On Sunday, President Donald Trump insisted that Persian cultural sites should not be off limits in his efforts against the Islamic Republic of Iran. Secretary of Defense Mark Esper insisted that such attacks are against “the laws of armed conflict.” On Tuesday, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo countered by insisting that no one had damaged Persian culture more than the Islamic Republic itself.
Iran Foreign Minister Javad Zarif repeated the claim that attacking Persian cultural sites would be a “war crime.”
“Suddenly [Zarif] cares about Persian culture,” Pompeo shot back. “No one has damaged Persian culture more than the Islamic Republic — disrespecting Cyrus and holidays like Nowruz, prohibiting dancing, and putting an end to religious tolerance. Iran’s regime has defiled everything Iranians hold dear.”
Indeed, the Islamic Revolution in 1979 did considerable damage to many elements of Persian culture dating back millennia.
Persia has a long and proud history, dating back to the ancient Near Eastern kingdom of Elam. During the Achaemenid period of Persian history, the great emperor Cyrus conquered Babylon’s extensive empire, creating a vast network of roads to rule the largest empire in the world at the time. Cyrus famously respected the religions of subject peoples, allowing the Jewish exiles to return to their homeland and financing the construction of walls and a new Temple in Jerusalem.