Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad speaks to a gathering of Iranians in the southeastern city of Zahedan yesterday. - REUTERS
BERLIN, (Reuters):
REMARKS BY Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad that the Holocaust was a myth stirred fresh uproar yesterday, and European countries said they could undermine efforts to end a row over Tehran's nuclear programme.
Ahmadinejad, who said last week he doubted the killing of six million Jews by the Nazis, strengthened his comments yesterday.
"They have fabricated a legend under the name 'Massacre of the Jews', and they hold it higher than God himself, religion itself and the prophets themselves," he told a crowd in the southeastern city of Zahedan. Germany said the comments could weigh on attempts to revive nuclear talks between the European Union and Tehran.
Germany, Britain and France, negotiating for the EU, had tentatively planned to hold talks later this month on the nuclear programme, which Iran says is only for generating electricity. Washington accuses Tehran of seeking nuclear bombs.
The United States called Ahmadinejad's comments "outrageous" while Israel said they showed a "rogue regime" acting outside acceptable international norms.
