US Secretary of State Rubio invokes ancient Persian history, Iran reacts sharply

TEHRAN, Iran – US Secretary of State Marco Rubio's speech in Athens, in which he invoked the memory of ancient Persia, drew a cool or hostile response from various quarters of Iran's political class, at a time when Washington is continuing its military campaign against Tehran.

Against the backdrop of the Acropolis in Athens, Rubio argued that the United States – founded in the 18th century – is the heir to the ancient Western civilization that stretched from Greece to Rome. In the speech, he said today's Western nations have lost their self-confidence, grown weak industrially and militarily, and need to restore their ambition and strength.

Referring to the ancient Greco-Persian wars, Rubio cited the destruction of Athens by Persian forces under King Xerxes I in 480 BC as an example of Western civilization surviving an outside enemy. “The Persians looted temples, burned places of worship and razed the Acropolis,” Rubio said, before praising the return of the Athenians and the building of the Parthenon under Pericles.

The US top diplomat also aimed his rhetoric at Iran's current leadership, in power since the 1979 Islamic Revolution, calling them “fanatics” running a “death cult” that uses martyrdom as a tool for political ends. “The threats we face today are as present as they were on the dramatic stage of antiquity,” Rubio declared, adding that President Donald Trump's administration chooses to “pursue national power unapologetically.”

The US and Iran have been in a state of conflict since the US and Israel carried out airstrikes on Iran on February 28. Although fighting between the two sides has eased, the US maintains a naval blockade of Iran, while shipping through the Strait of Hormuz – a vital maritime route – remains disrupted.

Iran's security chief Mohsen Rezaei and Parliament Speaker and lead negotiator Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf both responded by invoking Roman Emperor Valerian, who was captured alive by the forces of Persian king Shapur I in the battle of 260 AD. “Anyone who brings history into this story must prepare for its repetition,” Rezaei said.

Iran's Foreign Ministry accused Rubio of flattening Greek, Roman, Christian and modern history, and said the secretary of state had woven in an “America First” narrative to legitimize military escalation against Iran after the fighting eased relatively from June, when the two sides adopted a now-expired memorandum.

“It seems the US has concluded that it is better to justify coercive policy and force before the world under the bright neon lights of a 'philosophy of history' than to reveal itself as a bully in cowboy language,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei said in a statement. He said Rubio was resorting to “anachronism,” dredging up long-buried historical events to seek legitimacy for the present.

After the 2020 assassination of Qassem Soleimani, commander of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, President Trump threatened to strike “very hard” at 52 Iranian sites, including places “important to Iran and Iranian culture.” Since February, the US has also been criticized for damaging Iran's historical and cultural monuments in airstrikes.

Culture Minister Reza Salehi-Amiri called on Western politicians to speak about Iran in “a language of respect,” because “Iran is not an enemy created in a political speech, but a living civilization, a great nation and an enduring entity in world history” dating back thousands of years.

Iranian historian Touraj Daryaei told domestic media on Friday that while Rubio's account of the sacking of Athens was correct, he omitted an important fact mentioned by Greek historian Herodotus and others – the main motive for the Persian attack was retaliation. In 498 BC, Athenian forces burned Sardis, a Persian provincial capital in western Anatolia. For many Iranians, who feel they have been attacked by the US and Israel without cause, this event may carry contemporary resonance.

Shima, a 26-year-old resident of Tehran, told Al Jazeera she did not appreciate Rubio using conflicts from 2,500 years ago to drum up support for the current war with Iran. “They want to continue the war, and they will say whatever they think works at the time,” she said.

During his confirmation hearing in the Senate in January 2025, Rubio called Iranians “the people of an ancient civilization and culture with immense pride and achievement, who are very proud of their Persian heritage and identity.” “I don't know of any country on Earth where the gap between the people and those who rule them is so wide,” he said then. “The clerics who run the country do not represent the people, their history and their contributions to humanity.”

However, America's war against Iran, the naval blockade of southern Iranian ports and isolating sanctions do not hit the Iranian government and leadership hardest, but the Iranian people themselves, without changing the government's behavior. Trump's comments about the possible “extinction of a civilization” in Iran if the conflict escalates have made Iranians even more pessimistic about the aims of the US war, originally stated as liberating the people from their government.

Most Iranians reacted negatively to Rubio's latest speech, though some members of the diaspora or opponents of the Islamic Republic argue the secretary of state was targeting the Iranian government rather than the entire ancient civilization. Iranian state media quickly criticized Rubio's remarks; the hardline Vatan-e Emrouz newspaper on Saturday ran a front page showing Rubio in an ancient Roman military uniform, holding a shield and sword, under the headline “Ancient War.” The paper said Rubio was trying to “create a historical-ideological basis for America's war against Iran.”

Professor Vali Nasr, who teaches international affairs and Middle East studies at Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies in Washington, D.C., told Al Jazeera that in his view Rubio's aim was to shape a common enemy for the US and Europe in order to rebuild relations between them. “He decided that Iran, rather than Islam – which was once seen as the civilizational enemy – should play that role to bind the West together,” Nasr said. “This also reflects American frustration that Europe has not played a big role in the war, and aims to paper over deep divisions between the US and Europe over Russia-Ukraine.”

Rubio made the speech as President Trump reached a deal with Russian President Vladimir Putin to sell diesel to the US and global markets despite sanctions on Russia. Trump said the deal would lower diesel prices – which had risen to record levels because of the Iran war. According to Nasr, Trump's announcement and Rubio's speech together may be a message from the administration that Iran, not Russia, is the enemy the West should focus on.

“I think whether this rhetoric alienates Iranians is no bigger a concern than whether President [George W.] Bush's use of the word 'crusade' alienated Muslims,” Nasr told Al Jazeera. “However, it clearly shows Washington does not distinguish between the Iranian people and Iran as a civilization and the Islamic Republic.”