Iran’s civilization ‘will endure against all attempts,’ Nassirian mocks US threats
Veteran stage and screen actor Ali Nassirian said on Wednesday that Iran’s civilization will “endure,” invoking the country’s deep cultural inheritance in response to recent hostile rhetoric from Washington, including threats issued in early April.
Speaking in Tehran, Nassirian said repeated attempts by foreign powers across history to erase Iran had failed, stressing that the nation’s cultural foundations remain intact. “Iran is not perishable,” he said. “Many came, from Mongols to others, and sought to destroy it. They could not.”
His remarks follow a series of statements by US President Donald Trump, who in an April 1 televised address from the White House said Washington would “bring them back to the stone ages,” and later warned of sweeping destruction if Tehran did not comply with US demands. The comments drew sharp reactions across Iran’s cultural and public spheres, IRNA reported.
Nassirian framed resilience as rooted in a millennia-old civilizational continuum rather than physical infrastructure alone. “Even if buildings are damaged, they can be rebuilt,” he said. “What does not vanish is a civilization sustained by culture.”
Citing canonical figures of Persian literature, he pointed to Ferdowsi’s ‘Shahnameh’ (Book of Kings) and the works of Sa’adi, Hafez and Rumi as enduring pillars of identity.
He also highlighted the aesthetic legacy of Nasta’liq calligraphy, describing it as a “centuries-old model of beauty” that continues to inform artistic practice.
The actor drew a contrast between generational experiences, noting that while younger Iranians often engage with national history through education and media, older generations carry lived memories of upheaval and resistance, including the 1979 Islamic Revolution and the 1980–88 Iran–Iraq War.
He added that many artists have continued to express solidarity through their work despite what he described as “silence” from some public figures. “Those who understand Iranian art from within,” he said, “carry this civilization forward.”
“We are not a 250-year-old nation,” Nassirian said. “Our civilizational roots stretch back at least three millennia. That is why Iran remains.”