EU Leaders: Patience Running Thin on Iran

The Guardian:

European leaders warned Thursday that patience with Iran is running thin less than a week before envoys from Britain, France and Germany are to resume negotiations with Tehran over its nuclear program.

A day after Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad called the Holocaust a ``myth,'' Europe's foreign ministers were expected to discuss his comments at a summit. German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said his delegation would demand a European Union condemnation.

``The government in Tehran must understand that the patience of the international community is not endless,'' he told the German parliament in Berlin before leaving for Belgium.

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

Then, on Wednesday, he said in remarks carried live by state-run Iranian television that the Holocaust was a ``myth'' the Europeans used to create a Jewish state in the heart of the Islamic world.

``Today, they have created a myth in the name of Holocaust and consider it to be above God, religion and the prophets,'' he said.

Nations from Europe to Asia condemned his remarks Thursday.

Benita Ferrero-Waldner, EU external relations commissioner, called Ahmadinejad's views ``absolutely irresponsible.'' Denying the Holocaust - in which 6 million Jews died during World War II at Nazi hands - is a crime in several European nations.

China, which maintains good relations with both Iran and Israel, said such remarks could undermine world stability.

``We are not in favor of any remarks detrimental to stability and peace,'' Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang said Thursday. ``Israel is a sovereign state.''

Moscow did not directly criticize Ahmadinejad but condemned any attempts to deny the Holocaust, and said it was necessary to restate Moscow's ``principled position.'' READ MORE

``Speculation on these themes runs contrary to the principles of the U.N. Charter and the opinion of the world community,'' the Russian Foreign Ministry said.

Arab governments appeared reluctant to condemn Ahmadinejad. In Saudi Arabia, government-controlled newspapers picked up the remarks from international news agencies but did not comment on them.

The Palestinians tried to distance themselves. ``Ahmadinejad's statements hurt the Palestinian cause because Israel and the Holocaust enjoy international recognition, and any denial of the Holocaust and Israel hurt not only those behind it but also justify Israeli actions against them,'' said Hani al-Masri in the Al Ayyam newspaper, which is close to the Palestinian Authority.

Steinmeier said Ahmadinejad's comments weighed heavily on talks over Tehran's nuclear program and showed ``with how much irresponsibility and cynicism the Iranian government currently regards the situation of Israel and the Near East.''

Envoys from Germany, France and Britain have been leading diplomatic efforts to allay fears over Iran's nuclear intentions. They are to resume negotiations with Tehran on Dec. 21.

Some German lawmakers urged the government to consider excluding Iran from the World Cup soccer tournament to take place in Germany next year, but the organizers ruled that out.

``The government must work at all levels to isolate Iran politically,'' Volker Beck of the opposition Greens party said on Germany's N24 television. ``It's worthwhile to continue the discussion on whether to exclude Iran from the World Cup.''