Iran's President says Holocaust a myth

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad speaks to a gathering of Iranians in Zahedan. Picture / Reuters

TEHRAN - Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has said that the Holocaust was a myth, triggering a fresh wave of international condemnation.

Last week Ahmadinejad first aired his doubts on the veracity of the Holocaust, in which six million Jews were killed by the Nazis. His comments drew a rebuke from the UN Security Council.

"They have fabricated a legend under the name 'Massacre of the Jews', and they hold it higher than God himself, religion itself and the prophets themselves," he told a crowd in the southeastern city of Zahedan.

The speech was broadcast live on state television.

European countries called the remarks unacceptable and said they could undermine plans for talks with Tehran on its controversial nuclear programme.

Israel said the comments showed Iran's "rogue regime" was acting outside acceptable international norms.

New Zealand's Foreign Minister Winston Peters described the comments as "aggressive and totally unacceptable to the international community".

He noted that the United Nations General Assembly – including Iran – adopted a resolution co-sponsored by New Zealand on November 1 that rejected denial of the Holocaust.

"The president's comments are at odds both with history and the contemporary reality of Israel's right to live within secure borders," Mr Peters said.

Ahmadinejad, a former Revolutionary Guardsman who was elected president in June, in October called Israel a "tumour" which must be "wiped off the map", provoking a diplomatic storm and stoking up fears about Iran's nuclear ambitions.

Washington accuses Tehran of seeking nuclear weapons. Iran says its nuclear programme is only for generating electricity.

German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said the Holocaust remarks could weigh on European Union efforts to resolve the dispute over Iran's nuclear programme.

"The recent remarks by the Iranian president ... are certainly shocking and unacceptable," he told reporters. "I cannot deny that they may weigh on our bilateral relations and naturally also on the chances for the negotiations on (Iran's) so-called nuclear dossier."

Hardline press

Iran's hardline press largely rallied round the president's first Holocaust remarks but the Islamic Iran Participation Front, Iran's leading reformist party, printed a critical statement in the liberal Sharq daily.

"Provocation ... and starting this sort of talk, which benefits neither Iranians nor oppressed Palestinians, will only increase consensus on supporting the (Israeli) regime and will unify the approach against Iran," it said.

Israel's foreign ministry said Ahmadinejad's comments showed "a warped understanding".

"The combination of extremist ideology, a warped understanding of reality and nuclear weapons is a combination that no-one in the international community can accept," said spokesman Mark Regev.

European Commission spokeswoman Emma Udwin also described the remarks as "completely unacceptable".

"Such interventions will do nothing to rebuild confidence in Iran's intentions," she said.

Commentators have said that Ahmadinejad sees himself as a popular, pan-Islamic leader in the mould of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini in the aftermath of the 1979 Islamic revolution.

Tehran-based political analyst Mahmoud Alinejad said the president perhaps feels his speeches were winning Iran diplomatic clout.

"There is a perception, based on past experience, that only when Iran threatens and pushes does the West back off," he said.

Ahmadinejad accused the Israeli government and its allies of hypocrisy and reiterated his view that Israel should be moved from "dear Palestine" to Europe, America or Canada.

"If your civilisation consists of unjust acts, oppression and poverty for the majority of the globe to provide your own people welfare, then we shout at the top of our voices that we hate your frail civilisation," he added.

This was greeted by rapturous cries of "God is the Greatest" from the crowd.

- REUTERS