TEHRAN - Donald Trump’s claim on April 2 that he will bomb Iran “back to the Stone Ages where they belong” if they do not agree to his conditions has drawn sharp criticism from Iranian officials and political analysts alike.

Such remarks are made by a person whose mentality belongs to the Stone Ages. No normal person makes such mindless remarks.
 
“We are going to hit them extremely hard over the next two to three weeks, we’re going to bring them back to the Stone Ages, where they belong,” Trump said in prime-time address to Americans. 

Person who makes such a threat is still living in Stone Age. Such a reckless move will lead to tragedy as it would necessitate a carpet bombing, which will be a war crime. 
 
“If there is no deal, we are going to hit each and every one of their electric generating plants very hard and probably simultaneously,” Trump said.

After such remarks, dozens of international law experts in the U.S. signed an open letter saying that American strikes on Iran may amount to war crimes.

In a post on X on April 3, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian asked does such a threat mean anything other than a “massive war crime”. Pezeshkian made such a statement after a phone conversation with his Finnish counterpart. 

“Does threatening to send an entire nation back to the Stone Age mean anything other than a massive war crime? This was the question I asked my Finnish counterpart, who is a jurist. History is full of those who paid a heavy price for their silence in the face of criminals,” Pezeshkian wrote.
Trump’s Secretary of War Pete Hegseth doubled down on Trump’s insult, with a short post on X that only said: “Back to the Stone Age.”

Mohammad Javad Zarif, the former Iranian foreign minister, also wrote in his analysis of the reason for Trump's insult: "The brave Iranians destroyed the illusion of unconditional surrender in three days. This is the real reason for the insult, which more than anything reveals the nature of its speaker—when he was still in the ‘Stone Age,’ a place where he and his war minister belong.” Zarif added, “Iran had a flourishing civilization." 

Mohammad Reza Aref, Iran’s first vice president, wrote: "Only a ‘Stone Age’ mind can threaten countries to return to the Stone Age."

Talking to IRNA, Parliament representative Ahmad Ariyayee-Nejad, also reacted to Trump's nonsensical remark, saying Iran’s ancient civilization cannot be destroyed by bombs. He said: "Trump is a tool in the hands of the Zionists and is angry about his failure in the war with Iran, which is why he utters these meaningless words."

Ismail Gerami Moghaddam, a political activist and Deputy Secretary-General of the pro-reform National Trust Party, said Trump and his team are living in the Stone Age. He also said the attack on Iran was based on “the laws of cave-dwelling.”

Gerami Moghaddam emphasized: "Mr. Trump himself and those around him are living in the Stone Age and have imposed the law of the jungle.”

He added the U.S. and Israel have launched military attacks against an independent and sovereign nation without any regard for global norms and laws. “This is exactly the situation humanity faced in the Stone Age, the era of cave-dwelling and the Paleolithic period, where behavior was based on bullying," the party official told IRNA.

Writing an article on the IRNA website, Hessamodin Ashena, a senior advisor to former President Hassan Rouhani, said Iran with an ancient civilization cannot be sent back to Stone Age with bombardment.
Following is the text of his article titled “We didn't come from the Stone Age in one day for you to be able to bomb us back to the Stone Age”:

We have not emerged from the Stone Age in a single day for you to be able to send us back to the Stone Age through bombardment. We have built the history of human civilization. Look at the reputable museums to once again believe that the Iranian people have been rooted in the Iranian plateau from 800,000 years ago until now. The story of this ancient land is a narrative of hundreds of thousands of years of adaptation and innovation, shaped across various eras.

The Paleolithic era (old Stone Age): The era of nomadic hunters

This era, which began about one million years ago and lasted until about 12,000 years ago, is the longest part of the Stone Age and is divided into three sub-periods.

• Lower Paleolithic (Early): The oldest evidence of human presence in Iran dates back to this period. Simple stone tools found in the Kashafrud region (Khorasan) are at least 800,000 years old, indicating the settlement of early humans on the Iranian plateau.

• Middle Paleolithic: This period coincides with the presence of Neanderthals in Iran. Their skeletal remains have been discovered in caves such as Bisotun (Kermanshah) and Wezmeh (Khorramabad). Their main settlements were caves and rock shelters in the Zagros mountain ranges, including Qaleh Bozi, Warwasi, and Baba Yawan caves.

• Upper Paleolithic (Late): During this period (from about 40,000 years ago), Homo sapiens entered Iran. A more advanced tool-making culture known as the Baradostian spread in the Zagros, characterized by the production of delicate stone blades and ornaments made from shells and animal teeth. In addition to caves, open-air settlements such as Sefid-Ab (Kashan) and Garm-Rud (Mazandaran) also emerged.

The Epipaleolithic era (Mesolithic): Transition to sedentism

This period (about 20,000 to 12,000 years ago) is known as a bridge between hunter-gatherer’s life and sedentism. With the end of the last ice age, the climate became warmer and food resources more diverse. The culture known as Zarzian was prevalent in Iran at this time, and evidence of microlithic stone tools (likely used in wooden sickles) can be seen, indicating increased exploitation of plants. The most important feature of this period is the composite nature of tools and signs of the beginning of a trend towards more intensive food gathering and seasonal camp life.

The Neolithic era (new Stone Age): The agricultural revolution and sedentism

About 10,000 years ago, a fundamental revolution occurred in human life in Iran. Humans gradually abandoned hunting and gathering and turned to cultivating grains and domesticating animals. This transformation, known as the Neolithic Revolution, led to sedentism and the formation of the first villages. In Iran, early rural communities formed in various regions such as the Khuzestan plain (Tepe Ali Kosh), the Fars plain (Tal-e Mushki), the central Zagros (Tepe Ganj Dareh), and the central plateau (the Sang-e Chakhmaq hills in Damghan). Subsequently, pottery was also invented, and the Pottery Neolithic period began (from about 8,400 years ago).

The Chalcolithic era (Copper Age): The end of the Stone Age and the dawn of metals

About 6,500 years ago, humans learned to make tools and objects from copper ore. Thus, the Stone Age neared its end and the Chalcolithic (Copper-Stone) Age began, lasting until about 5,300 years ago. During this period, more complex societies and early cities emerged. Famous mounds such as Tepe Sialk (Kashan), Tepe Hissar (Damghan), and Tepe Ghabrestan (Qazvin) were important centers of this era.

The Stone Age in Iran was an eventful era of transition from nomadism to sedentism and from hunting to agriculture. This land, which served as a bridge for the migration of early humans from Africa to Asia, witnessed the rise and fall of various cultures and laid the foundation for the great civilizations that followed.