Ahmadinejad calls Holocaust a 'lie'
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has raised the stakes against Israel by describing the Holocaust as a lie, just as world powers are trying to decide how to deal with the nuclear ambitions of an Iran in political turmoil.
"The pretext [Holocaust] for the creation of the Zionist regime [Israel] is false . . . It is a lie based on an unprovable and mythical claim," he told worshippers at Tehran University at the end of an annual anti-Israel "Quds (Jerusalem) Day" rally.
"Confronting the Zionist regime is a national and religious duty."
Tens of thousands of Iranian opposition supporters protested the re-election of Mr Ahmadinejad today on the annual state-organised Quds Day that honours the Palestinian cause.
Rally participants marched toward downtown Tehran, converging on Enghelab Avenue, near the site of the capital's weekly Friday prayers where Mr Ahmadinejad spoke before the sermon. State-controlled media reported a "massive turnout."
Security forces have quelled mass protests triggered by the June 12th election victory of Mr Ahmadinejad, which opposition leaders disputed. Protests have continued in the face of arrests and the trial of more than 140 opposition activists and supporters. Mr Mousavi's car was attacked today.
Mr Ahmadinejad's anti-Western speeches and comments on the Holocaust have in the past caused an international outcry and isolated Iran which is at loggerheads with the West over its disputed nuclear programme.
The hard-line president warned leaders of Western-allied Arab and Muslim countries about dealing with Israel. "This regime [Israel] will not last long. Do not tie your fate to it. . . . This regime has no future. Its life has come to an end," he said in a speech broadcast live on state radio.
His fresh comments came ahead of his appearance at the United Nations General Assembly next week and before Tehran attends talks on October 1st with major powers worried about the Islamic Republic's nuclear strategy.
Western powers are concerned by what they have called Tehran's defiance and "point-blank refusal" to suspend uranium enrichment and address the issue as demanded by UN Security Council resolutions since 2006.
Instead of directly addressing those demands, Iran handed world powers this month a proposal that spoke generally of talks on political, security, international and economic issues but was silent on its nuclear programme.
Diplomats familiar with the Iranian proposal said it was vague.
Mr Ahmadinejad repeated yesterday that Iran would "never" abandon its disputed nuclear programme to appease Western critics.
In an NBC-TV interview, the Iranian leader also did not offer a direct response when asked whether there were any conditions under which Iran would develop a nuclear weapon.
"We don't need nuclear weapons," he said, speaking through an interpreter. "We do not see any need for such weapons. And the conditions around the world are moving to favour our ideas," he added.
The major powers suspect Iran's uranium enrichment programme is a cover for developing nuclear weapons. Iran has repeatedly said it is enriching uranium only to generate electricity, not for fissile bomb material, although it has no nuclear power plants to use low-level enriched uranium.
"If you are talking about the enrichment of uranium for peaceful purposes, this will never be closed down here in Iran," he said.
Next month's major powers talks with Iran offer no clear relief to Israel, which wants world powers to be prepared to penalise Iran's vulnerable energy imports but sees Russia and China blocking any such resolution at the UN Security Council.
The major powers, which include permanent UN Security Council members Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States as well as Germany, offered Iran trade and diplomatic incentives in 2006 in exchange for halt to uranium enrichment.
They improved the offer last year but retained the demand that Iran suspend uranium enrichment, something Tehran has ruled out as a precondition.
President Barack Obama, who came into office pledging a policy of engagement toward Iran, has suggested Iran may face harsher international sanctions, possibly targeting its imports of gasoline, if it does not accept good-faith talks by the end of September.
But Russia, which has veto power in the UN Security Council, last week ruled out oil sanctions against Iran.
Iran, the world's fifth-biggest crude producer, is seen as vulnerable to oil sanctions because it imports 40 per cent of its gasoline to supply the cheap fuel Iranians see as a birthright.
Since coming to power in 2005, Mr Ahmadinejad has provoked international condemnation for saying the Holocaust was a "myth" and calling Israel a "tumour" in the Middle East.
His government held a conference in 2006 questioning the fact that Nazis used gas chambers to kill six million Jews in World War Two.
European countries have criticised the hard-line president for his views on Israel, which Iran refuses to recognise since its 1979 Islamic revolution.
irishtimes
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President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has raised the stakes against Israel by describing the Holocaust as a lie, just as world powers are trying to decide how to deal with the nuclear ambitions of an Iran in political turmoil.
"The pretext [Holocaust] for the creation of the Zionist regime [Israel] is false . . . It is a lie based on an unprovable and mythical claim," he told worshippers at Tehran University at the end of an annual anti-Israel "Quds (Jerusalem) Day" rally.
"Confronting the Zionist regime is a national and religious duty."
Tens of thousands of Iranian opposition supporters protested the re-election of Mr Ahmadinejad today on the annual state-organised Quds Day that honours the Palestinian cause.
Rally participants marched toward downtown Tehran, converging on Enghelab Avenue, near the site of the capital's weekly Friday prayers where Mr Ahmadinejad spoke before the sermon. State-controlled media reported a "massive turnout."
Security forces have quelled mass protests triggered by the June 12th election victory of Mr Ahmadinejad, which opposition leaders disputed. Protests have continued in the face of arrests and the trial of more than 140 opposition activists and supporters. Mr Mousavi's car was attacked today.
Mr Ahmadinejad's anti-Western speeches and comments on the Holocaust have in the past caused an international outcry and isolated Iran which is at loggerheads with the West over its disputed nuclear programme.
The hard-line president warned leaders of Western-allied Arab and Muslim countries about dealing with Israel. "This regime [Israel] will not last long. Do not tie your fate to it. . . . This regime has no future. Its life has come to an end," he said in a speech broadcast live on state radio.
His fresh comments came ahead of his appearance at the United Nations General Assembly next week and before Tehran attends talks on October 1st with major powers worried about the Islamic Republic's nuclear strategy.
Western powers are concerned by what they have called Tehran's defiance and "point-blank refusal" to suspend uranium enrichment and address the issue as demanded by UN Security Council resolutions since 2006.
Instead of directly addressing those demands, Iran handed world powers this month a proposal that spoke generally of talks on political, security, international and economic issues but was silent on its nuclear programme.
Diplomats familiar with the Iranian proposal said it was vague.
Mr Ahmadinejad repeated yesterday that Iran would "never" abandon its disputed nuclear programme to appease Western critics.
In an NBC-TV interview, the Iranian leader also did not offer a direct response when asked whether there were any conditions under which Iran would develop a nuclear weapon.
"We don't need nuclear weapons," he said, speaking through an interpreter. "We do not see any need for such weapons. And the conditions around the world are moving to favour our ideas," he added.
The major powers suspect Iran's uranium enrichment programme is a cover for developing nuclear weapons. Iran has repeatedly said it is enriching uranium only to generate electricity, not for fissile bomb material, although it has no nuclear power plants to use low-level enriched uranium.
"If you are talking about the enrichment of uranium for peaceful purposes, this will never be closed down here in Iran," he said.
Next month's major powers talks with Iran offer no clear relief to Israel, which wants world powers to be prepared to penalise Iran's vulnerable energy imports but sees Russia and China blocking any such resolution at the UN Security Council.
The major powers, which include permanent UN Security Council members Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States as well as Germany, offered Iran trade and diplomatic incentives in 2006 in exchange for halt to uranium enrichment.
They improved the offer last year but retained the demand that Iran suspend uranium enrichment, something Tehran has ruled out as a precondition.
President Barack Obama, who came into office pledging a policy of engagement toward Iran, has suggested Iran may face harsher international sanctions, possibly targeting its imports of gasoline, if it does not accept good-faith talks by the end of September.
But Russia, which has veto power in the UN Security Council, last week ruled out oil sanctions against Iran.
Iran, the world's fifth-biggest crude producer, is seen as vulnerable to oil sanctions because it imports 40 per cent of its gasoline to supply the cheap fuel Iranians see as a birthright.
Since coming to power in 2005, Mr Ahmadinejad has provoked international condemnation for saying the Holocaust was a "myth" and calling Israel a "tumour" in the Middle East.
His government held a conference in 2006 questioning the fact that Nazis used gas chambers to kill six million Jews in World War Two.
European countries have criticised the hard-line president for his views on Israel, which Iran refuses to recognise since its 1979 Islamic revolution.
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