The blatantly anti- Semitic remarks recently made by Iranian Vice President Mohammad Reza Rahimi at a United Nations-sponsored conference in Tehran provided the world with a glimpse into the dogmatic creed of the ruling Ayatollahs in Iran.

At a gathering last month ostensibly dedicated to the war on drugs, Rahimi charged that “Zionists” are “the main elements of the international drugs trade” and declared that the Talmud teaches to “destroy everyone who opposes the Jews.”

Rahimi’s despicable remarks, which are reminiscent of the lies spread by Nazi propagandist Joseph Goebbels, are in fact based on the doctrines of the Ayatollahs which are taught in the schools and institutions run by the Iranian Revolutionary Guards.

Rahimi, like Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Defense Minister Ahmed Vahidi, Energy Minister Majid Namjoo and other senior Iranian figures, rose through the ranks of the Revolutionary Guards, where they imbibed the extremist Shi’ite ideology of the Ayatollahs. After entering the political arena, they assumed critical positions in the Iranian regime.

The Revolutionary Guards, which were established by Ayatollah Khomeini after the 1979 Islamic Revolution to serve as a loyal military force with the task of safeguarding the regime, went on to become the strongest force in all of Iran. The Guards have their hands in everything, and their control now extends to a variety of fields which include large banks, the petroleum industry, charitable foundations, educational institutions, religious courts and most importantly of all – Iran’s nuclear program.

THEIR FAR-REACHING power was evident during the June 2009 riots in Iran in the wake of allegations of fraud in the presidential elections, when the regime crushed popular protests with an iron fist and did not hesitate to fire on their own people in the streets for the crime of thinking differently.

The extreme fundamentalist ideology of the Revolutionary Guards is the source of Iran’s foreign policy. Their aspiration to build nuclear weapons, the anti-Semitism and the struggle against Israel, along with opposition to the West and support for terrorist organizations, all derive from the religious belief that Islam and the rule of the regime must be imposed on the entire world as a means of bringing about the appearance of the Shi’ite redeemer, whom they refer to as the “Zahure Mahdi.”

CLEARLY, THE combination of nuclear weapons in the hands of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards together with their fundamentalist ideology would constitute a grave threat the likes of which the world has never known until now.

When Iranian officials openly express their hatred for the Jews, and utilize every podium to declare their intention to wipe Israel off the map and erase Western culture, it should be obvious that under no circumstances should they be allowed to obtain the nuclear know-how needed to implement such designs.

Hence, Rahimi’s appalling remarks should serve as a wake-up call to all those who until now did not wish to comprehend that a nuclear Iran would pose the greatest threat to regional and international stability.

In the 1930s, it was the SS, and today it is the Revolutionary Guards. Then it was Nazism, and today it is Khomeinism. The poison of Goebbels and Hitler against European Jewry is now being spoken by Rahimi and Ahmadinejad. The Jewish people have already learned the lesson that such words cannot be ignored. We made a promise to ourselves and our children: “Never Again.” I can assure you that we will stand by our promise.

The writer is Israel’s Minister of Environmental Protection. (© 1995- 2011, The Jerusalem Post 07/17/12)