New Iranian President Hassan Rohani has condemned the Holocaust as a "reprehensible" crime committed by the Nazis against Jews.
In a CNN interview on September 24, during his visit to the United Nations in New York, Rohani said: "Whatever criminality they committed against the Jews, we condemn."
He added that taking human life is contemptible and said "it makes no difference whether that life is Christian, Jewish, or Muslim."
Rohani said, however, that the Holocaust did not entitle Jews to establish the state of Israel after World War II.
He also said that determining the scale of the Holocaust is a question for historians.
Historians generally agree that 6 million people -- the vast majority of them Jews -- died in the Holocaust.
Rohani’s predecessor, former President Mahmud Ahmadinejad, was widely condemned for expressing doubt that the Holocaust had occurred.
In a CNN interview on September 24, during his visit to the United Nations in New York, Rohani said: "Whatever criminality they committed against the Jews, we condemn."
He added that taking human life is contemptible and said "it makes no difference whether that life is Christian, Jewish, or Muslim."
Rohani said, however, that the Holocaust did not entitle Jews to establish the state of Israel after World War II.
He also said that determining the scale of the Holocaust is a question for historians.
Historians generally agree that 6 million people -- the vast majority of them Jews -- died in the Holocaust.
Rohani’s predecessor, former President Mahmud Ahmadinejad, was widely condemned for expressing doubt that the Holocaust had occurred.
