Tehran, Iran – Visiting former German chancellor Gerhard Schroeder criticised on Saturday Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad for casting doubt over the Holocaust, saying the slaughter of 6 million Jews by Nazis was a fact.
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Since coming to power in 2005, Ahmadinejad has provoked international condemnation for saying the Holocaust was a “myth” and calling Israel a “tumour” in the Middle East.
“The Holocaust is a historic fact and there is no sense in denying this unparalleled crime,” Schroeder told the Iranian Chamber of Industry and Commerce.
“Iran needs to take responsibility and respect international rules, if it wants to be taken seriously as a regional power.”
Schroeder, due to meet Ahmadinejad, also criticised the hardline leader for his views on Israel which Iran has refused to recognise since its 1979 Islamic revolution.
Schroeder arrived in Tehran on Thursday for a four-day unofficial visit.
Responding to Schroeder’s remarks, the head of Iran’s Chamber of Industry and Commerce Mohammad Nahavandian said it would be wrong to “measure the developments in the Middle East with two yardsticks”.
“We shouldn’t forget the recent massacre of people in the Gaza strip and should internationally condemn Israel for it,” Nahavandian said.
Interesting how he started attacking israel but skirted the 6 million question. How convenient
Half of a million jews were in Iran and stripped of everything, could Ahmadinejad pay us back or he does not believe they were jews in Iran