TEHRAN - A senior advisor to Iran's Leader has fired a sharp barb at US President Donald Trump over his recent anti-Tehran threats.

President Trump threatened on Saturday that “hell will reign down” on Iran if it does not agree to open the Strait of Hormuz within 48 hours. He had previously warned that the US could bomb Iran’s energy, water, and oil infrastructure if no agreement was reached. In a prime-time address on Thursday morning, Trump also threatened to bomb Iran “back to the Stone Ages.”

In a veiled response to these threats, Ali Akbar Velayati, a senior advisor to Iran's Leader, reminded the US president of Iran’s long-standing historical legacy. 
“There was a time when the ancestors of the Anglo-Saxons were searching for fire in caves, while Darius the Great connected the Mediterranean to the Red Sea through a canal to facilitate navigation—when Iranian knowledge was laying the foundations of global scientific progress,” Velayati wrote on X. 

Velayati’s post underscores Iran’s millennia-old civilization and contributions to global knowledge, contrasting them with the relatively short history of the United States. While Iran boasts a continuous cultural and scientific heritage dating back over 2,500 years, including monumental achievements in engineering, mathematics, and navigation, the US is a nation only a few centuries old.