Tehran: Iran’s military leadership delivered a stinging retort to US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s ‘Stone Age’ taunt, invoking the Islamic Republic’s ancient heritage against America’s relatively brief history.
IRGC Aerospace Force commander Seyed Majid Moosavi reposted Hegseth’s comment on X, and wrote: “It is you who are taking your soldiers to their graves, not Iran, whom you seek to drag back to the Stone Age. Hollywood delusions have so poisoned your minds that, with your paltry 250-year history, you threaten a civilisation over 6,000 years old.”
Hegseth had amplified Donald Trump’s recent national address, where the US President threatened overwhelming force as the war against Iran is about to complete five weeks.
“We are going to hit them extremely hard over the next two to three weeks. We are going to bring them back to the stone ages, where they belong. In the meantime, discussions are ongoing,” Trump declared.
“Tonight, every American can look forward to a day when we are finally free from the wickedness of Iranian aggression and the spectre of nuclear blackmail. Because of the actions we have taken, we are on the cusp of ending Iran’s sinister threat to America and the world,” he added.
The verbal sparring underlines Tehran’s defiance as diplomatic channels remain open following US-Israel joint strikes on Iran on February 28.
Earlier on Thursday, Iran’s Consulate General in Mumbai shared a screenshot of Hegseth’s post, sarcastically highlighting Washington’s rhetorical pivot.
“They said Iran needed to be ‘Great Again’. Now suddenly the goalpost is… the Stone Age? Funny thing… civilisations that go back to empires like the Achaemenids don’t really do ‘again’. They just are,” the consulate stated, referencing the Achaemenid Empire’s origins in 550 BC.
Moosavi’s response, as reported across Iranian state media and social platforms, frames US threats as culturally myopic, rooted in a 250-year national timeline versus Persia’s millennia-old legacy. The consulate’s post similarly emphasises enduring greatness over calls for revival.
The latest escalation in rhetoric comes against a backdrop of fragile talks aimed at de-escalating hostilities that have gripped the region since late February.
