepal has been run by the same familiar faces who've exchanged power in successive fragile coalition governments. If officially selected by his party, 35-year-old Balan would become the youngest ever prime minister, leading a party, the Rastriya Swatantra party, which is only four years old. A government made up of elder statesmen would be replaced by a leader known for his trademark black suits and sunglasses and anti-establishment rap songs. It's given hope to young Nepalese who want a break from the past. My vision for my country is there should be an education system that is not a lie. Healthcare that is not done by fake surgeons. We protest against corruption and we are not able to get jobs here and brain brain is also becoming the most important problem in our country. Balan promised he could make hopes like these happen. He'd positioned himself as the voice of Gen Z voters and the candidate for change. Based on these results, a large majority of voters believed him.

22:32I've just arrived here at the RSP headquarters in Kathmandu. Right in front of me, in fact, is a bell, a literal bell. That is the symbol of the RSP party. This isn't going to be a big, loud victory for the RSP. There will be no parades. There will be no big celebrations. And that's in remembrance of the 77 people who lost their lives who died during the Gen Z protests in September. Many of them young protesters shot by police. So even though this is a big day for Nepal and a big day for the RSP party, it is going to be a quiet victory. Balan chose to run in the same constituency as the ousted 74-year-old former Prime Minister, KP Sharma Oli. He said taking the fight directly to Oli was his way of getting justice for the young protesters who died. This result means most to the Gen Z protesters who overthrew the government in September. Rakesh is one of them and he paid a very high price for it. He told us police shot him and that he's now paralysed from the waist down.

23:35He didn't vote in this election. He told us it was simply too expensive to leave the hospital. But that if he could have, he would have voted for Balan. For the past 35 years or so, only three parties have been ruling. Now there is a small glimmer of hope that the new generation will lead us towards progress. When we spoke to the former Prime Minister, KP Sharma Oli on the campaign trail, this clearly wasn't the result he was expecting. And how are you feeling hopeful? Of course. I'm confident that I'll win and my party I'll show it. This landslide victory for his opponent will shatter Oli's belief that the protests were not a referendum on his leadership. A senior leader of Oli's party told us they will need to take decisive action following the results. There should be a serious review, not just a general servicing of the UML, but it's a stage where a major operation a complete transformation is needed. Balan and the RSP will now have to prove

24:35they can make good on their promises and satisfy a public that is still yearning for accountability, just five months on from one of the deadliest episodes in Nepal's modern history. For now, voters have signaled they're ready for a new, uncharted political era to begin. As a date, Missouri reporting. The German Carmaker, Volkswagen, has said it will cut 50,000 jobs in Germany by the end of the decade as its profits fell by over 40% last year. The motor industry across Europe is struggling with intense competition coming from Chinese rivals. David Bailey is a professor of business economics at the Birmingham Business School here in the UK. Much of the auto industry in Europe, I think it's pretty much a perfect storm. A huge hit to profits of Volkswagen down by about a half and fact the worst profit since the dieselgate scandal over a decade ago, which many listeners will remember. A big part of this is China. So sales are there or down, partly because of a cooling Chinese economy,

25:36but also the emergence of Chinese composition, which can make electric cars much cheaper than Western companies can. So essentially they're eating Volkswagen's lunch. Secondly, the transition to electric cars is costing Volkswagen and other firms a huge amount in terms of investment. And at the same time, the take-up of electric cars is disappointing in Europe for those firms. Trade barriers from the US has added to the pressure and hit their profits. And on top of all of that, making cars in Germany is expensive because of high labor costs and high energy prices in the wake of the war in Ukraine and potentially what's going on right now in the Middle East. Professor David Bailey from the Birmingham Business School. They might have seen headlines about class action lawsuits where large groups of people under the umbrella of a collective claim for damages in court. New figures compiled for the BBC suggest the number of cases is rising. But critics argue that they're starting to damage business

26:37as firms worry about potential damages claims. Ed Butler reports. Disney has agreed to fork over more than some major UK legal claim has been filed against Johnson and Johnson. Car makers accused of misleading motorists over emissions basically. Big companies everywhere seem to be grappling with all kinds of complaints. Class or mass action court battles typically happen when a group of people get together to raise a common grievance. One person's name is put forward the court rules over the merits of the case and the ruling is applied to all the rest. Or a group of people could step forward with similar complaints and be treated by the courts as a single claim. Kenny Henderson is a partner at the law firm CMS, which is compiled figures for us at the BBC, suggesting that in the UK alone more than 700 million consumers and businesses were involved in class action cases last year. There is definitely a trend globally towards a more litigious culture

27:37and increase in class actions so that on average UK citizens are now members of more than 10 class actions. The UK is not alone. In Europe between 2018 and 2023, more than $164 billion of damages were being pursued. So how did we get so litigious? Here's Brian Fitzpatrick, a professor at Vanderbilt Law School in Nashville. What happens in 1966 is the people who write the rules that govern the courts in the United States decided to tweak the class action and allow people to sue for money as well. And that's really what opens up the floodgates. And another shift in the law was also to come out of the United States. Claimants were able to opt in or opt out of some cases, which others were leading. Kenny Henderson from the law firm CMS explains. Opt out class action devices are really what we associate with US class actions.

28:39And that is where a claim is issued by a class representative and the class is aggregated automatically. So if you fall within the class definition, you are in the litigation unless you choose to leave it. Not everyone is happy about this growing trend, which is now big business. But is it also simply becoming a legal racket? We'd see cases which are brought purely as an exercise in making money for the lawyers and funders who back them. That's Seema Kennedy. She's the executive director of Fair Civil Justice, a UK-based group campaigning to improve the current litigation system for businesses and consumers alike. Lots of overseas businesses are then being sued. This is really making them think twice about innovating new products and about growing. So how do defense lawyers themselves respond to the argument? Steve Berman is something of a legend in this field with past victories involving settlements running to tens of billions of dollars.

29:41There are a lot of class actions involving tens of millions or hundreds of millions of people. There is a claim that this is beginning to paralyze investment. It's beginning to paralyze industry. I've been hearing that for 30, 40 years and I haven't seen big industry paralyzed in any way. All the class action does is to make them accountable to follow the law and tell the truth. And second, I've seen class actions that have changed entire ways of doing business to the benefit of large groups of people. But others say this relentless pursuit of law fair risks incentivizing conflict and paralyzing enterprise that should help everyone. Ed Butler reporting. And that's all from us for now. If you want to get in touch, you can email us at globalpodcast at bbc.co.uk and you can also find us on X at BBC World Service. Use the hashtag globalnewspod and don't forget our sister podcast,

30:41the global story, which goes in-depth fan beyond the headlines on one big story. This edition of the globalnewspodcast was mixed for the first time by Charlie Berringer and the producer was Will Chalk. The editor is Karen Martin and I'm Uncle Design. Until next time, goodbye. This is not the future we were promised. Like hell that up for a tagline for the show. From the BBC, this is the interface, the show that explores how tech is rewiring your week and your world. This isn't about quarterly earnings or about tech reviews. It's about what technology is actually doing to your work and your politics, your everyday life. And all the bizarre ways people are using the internet. Listen on BBC.com or wherever you get your podcasts.