Iran foreign minister on Trump’s ‘Stone Age’ threat: No oil or gas being pumped ‘back then’

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi on Thursday responded to President Trump’s threat during his recent address to the nation to take Iran “back to the Stone Ages” with ongoing U.S. military operations against the country.

“There’s one striking difference between the present and the Stone Age: there was no oil or gas being pumped in the Middle East back then,” Araghchi wrote on social media. “Are POTUS and Americans who put him in office sure that they want to turn back the clock?”

The U.S. and Israel launched joint strikes against Iran at the end of February amid nuclear deal negotiations. The strikes killed Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and other top leaders in Tehran.

The military operations against Iran are the latest in the president’s attempts to use U.S. military might to obtain foreign natural resources, like oil and minerals.

“To be honest with you, my favorite thing is to take the oil in Iran, but some stupid people in the U.S. say: ‘Why are you doing that?’ But they’re stupid people,” Trump told the Financial Times in an interview published Sunday.

Iran has retaliated with strikes on U.S. military bases and energy infrastructure in the Persian Gulf region. Last week, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps threatened to target Middle Eastern campuses of U.S. universities and the operations of U.S. tech companies in the region.

Trump threatened to obliterate Iran’s energy infrastructure during his Wednesday evening address if a peace deal is not shortly reached.

“If there’s no deal, we are going to hit each and every one of their electric-generating plants very hard and probably simultaneously,” the U.S. president said.

In a separate post Thursday, Araghchi criticized a reported U.S.-Israeli attack on a civilian bridge in Iran.

Trump previously posted a video on Truth Social of what appeared to be a strike on the same structure, calling it “the biggest bridge in Iran.”

“Striking civilian structures, including unfinished bridges, will not compel Iranians to surrender,” Araghchi said.

“It only conveys the defeat and moral collapse of an enemy in disarray,” he continued. “Every bridge and building will be built back stronger. What will never recover: damage to America’s standing.”

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