BBC Persian () is the Persian language broadcast station and subsidiary of BBC World Service which conveys the latest political, social, economical and sport news relevant to Iran, Afghanistan, and Tajikistan, and the world. Its headquarters are in London, United Kingdom. Radio The BBC first started a Persian radio service during World War II on 29 December 1940, encouraged by the Foreign Office, as part of its Empire Service. The government reasons for prioritising this was concern that the Iranian king, Reza Shah Pahlavi, was sympathetic to Nazi Germany. Following the Anglo-Soviet invasion of Iran in August 1941, the Foreign Office encouraged broadcasting about king's autocratic style and republican systems of Government. The Persian Service continued after the war as part of the BBC General Overseas Service, with more editorial independence from the UK government. However the risk of the Iranian nationalisation of Anglo-Persian Oil Company created an exceptional circumstance causing the Foreign Office to issue memorandums of advice and lists of points to make to the BBC, and the amount of broadcasting more than doubled. This caused many Iranians to believe the Persian Service was not independent, and an advisor of Prime Minister Mohammad Mosaddegh said the "BBC was the voice of British imperialism and we did not trust it". In September 2022, the World Service announced the proposed closure of its Persian and Arabic radio service as part of a cost-cutting plan, but an online service will remain. Role in 1953 Iranian coup d'état The British government used the BBC's Persian service for advancing its propaganda against democratically elected Prime minister of Iran Mohammad Mosaddegh and anti-Mosaddegh material were repeatedly aired on the radio channel to the extent that Iranian staff at the BBC Persian radio went on strike to protest the move. The BBC was at times even used directly in the operations, sending coded messages to the coup plotters by changing the wording of its broadcasts. Under Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi From 1965 the newly formed BBC World Service took over the running of the BBC Persian Service. In the years before the revolution, the BBC Persian Service became highly trusted and liked by listeners, and gained mass appeal beyond intellectuals and the Iranian diaspora. Mohammad Reza Pahlavi and his supporters became critical of the BBC in creating the environment for the popular upheaval that eventually led to the Iranian Revolution in February 1979. The Shah