‘Your illusion of absolute power has collapsed’: Iran rebukes US Treasury chief over ‘backyard’ war analogy

An Iranian diplomat has delivered a rebuke to US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, dismissing his aggressive rhetoric as the ignorant boast of a child playing in a backyard, and declaring that Washington’s illegal "war of choice" against Iran has only shattered the illusion of American hegemony.

Esmaeil Baqaei, spokesperson for the Iranian Foreign Ministry, issued the remarks on Wednesday, marking the anniversary of the martyrdom of Raeis Ali Delvari, a legendary Iranian commander who led a fierce indigenous uprising against British imperial forces in the early 20th century.

Baqaei’s comments directly addressed a controversial and widely criticized analogy previously made by Bessent.

In explaining his hardline, maximalist stance on Iran, the Treasury Secretary reportedly reached back to his childhood in South Carolina, claiming that venomous snakes in his backyard were dealt with using " a rake, or a machete”.

"That is precisely where Bessent goes wrong," Baqaei wrote in a post on X. "He mistakes the depth of Iran’s history and culture for the size of a childhood yard."

A century of defeating empires

Drawing a historical parallel, the Iranian diplomat reminded the US official of the British Empire's failed attempts to subjugate southern Iran over a century ago.

When British forces brought the "full weight of its power and brutality" to the coastal regions of Bushehr and Tangestan, they succeeded in assassinating Rais Ali Delvari.

However, Baqaei noted, the killing of the leader did not break the nation; the indigenous resistance only intensified, ultimately bleeding the imperial power and forcing it to reckon with a populace that refuses to be subjugated.

Baqaei used this historical lesson to highlight the fundamental miscalculation of modern American policymakers who view the Middle East through a narrow, imperial lens.

Transitioning to the current war, Baqaei condemned the ongoing US military and economic campaign against Iran, describing it as an unlawful and unprovoked aggression that has fundamentally backfired on Washington.

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"Your brutal 'war of choice'... was meant to drive the Nation of Iran to collapse," Baqaei stated. "What has collapsed instead is the illusion of your absolute power, and with it every claim to moral standing."

Concluding his message, the Iranian diplomat emphasized the vast gap between American political arrogance and the reality of Iranian civilization.

"History is far larger than a kid's memories and 'their' backyard," Baqaei wrote.

He added that history reserves a clear, unforgiving judgment for those who cast themselves as heroes armed with a machete, entirely ignorant of a great, thousands-of-years-old civilization with a profound and unbreakable spirit of resistance to injustice.

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