Having succeeded in putting "wipe Israel off the map" on the spectrum of open public debate, Iran's modern day Hitler has recently taken to repeating over and over that his only concern is with Israel. And so again:

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Iran had an "international mission" to stop Israeli hegemony in the Middle East, state news agency IRNA reported Thursday. "Iran has an international mission and those who believe the country should solely focus on domestic issues are wrong and efforts should also be made to reform international issues as well," IRNA quoted Ahmadinejad as saying in a Tehran mosque on Wednesday.

Many in the West would love that to be true, and are even willing to spend a few years in denial about Iran's military modernization and long range missile program. This tune seems vaguely - and disturbingly - familiar. At this point the only difference between Iran and Nazi Germany is that the Nazis had to go through the motions of hiding most of their military buildup while Iran is doing it out in the open.

Oh - and the Nazis only wanted to rule the world, as opposed to destroying it in order to bring about the post-apocalyptic reign of the 12th imam. That's probably another difference.

References:
* Ahmadinejad's New Strategy: Just Give Iran Czechoslovakia Israel And We'll Be Satisfied [MR]
* Report: Ahmadinejad says Iran's mission is to stop Israeli hegemony [Ha'aretz]
* Iran Hitting Their Goals: 3,000 Centrifuges By The End Of This Month, Missiles To Hit The US By 2015 [MR]

Previously:
* Jimmy Carter: Iran Is Nothing To Worry About
* STRATFOR: Syria Massing Troops On The Golan, Israeli Skittishness May Mean War (Plus: Iran's "Final Response" To Israel On October 12)
* Bill Richardson: Ahmadinejad Is Nothing To Worry About, We Should Engage Iran