ALWAGHT- Ali Akbar Velayati, a senior adviser to Iran’s Leader, Ayatollah Seyyed Mojtaba Khamenei, has criticized US Secretary of State Marco Rubio over remarks contrasting ancient Greek resistance with Iran’s approach to martyrdom. In a post on X on Saturday, October 10, 2026, Velayati accused Rubio of applying a double standard by praising resistance when it serves Western interests while disparaging it when demonstrated by Iran.
Rubio had praised the ancient Greeks for choosing to fight rather than abandon their positions during their confrontation with the Achaemenid Empire in 480 BC. At the same time, he criticized Iran’s portrayal of martyrdom as an end in itself. Velayati described the apparent contradiction as an example of selective reasoning used to justify dominance over others.
Velayati argued that the dispute was not fundamentally about the Islamic Revolution but about Iran’s identity as an independent and historically established civilization. He maintained that resistance should not be celebrated in one context and condemned in another, depending on whose interests it serves.
The Iranian official concluded by citing the US role in the catastrophes of Hiroshima, Vietnam, Iraq, and Afghanistan, arguing that Washington lacked the moral standing to lecture other nations. His remarks followed similar criticism of Rubio from senior Iranian officials, including Supreme National Security Council Secretary Mohsen Rezaei and Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf.
