A large part of the case against the recent Iran deal is the contention that Iranian leaders cannot be trusted to abide by the deal’s terms and will not, despite Barack Obama’s characterization, set apart their defining anti-Semitism to reap the benefits of an agreement with the West. To get a sense of the Khomeneists’ irrationality, it’s worth rereading Ze’ev Maghen’s “Eradicating The Little Satan,” from the January 2009 issue of COMMENTARY. Maghen argues that when Iranian leaders vow to destroy Israel, we’d do well to take them at their word. The piece offers some insight into the minds of those we now rely on to be reasonable partners. As Maghen notes: “the truly horrific atrocities in human history — the enslavements, the inquisitions, the terrorisms, the genocides — have been perpetrated not in hot blood but in cold: not as a result of urgent and immanent feeling but in the name of a transcendent ideology and as a result of painstaking indoctrination.” One should keep that in mind the next time they hear hopeful talk of the deal changing the nature of the regime. Click here to read the whole thing.