Iran Says Shocked by Reaction to Remarks on Israel

Parinoosh Arami, Reuters:

Iran expressed surprise on Sunday about international condemnation of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's remarks regarding the Holocaust and Israel, and accused the West of not tolerating differences of opinion. READ MORE

The United Nations Security Council and many world leaders have deplored Ahmadinejad's comments, in which he expressed doubt that the Holocaust happened and suggested Israel be moved to Europe.

But Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi said reaction to the Iranian president's remarks was unfair.

"I'm surprised by the reaction to these comments," he told a weekly news conference. "Some foreign circles and foreign countries are giving a misleading impression (of what Ahmadinejad said)."

Speaking in Mecca, Saudi Arabia, Ahmadinejad said:

"Some European countries insist on saying that Hitler killed millions of innocent Jews in furnaces ... Although we don't accept this claim ...

"If the Europeans are honest they should give some of their provinces in Europe -- like in Germany, Austria or other countries -- to the Zionists and the Zionists can establish their state in Europe," the official IRNA news agency quoted him as saying.

JUST EXPRESSING OPINIONS

The remarks followed comments by Ahmadinejad in October in which he described Israel as a "tumour" which should be "wiped off the map".

Regarding Ahmadinejad's comments on the Holocaust, in which 6 million Jews were killed, Asefi said Ahmadinejad "was expressing two different opinions and was not confirming one opinion or rejecting another opinion".

"I'm surprised that the Europeans cannot tolerate others' opinions. They are used to talking and want others to listen to them," he added.

"What Ahmadinejad wanted to say is that if the Europeans have not treated Jews fairly and want to compensate them for that they should pay from their own pockets not from Muslims' pockets. We have said that before and we're saying that again," Asefi said.

"The Zionist regime cannot use the killing of a number of Jews, which no-one, including Muslims, condones, as a pretext to continue its policies of oppression," he added.

Political analysts have said Ahmadinejad's remarks on Israel would increase pressure on Iran over its nuclear programme.

Asefi rejected any linkage between the two issues.

"There is no diplomatic logic to these comments," he said. This is media propaganda aimed at creating an atmosphere against us," he said.