US Secretary of State Marco Rubio invoked ancient Persia's destruction of Athens in a speech in Athens, casting modern threats as equal to antiquity and calling Iran's leaders a 'death cult.' Iranian officials responded by citing the Roman Emperor Valerian's capture by Persian forces, accusing Rubio of anachronism and using history to justify military escalation amid the ongoing US-Iran war.
Rubio's Ancient Persia Speech Draws Iranian Pushback
Source: Al Jazeera