By Abu Bakr Al-Rumh
Executive Summary:
Totalitarianism is not merely a form of government; it is an intellectual and psychological system that engineers humans and societies in favor of an absolute authority. This authority tolerates neither criticism nor plurality. As many political theorists, such as Hannah Arendt, have pointed out, such a system rests on specific pillars.
While Nazi totalitarianism was built on racial purity and the absolute exclusion of those deemed “sub-human”—Jews, Slavs, and Roma—Khomeinist Iran relies on the concept of the “Khomeini-style Shiite” as the model of the perfect believer, while categorizing others—whether Sunni, secular, or even dissenting Shiite—as traitors, misguided, or agents.
Is Iran’s Khomeinism equivalent to Hitler’s Nazi project? This paper discusses that question through a comparative analysis between Hitler’s Reich and Iran’s Khomeinism.
Introduction
In the post-World War II world, it was often said that humanity had learned its lesson. Human rights charters were established, international organizations founded, and the idea of “international justice” enshrined as a non-negotiable principle. Yet today, a political system emerges in the heart of the Middle East that reproduces the same patterns of authoritarian rule seen under Nazism—only this time cloaked in religious garb.
We are speaking of the Islamic Republic of Iran, not simply as a state with controversial policies, but as an intellectual and institutional system that practices systematic violence, exports an ideology based on exclusion, and justifies killing as a means of maintaining power.
From the “Third Reich” to “Wilayat al-Faqih”: Totalitarianism between racial nationalism and ideologized religion
Totalitarianism is not just a type of government; it is an intellectual and psychological system that reshapes humans and society for the benefit of an absolute authority. This system, as many political scientists such as Hannah Arendt point out, is built on three central pillars:
- The charismatic leader portrayed as savior and redeemer.
- An absolute ideology that permits no revision.
- A repressive apparatus that monitors, punishes, and ensures continued control.
In Nazi Germany, this trilogy was clear:
- Hitler was the charismatic leader.
- Aryan racial nationalism was the ideology.
- The Gestapo and the state apparatus were the tools of repression.
In the Islamic Republic of Iran, this modern totalitarian version appears in a sectarian religious form, but retains the same structure:
- Ali Khamenei is presented not just as a political leader, but as the “Shadow of God on Earth,” with authority over souls and property.
- The theory of “Wilayat al-Faqih” (Guardianship of the Jurist) replaces the Aryan doctrine, monopolizing religious and political truth and legitimacy.
- The Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) serves as the modern ideological police—not only inside Iran but through regional extensions like Hezbollah, the Houthis, the Popular Mobilization Forces, and other cross-border militia units.
While Nazi totalitarianism was based on Aryan racial purity and the total exclusion of all deemed “sub-human,” Wilayat al-Faqih relies on the concept of the “Khomeini-style Shiite” as the perfect believer, classifying others—Sunni, secular, or dissenting Shiite—as traitors, deviants, or foreign agents.
This exclusion does not stop at theory but underpins systematic policies:
- Inside Iran, the harshest forms of repression are practiced against ethnic minorities (Kurds, Baluch), religious minorities (Sunnis, Baha’is), as well as political activists and journalists.
- Outside Iran, any country or community not under the influence of the Supreme Leader is seen as land to be “liberated” or “returned” to the resistance axis—through war, ideological infiltration, or institutional destruction, as seen in Lebanon, Syria, and Iraq.
The Ideology of Institutionalized Violence
Just as Hitler made the state apparatus a tool to reshape German identity according to his doctrine, the Iranian regime uses all state institutions—education, judiciary, media—to embed Wilayat al-Faqih as an all-encompassing, unquestionable reference point. This was instituted by Khomeini and then by Khamenei:
- In schools, children are raised on slogans like “Death to America” and “We are soldiers of the Mahdi.”
- In the courts, dissidents are executed after sham trials.
- In the media, dissenters are labeled “agents of Mossad or the CIA”—charges enough to execute them morally, if not physically.
The Global Threat of an Ideological Totalitarian System
What makes Wilayat al-Faqih even more dangerous than the Nazi model is its transnational and ideological dimension. While Hitler’s project was largely confined to German geography and European expansion, the Iranian regime sees itself responsible for “liberating the Islamic nation from Tangier to Jakarta,” as Khamenei has stated repeatedly.
This global reach makes Iran’s project not merely a threat to a state or society, but a challenge to international law itself, as religion is used as a cover to violate sovereignty, finance terrorism, undermine governments, and fracture societies along sectarian lines.
A New Nazism in Iranian Sectarian Garb
When ideology becomes a tool for killing, and the banner of “death” is raised instead of life, we face a project no less dangerous than classical Nazism—perhaps even more so in some respects.
The current ideological Iranian regime does not merely exclude the ideological “other,” but reproduces a logic of annihilation—if not always physically, then certainly symbolically, culturally, and socially.
While German Nazism chose clear enemies—Jews, Slavs, political opponents—the hate discourse of the Islamic Republic of Iran is diffuse, with many enemies, sparing almost no one. The danger is not only in slogans like:
- “Death to America,”
- “Death to Israel,”
- “Death to the hypocrites,”
- “Death to the enemies of the Supreme Leader,”
but also in the educational and media system that indoctrinates generations to see the world as divided into two camps:
- The camp of light (followers of Wilayat al-Faqih),
- And the camp of darkness (everyone else without exception—Sunni, secular, Christian, liberal, even non-Khomeinist Shiite).
This expansion of symbolic “annihilation” leads to total estrangement from the global human community, turning Iran into a state detached from international law and the values of peaceful coexistence.
It is not a traditional political regime that can be engaged in dialogue, but a politicized theology that sees the world as “pagan land” to be “purified” or “subjugated”—whether by weapons, ideology, or money.
Most dangerously, this project knows no geographic limits. The regime does not recognize modern nation-states, viewing Wilayat al-Faqih as a cross-border authority that justifies interference in other countries’ affairs—through:
- Systematic funding of militias (Hezbollah, Houthis, Popular Mobilization Forces, etc.),
- Exporting sectarian ideological thought via educational, religious, and media institutions,
- Or through targeted assassinations beyond its borders, documented by several European and Asian intelligence agencies.
Iran’s use of violence is not confined to traditional means. The regime has developed tools to carry out “political annihilation,” erasing every opposing public space—from journalism, to theater, to the internet, to pop culture itself, now besieged by intellectual censorship as fierce as Nazi party controls.
Iran’s Crimes in the Balance of Human Rights Organizations
According to Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch reports, under Khamenei’s rule, Iran ranks among the top countries in executions relative to population, and is the leading country in executing children, women, and political opponents, including peaceful activists (Amnesty International – Iran 2024)(Human Rights Watch – Iran 2024).
Added to this are crimes beyond its borders—not isolated incidents, but part of a comprehensive strategy to export the “Islamic revolution” to the region, at the expense of social stability, national unity, and state integrity.
The Mullahs’ Regime: A Totalitarian Project in the Name of “God”
By mixing puritan religious rhetoric with modern tools of repression, the Iranian regime represents a dangerous evolution in the concept of tyranny—a tyranny that does not present itself merely as a despotic ruler, but as a “representative of divine truth,” making resistance, in the eyes of its followers, tantamount to “blasphemy,” and turning any opposition into a “war against God.”
In this sense, the project of “Shiite Nazism” or “sectarian totalitarianism” is not simply a case of political despotism, but a threat to the very foundations of the global human contract upon which the post-WWII human rights system was built.
The world’s neutrality before such regimes cannot be justified by appeals to “sovereignty” or “cultural difference.” What is happening in Iran—and in areas under Iranian influence—of repression, killing, and destruction, is a global human concern.
Humanity once stood up to Nazism, paying a heavy price for initial complacency. Today, the world faces a moral and historical opportunity to stand up again—this time against an updated, globalized version with vast media and technological capabilities.
Confronting the project of Wilayat al-Faqih is not only a geopolitical necessity but a moral obligation. Millions cannot be left hostage to a creed that legitimizes hatred and perpetuates a logic of annihilation in sequence.
Conclusion
Ultimately, this paper does not aim to demonize a people, religion, or sect, but rather to offer an intellectual critique of the Iranian regime specifically—which has seized upon these identities and turned them into instruments of repression and supremacy.
Hitler is gone, yes—but he is not dead. He has returned in a new guise, under a new name, and this time with a beard. If the world remains silent, the repetition of tragedy will not be an accident—but complicity.
References and Key Sources
- Amnesty International – Iran Report 2023/2024 https://www.amnesty.org/en/location/middle-east-and-north-africa/iran/report-iran/
- Human Rights Watch – Iran chapter in World Report 2024 https://www.hrw.org/world-report/2024/country-chapters/iran
- Council on Foreign Relations – Iran’s Revolutionary Guards and Regional Influence https://www.cfr.org/backgrounder/irans-revolutionary-guards
- Middle East Institute – Iran’s Militant Export Strategy https://www.mei.edu/publications/irans-militant-export-strategy
- Washington Institute – Iran’s Authoritarian Theocracy https://www.washingtoninstitute.org/policy-analysis/irans-authoritarian-theocracy
- Iran Human Rights – Annual Report on Executions in Iran 2024 https://iranhr.net/en/reports/30/
- Hannah Arendt – The Origins of Totalitarianism (Book) https://archive.org/details/originsoftotalit00aren_0
