Outrage as Iran’s president calls Holocaust a ‘myth’

IRAN’S hardline president escalated his rhetoric against Israel yesterday, calling the Nazi Holocaust a “myth”, and drew a barrage of condemnations from Israel, the US and Europe, which warned he is hurting Iran’s position in crucial nuclear negotiations.

The White House said President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s comments show why Iran must not develop nuclear weapons.

Germany, one of the countries leading the nuclear talks with Tehran, blasted the remarks as “shocking and unacceptable”.

Iran and the Europeans are due to resume the US-backed negotiations soon, possibly in late December, trying to find a compromise on reining in Tehran’s nuclear programme, which Washington says secretly aims to build warheads. Iran says its nuclear intentions are peaceful, aiming only to produce electricity, and has refused to give up key parts of the programme.

The fallout on the negotiations from the increased anger at Iran is difficult to measure. The Europeans have not threatened to call off talks they see as vital to resolving fears over Iran’s nuclear ambitions. But Mr Ahmadinejad’s words - which come as the top UN nuclear watchdog agency has said it is losing patience with Tehran - could lead the Europeans to take a tougher stance.

So far, Mr Ahmadinejad has appeared to only escalate his rhetoric in the face of criticism, suggesting he may be seeking to fire up supporters at home.

Some of his conservative allies in Iran have warned that he is isolating the country at a time when it needs support for its nuclear programme. But supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who has final word on all matters, has stood by the president, even calling this week for Palestinian militants to step up their fight against Israel to drive them out of Jerusalem.

Mr Ahmadinejad first provoked an international outcry in October when he called for Israel to be “wiped off the map.”

Last week, he expressed doubt about the Nazi destruction of European Jewry during the World War II. Yesterday, he went a step further and said for the first time he doesn’t believe the Holocaust took place.

Touring south-east Iran, Mr Ahmadinejad said that if Europeans insist the Holocaust happened, then they are responsible and should pay the price.

“If you committed this big crime, then why should the oppressed Palestinian nation pay the price? This is our proposal: If you committed the crime, then give a part of your own land in Europe, the US, Canada or Alaska to them so that the Jews can establish their country,” he said.

Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mark Regev said the speech illustrated “the mind-set of the ruling clique in Tehran and indicate clearly the extremist policy goals of the regime.”

“The combination of fanatical ideology, a warped sense of reality and nuclear weapons is a combination that no-one in the international community can accept,” he said.

In unusually strong comments, European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said Iranians “do not have the president, or the regime, they deserve”.

“It calls our attention to the real danger of that regime having an atomic bomb,” he said.

Mr Ahmadinejad also denounced US sanctions that he said prevent Iran from getting spare parts for its civilian airlines - suggesting Washington was to blame for the December 6 crash of an ageing US-made military transport plane that hit a Tehran building, killing 115 people.