In a post on his X account on Saturday, Leader's adviser on international affairs Ali Akbar Velayati said, “There is a glaring contradiction in Rubio’s recent speech: standing firm "to the last man" is praised in the context of ancient Greece, yet the steadfastness of the great Iranian nation is disparaged with the label of a "death cult."

Lauding resistance when it comes to "one's own" while disparaging it when it comes to "the other" is not civilization; it is mere sophistry in the service of domination. Mr. Rubio, your problem is not with the Islamic Revolution; it is with a strong and independent Iranian civilization, he emphasized.

Those who perpetrated the catastrophes of Hiroshima, Vietnam, Iraq, and Afghanistan have no right to lecture others on morality! The Leader’s adviser added.

He said that resistance to the last person in ancient Greece is praised, while the resistance of the Iranian nation is disparaged by labelling it a death cult.

Velayati added that praising resistance when it belongs to one’s own side while downplaying it when it belongs to others is not civilization, but an attempt to justify dominance.

He further said that the United States, which is responsible for the tragedies of Hiroshima, Vietnam, Iraq, and Afghanistan, has no right to preach morality, adding that its problem is not with the Islamic Revolution, but with Iran’s strong and independent civilization.

Velayati's remarks came after Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei also criticized US Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s portrayal of Western civilization during a visit to Greece, accusing him of presenting a selective historical narrative that links ancient Greece to the modern United States to legitimize the use of force.

MNA