Such a good source of context, the Bible. It shows just how long this has been going on. By the way King Ahasuerus (Xerxes) is thought by scholars to be Persian, now known as Iranian.

Esther 3:8-11

Then Haman said to King Ahasuerus, “There is a certain people scattered and dispersed among the people in all the provinces of your kingdom; their laws are different from all other people’s, and they do not keep the king’s laws. Therefore it is not fitting for the king to let them remain.
If it pleases the king, let a decree be written that they be destroyed, and I will pay ten thousand talents of silver into the hands of those who do the work, to bring it into the king’s treasuries.”
So the king took his signet ring from his hand and gave it to Haman, the son of Hammedatha the Agagite, the enemy of the Jews.
And the king said to Haman, “The money and the people are given to you, to do with them as seems good to you.”

Bible Gateway Link: Esther 3:8-11