Athens:In response to claims made by US Secretary of State Marco Rubio about Iran during a speech in Athens, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baqaei reacted to what he described as an attempt to distort history and justify US warmongering.

According to Islamic Republic News Agency, Baqaei accused Rubio of misrepresenting Western history from ancient Greece to the modern United States as a continuous narrative. He criticized this approach as a distortion produced by merging distinct historical elements, such as Greece, Rome, and America, into a single continuum, suggesting it was an attempt to promote the 'America First' agenda under a historical guise.

Baqaei argued that Rubio's interpretation of the Greek concept of 'thumos' as a celebration of power and competition misses a crucial part of Greek heritage. He emphasized that Greece not only showcased power and glory but also highlighted the dangers of hubris and aggression, as seen in works like Homer's Iliad and Thucydides' History of the Peloponnesian War.

He further contended that Rubio's narrative omits the critical reflections and philosophical inquiries that are integral to Greek history, transforming history into a tool for political legitimation, which serves to justify US militancy and create a political myth.

Baqaei referenced Vasily Vereshchagin's painting, The Apotheosis of War, as a counter-image to glorification of power, illustrating the grim realities of conquest. He urged Western thinkers to defend historical and philosophical complexities against distortions that serve aggressive power, warning of the dangers of appropriating history to legitimize force in the present.