Retrospective: Holocaust Denial in the Iranian Press

I've been wanting to do this for a while. Now that the new U.S. presidential administration agrees that Iran really is seeking nuclear weapons, it seems to be an important time to emphasize the delusional and paranoid nature of the Khomeinist entity. A recent Daily Kos diarist, trying to downplay the idea of Iran as a threat, writes:

As far as "denying the Holocaust," Ahmadinejad has questioned the number of Jews killed (which is dumb and objectionable, but not much more objectionable than the American leaders who pretend the death toll in the Iraq "holocaust" is one-tenth what it really is), but mainly has objected to the use of the Holocaust as an excuse to punish people (the Palestinians) who had nothing whatsoever to do with it.

Ahmadinejad and other Iranian officials do emphasize the connection between the Holocaust and the Palestinians, but there is a bit more going on than questioning the numbers of people killed. (It is always necessary to remember, for instance, that Holocaust denial presupposes a conspiracist worldview.) Let's do some reviewing of Holocaust denial in the Iranian Press. All of these were originally posted in English at Iranian news sites. Some of the links to older articles have expired and in those cases I just link to Judeopundit posts, where all of these articles were noted close to their appearance. Otherwise, most of these can still be viewed at the original sites:

IRNA, c. 2/11/06:

Secretary General of Int'l Congress to Support Palestinian Intifada Ali-Akbar Mohtashamipour emphasizing need for survey and research on Holocaust, said here Monday, "Results of surveys so far show Holocaust is no more than a myth."

IRIB, 2/12/06:

French historian and professor of Sorbonne University Robert Faurisson said that the 'myth of Holocaust' fabricated by the Zionists would not survive.

Addressing the International Confernce on 'World Vision on Holocaust', Faurisson said that the gas chambers allegedly used by Hitler to massacre the Jews did never exist.

IRNA, c. 2/12/06:

A French scholar George Tail [sic] said on Tuesday that holocaust does not exist.

"The motivations of the advocates of holocaust in spreading the rumour and its presentation as a fact should be investigated," said Tail in an interview with IRNA on the sidelines of the International Conference on Holocaust, Global Perspective.

Tail said western states have fabricated holocaust to justify immigration of Jews to Palestine and doing injustice against the the Palestinian nation.

He said a number of scholars such as Rossener, Artur, Isak Arbuz and Robert Faurisson have proved falsehood of gas chambers.

Fars News, c. 12/5/06:

Deputy Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mohammadi Tuesday said Iran, as an unbiased state, would accept the truthfulness of the Holocaust if substantiating evidence is presented in this regard.

IRIB Radio, c. 12/30/06:

The Holocaust Myth and the Massacre of Palestinians Conference began work last Wednesday in Cairo and was considerably welcomed by researchers and politicians. Leader of the Arab Socialist Party of Egypt Wahid Al Aqsari in a speech said the claim that Jews were killed by Hitler comes to portray Zionists as innocent and save them from being condemned for their crimes against Palestinians. He added that their claim is an exaggeration because only 3 million people were killed in World War II. He also said there is no sign that there were gas cambers in Nazi Germany.

IRIB, 1/17/07:

Ahmadinejad defended his status on Holocaust, saying that if Holocaust existed, where did it take place?

IRIB, 1/24/07:

President Ahmadinejad termed the Holocaust a historical question saying, "If it is true, why they do not authorize research." [...]

Reminding that the root cause of establishment of the Zionist regime was a historical event, he said, the whole issue is fake and is aimed to create a hegemonic system.

Paul Grubach at Press TV, 1/15/08:

. . . the Holocaust legend really is a weak and flimsy ideology that cannot be defended with reason and science.

Mehr News, 2/8/09:

In an interview with the Tehran Times and the Mehr News Agency conducted on January 27 during his recent trip to Iran, Dr. [Gerald] Toben said there is no evidence that Jews were killed by gas in concentration camps during World War II.

He noted that a gas chamber expert from the United States has said that the buildings at concentration camps that were allegedly used as gas chambers did not have airtight seals and did not have high smokestacks to dissipate the poison gas so they could not have been used for this purpose . . .

. . . the Holocaust is being used as a propaganda weapon by the Talmudic Zionist racist regime in Israel.

IRNA, 2/12/09:

After the World War II, Britain which sought to dominate the region invented Holocaust to prepare ground for establishment of fabricated regime named Israel . . .

Crossposted on Soccer Dad