Iran - Death Throes of a Thuggish Regime By Struan Stevenson Using the powers of the February Decrees and Enabling Act in 1933/34 the Nazis consolidated their power and set about preventing any possible opposition. This included the use of fear and violence through Nazi organisations such as the SS and Gestapo. Hitler’s reign of terror spread far beyond the borders of Germany and quickly engulfed vast swathes of Europe and Africa. The parallels with modern Iran are stark and terrifying. Following the Iranian revolution which brought Ayatollah Ruholla Khomeini to power in February 1979, the Iranian constitution was altered to introduce the system of velayat-e-faqih, or guardianship of the Islamic jurist, effectively providing the Supreme Leader with power claimed to come directly from God. Like Hitler, Khomeini moved rapidly to eliminate opposition to his clerical dictatorship, ruthlessly murdering tens of thousands of political opponents whom he claimed ...