"How horrible, fantastic, incredible it is that we should be digging trenches and trying on gas-masks here because of a quarrel in a far-away country between people of whom we know nothing!" Neville Chamberlain, British Prime Minister, BBC Broadcast September 27, 1938
" You were given the choice between war and dishonour. You chose dishonour, and you will have war."
— Attributed to Winston Churchill, Speech in the House of Commons, 5 October 1938
Policymakers have been searching for the elusive "moderates" in the Iranian regime for decades. They're like unicorns: much discussed but never discovered. We need to be clear-eyed about what this regime is all about: the destruction of everything we, as Americans, hold dear. Mike Pompeo, Former Director of CIA & Secretary of State, on X, April 17, 2026.
As the conflict in Iran drags on, perhaps longer than its initial supporters expected, it seems that a sound understanding of the founding rationale for its conduct has become increasingly obscure. Accordingly, it is crucial to underscore what the stakes in this conflict are, and why nothing less than the total capitulation of the theocrats in Tehran will suffice as an acceptable outcome.
An ominous historical comparison
Perhaps, the most compelling approach to driving this home is to document the chilling parallels between the scourge of despotism in Nazi Germany in the 1930s and 1940s and that in Iran in recent decades, since the 1977 Islamist Revolution.
Comparisons between the Nazi regime in Germany in the 1930-40s and the radical Islamist one in Iran began almost immediately after the installation of totalitarian theocracy in Tehran.
Although initial comparisons tended to be tentative and hesitant, as time passed, and the appalling nature of the Iranian regime began to emerge, these became increasingly robust and unequivocal.
Perhaps the best way to convey the ominous similarities between the two regimes is by juxtaposing the two principal pillars on which the respective regimes rest(ed). The Schutzstaffel (SS)--on all its oppressive component organs—in Germany; and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC)--on all its repressive constituent wings in Iran.
Even a cursory review of the structural and functional elements of these two organizations will—despite inevitable differences due to the decades that separated them—reveal chilling similarities, both in their savage modus operandi and their totalitarian ideological foundations.
Berlin then vs Tehran today
In both Berlin and Tehran, focus was typically on:
(a) A fusion of religion/ideology –race-based superiority in the case of Germany and Shi'a Islamist doctrine in the case of Iran;
(b) Mass mobilization by means of regime-generated propaganda, regime-organized rallies and demonstrations, mobilization of youth movements (such as the Hitler Youth in Germany, and the youth sections of the Basij in Iran;
(c) The use of powerful paramilitary loyalists such as the SS and the SA (Sturmabteilung or Stormtroopers) in Germany, and the IRGC and the Basij in Iran;
(d) Both in Germany and Iran, total, unwavering loyalty was required of the citizens, to the Führer in Germany, and to the Supreme Leader in Iran
(e) In both Germany and Iran, the regime established parallel systems outside the conventional national structures—i.e., a state-within-a-state—with greater allegiance to the leaders/regime than to the state/nation—such as the SS in Germany and the IRGC in Iran:
(f) Accordingly, in both Germany and Iran, the regime maintained armed organizations—the Waffen SS and the IRGC, respectively—which were beholden to the regime rather than the state, and were separate from the conventional military—the Wehrmacht in Germany, and the Artesh in Iran.
Berlin vs Tehran (cont.)
In both Berlin and Tehran, the underlying reason why these parallel militaries were established is rooted in the distrust harbored by the leaders of the two regimes towards the conventional armed forces. Accordingly, in both cases, the purpose for creating these parallel paramilitaries was to forestall attempted coups and ensure the continued survival of the regime.
In summation, the regimes in both Nazi-Germany and in today's Islamist-Iran share overarching characteristics that underpin the similarities between the two.
They both:
- Maintained brutal totalitarian regimes with little, if any, regard for human rights
- Were based on absolute loyalty to the regime, rather than to the state,
- Engaged in brutal political enforcement to quash public dissent.
- Maintained and relied on parallel power structures, including armed forces.
- Had expansionist ambitions, which they endeavored to fulfill by means of proxies—with Germany utilizing like-minded regimes in France (Vichy) and Italy (under the Fascist Mussolini-led government), puppet governments (such as in Croatia, including Bosnia) and auxiliary organizations that shared the Nazi credo across Central and Eastern Europe; while Islamist Iran activates allied/puppet regimes (the Houthi government in North Yemen, and Hezbollah-dominated Lebanon) as well as pro-Iranian armed organization/militias from Lebanon via Gaza (Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad) to Iraq (Kata'ib Hezbollah and other pro-Iranian Shi'a militias.
But arguably, the factor that distinguishes them the most is the incandescent enmity toward Jews, and the unwavering desire to eradicate them—as an ethno-religious entity in the case of the Nazis and as a sovereign political entity in the case of the Ayatollahs.
Preemption trumps reaction
In light of the preceding analysis, the feigned outrage at the offensive launched against Iran appears distinctly out of place. Indeed, while nervously clutching their pearls, the critics of the law seemed to have lost sight of both the explicitly articulated intentions of Tehran and the historical parallels with the events that precipitated WWII. This is especially concerning when it comes from countries that have experienced the ravages and ruin at the hands of brutal tyrants.
One can only wonder how many lives could have been spared and how much destruction and destitution could have been avoided had Churchill's clarion call as to the dangers of attempting to appease the likes of Hitler, the futility of trying to do so, and the disaster such endeavors leave in their wake.
