To this day, in Iranian media Israel is only referred to as ‘the occupier regime.’ In the Iranian passport there is a written instruction forbidding any Iranian passport holder to visit the territory occupied by the Zionists.”
Q: How do you explain this obsession?
“It is explainable if you look at the basic character of the regime. Iran is a totalitarian regime, not an ordinary tyrant regime like Pinochet’s in Chile or Fidel’s in Cuba. This is a totalitarian regime just like the Soviet regime, just like Stalin, Hitler or Mao Zedong. And one very important element of the totalitarian regime is the fictitious enemy. This is really important because if you cannot understand yourself, you cannot explain to your people their goal in history. A totalitarian utopia needs a fictitious enemy. Without you, without the State of Israel, the Iranian utopia is meaningless.”
Q: Are you saying that the Iranian regime is different to other tyrannical countries?
“Saddam Hussein was a ‘normal’ dictator, very brutal and cruel but without any ideology apart from wanting to be in charge, him and his family. Just like Gen. Pinochet in Chile. But the Iranian regime is not built on the personal ambition of any individual or family. It is built on ideology. Like the Soviet Union under Stalin. http://www.israelhayom.com/site/newsletter_article.php?id=6887
