Rezaei made the remarks in response to US Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s speech in Athens, where he invoked Western civilization and made insulting comments about Iran and its civilization.
“When they go to Athens after defeat and humiliation before Iran to shape a narrative of a civilizational war, it would be better for them to read another important part of history: where the Roman emperor knelt before Shapur I of the Sasanian Empire,” he wrote in a post on his X account.
He added that “Whoever brings history into it must be ready for its repetition!”
Rezaei’s response invoked one of the most significant military episodes in ancient Iranian history, countering the US official’s civilizational framing by recalling a time when the Sasanian Empire inflicted a major defeat on the Roman Empire.
