The historical war epic 300 has been criticized as an attack on Iranian culture by government authorities in Tehran.

The movie, which raked in $70 million US after opening this weekend, is based on a comic-book fantasy version of the battle of Thermopylae in 480 BC, in which a force of 300 Spartans held off a massive Persian army at a mountain pass in Greece.

Actors Vincent Regan, left, and Gerard Butler are noble Spartans in the action drama 300. The film depicts Persians as degenerate, as well as easy to kill.
(Warner Bros./Associated Press)

"Hollywood declares war on Iranians," said a headline in Tuesday's edition of the independent Ayende-No newspaper.

The Persians, who are slaughtered wholesale in the film, are depicted as decadent, sexually flamboyant and evil in contrast to the noble Spartans.

Javad Shamqadri, a cultural adviser to Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, called the film "psychological warfare" against Iran and its people.

"American cultural officials thought they could get mental satisfaction by plundering Iran's historic past and insulting this civilization," he said.

Shamqadri said the film seeks to attack Persian history and culture, which Iranians hold dear.

Even some American reviewers noted the political overtones of the West-against-Iran storyline and noted that it comes at a time of increased tensions between the U.S. and Iran.

"The film depicts Iranians as demons, without culture, feeling or humanity, who think of nothing except attacking other nations and killing people," Ayende-No said in its article.

"It is a new effort to slander the Iranian people and civilization before world public opinion at a time of increasing American threats against Iran," it said.

The film is not likely to be released in Iran, which has strict censorship laws, but is circulating on bootleg DVDs.

Commentators in Greece have also objected to 300, because of its historical inaccuracies.