Iranian Foreign Ministry Supports President's Comments

President Ahmadinejad (file photo) (epa) 11 December 2005 -- Iran's Foreign Ministry voiced support today for President Mahmud Ahmadinejad's recent remarks regarding the Holocaust and Israel, and expressed surprise at the international outcry over them.

In remarks last week, Ahmadinejad cast doubt on the extent of the Holocaust and called on Israel to be "relocated" to European soil. The United Nations and many world leaders condemned the remarks.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid-Reza Assefi said he is "surprised that the Europeans cannot tolerate others' opinions."

Regarding Ahmadinejad's comments on the Holocaust, Asefi said the president "was expressing two different opinions and was not confirming one opinion or rejecting another opinion."

Asefi said Israel "cannot use the killing of a number of Jews -- which no one, including Muslims, condones -- as a pretext to continue its policies of oppression."

(Reuters/dpa)