Iranian officials warn global powers against imperial ambitions

Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf issued a sharp warning to global powers seeking to dominate the world and destroy ancient civilizations. Using historical analogies, Ghalibaf stated that those who follow the legacy of Alexander the Great will face the fate of the Roman Emperor Valerian, asserting that such powers arrive in fire but depart in dust and shame.

These remarks follow criticisms from Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmail Baghaei regarding U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio. Baghaei accused Rubio of using a selective interpretation of history during his visit to Greece, specifically by linking ancient Greece to the modern United States to justify the use of military force. Baghaei argued that such rhetoric emphasizes power and national will while ignoring the imperial ambitions and aggression inherent in those traditions, warning that distorting history to serve current political goals is a misuse of the past.