The Iranian regime has adopted the label “axis of resistance” to describe itself, its allies, and its terrorist proxies throughout the world, despite the precedent of the Axis powers — the losing, Nazi side — in World War II, and the “axis of evil” after 9/11.
As the Times of Israel reported Monday, Israel time (emphasis added):
The former head of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Corps has warned that “new war fronts” could open if Israel continues its offensive in Gaza.
Mohsen Rezaee, now the head of the Supreme Council for Economic Coordination, told the Hezbollah-affiliated Al Mayadeen: “The axis of resistance will play a bigger role in the future and the Zionist regime will definitely lose in this war.”
U.S. President George W. Bush famously included Iran as one of the state sponsors of terror, what he called an “axis of evil”:
Our second goal is to prevent regimes that sponsor terror from threatening America or our friends and allies with weapons of mass destruction. Some of these regimes have been pretty quiet since September the 11th. But we know their true nature. North Korea is a regime arming with missiles and weapons of mass destruction, while starving its citizens.
Iran aggressively pursues these weapons and exports terror, while an unelected few repress the Iranian people’s hope for freedom.
Iraq continues to flaunt its hostility toward America and to support terror. The Iraqi regime has plotted to develop anthrax, and nerve gas, and nuclear weapons for over a decade. This is a regime that has already used poison gas to murder thousands of its own citizens — leaving the bodies of mothers huddled over their dead children. This is a regime that agreed to international inspections — then kicked out the inspectors. This is a regime that has something to hide from the civilized world.
States like these, and their terrorist allies, constitute an axis of evil, arming to threaten the peace of the world. By seeking weapons of mass destruction, these regimes pose a grave and growing danger. They could provide these arms to terrorists, giving them the means to match their hatred. They could attack our allies or attempt to blackmail the United States. In any of these cases, the price of indifference would be catastrophic.
The term “axis” typically refers to the powers aligned with Nazi Germany in the Second World War, including imperial Japan and fascist Italy.
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of the new biography, Rhoda: ‘Comrade Kadalie, You Are Out of Order’. He is also the author of the recent e-book, Neither Free nor Fair: The 2020 U.S. Presidential Election. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.