The Protocols of the Elders of Zion occupies a place of honor in the anti-Semitic literature published in Iran. The book appeared in various editions, all of which are translations from Arabic into Persian. The first edition was issued during the summer of 1978, at the time of the Islamic revolution, as an attack against the Shah, Israel and the Jews.

In 1985 a new edition of the Protocols, printed in Iran, was widely distributed by “the Islamic Propagation Organization, International Relations Department” in Tehran. (11)

The Astaneh-ye Qods Razavi (Shrine of Imam Reza in Mashhad, Iran) Foundation, one of the wealthiest institutions in Iran, financed the latest edition of the Protocols issued in 1994. Parts of it were published by the radical daily Jomhouri-ye Eslami, under the heading “The Smell of Blood, Zionist Schemes” (March 7, 1994).

Sobh, a monthly periodical identified with radical Islamic elements, published selected excerpts from the Protocols under the heading “The text of the Protocols of the Elders of Zion for establishing the Jewish global rule” (December 1998 – January 1999 Issue). The publication was illustrated with the notorious symbol of the Jewish snake swallowing the globe.

The following is the translation of some sections from the Protocols of the Elders of Zion that appeared in Sobh:

• “Politics have nothing in common with morality. A leadership founded on morality cannot be represented by an experienced and skillful politician, and the foundations of its political power will inevitably be shattered.” (Source: the first Protocol).
• “We [the Jews] should rejoice that in addition to the press, we also control the gold; we should, however, remember … that we have made many sacrifices in order to achieve these [two means]. Of course, in the eyes of God, any sacrifice by us is worth a thousand sacrifices of non-Jews.” (Source: the second Protocol).
• “…when we [the Jews] shall arrive into our kingdom, we shall have to erase the term ‘freedom’ from the lexicon of life, as this term turns the mobs into bloodthirsty animals.” (Source: the third Protocol).
• “…we, the Jews, shall incite towards envy, hatred and greed among the mobs, so that we can use the rage of the mobs, in order to root out through them all the obstacles standing in our way. (Source: the third Protocol).

“Further development” of the concepts of the Protocols: some in Iran went so far as to offer their own additions to the Protocols. The belief in the Jewish schemes of gaining control over the world, as depicted by the Protocols of the Elders of Zion, was turned into a “research topic” by the Iranian writer and researcher Ali Baqeri. In an interview granted to the Iranian monthly Sobh, Baqeri states that “the ultimate goal of the Jews… after conquering the globe… is to extract from the hands of the Lord [and take control of as] many [as possible] stars and galaxies” (Sobh, issue No. 93, April 1999).