In 2007, he explained the root issue: “I think the West misunderstood, and still misunderstands, the threat [posed by Iran]. … It is a fanatic, messianic ideology that seeks to have an apocalyptic battle for world supremacy with the West. It seeks to correct what it sees as an accident of history, where the West has risen, and Islam had declined. The correction is supposed to be done by the resurrection of an Islamic empire and the acquisition of nuclear weapons and the use of nuclear weapons, if necessary, to obliterate Islam’s enemies, and to subjugate the rest. This is a pathological ideology, much like Naziism was. It poses a threat, in my judgment, in many ways bigger than Naziism. Because Hitler embarked on a world conflict and then sought to achieve nuclear weapons, where as the leading Radical Islamic regime – Iran – is seeking to first acquire nuclear weapons and then embark on a world conflict. And that is what is not yet understood in the West, and certainly, if it’s understood, it’s not acted upon.”

In 2009, he likewise warned, “The Obama presidency has two great missions: fixing the economy, and preventing Iran from gaining nuclear weapons. You don’t want a messianic apocalyptic cult controlling atomic bombs. When the wide-eyed believer gets hold of the reins of power and the weapons of mass death, then the entire world should start worrying, and that is what is happening in Iran.”

(Hat tip: Joel Rosenburg)