Iranian President Hasan Rouhani on Tuesday called the Holocaust a "reprehensible" crime committed by the Nazis against the Jewish people, but said it was up to historians to determine the scale of what happened.
"I am not a historian and when it comes to speaking of the dimensions of the Holocaust, it is the historians that should reflect," Rouhani told CNN when asked whether or not he believed, as did his hard-line predecessor, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, that the Holocaust was a myth.
"But in general I can tell you that any crime that happens in history against humanity, including the crime the Nazis created towards the Jews, is reprehensible and condemnable," he told CNN's Christiane Amanpour in an interview held during a visit to New York, where he spoke to the United Nations General Assembly.
Israeli officials had sharply criticized Rouhani, a moderate cleric who has made diplomatic overtures to the West, for failing to renounce Ahmadinejad's denial of the Holocaust. Rouhani had dodged the same question in an interview last week with NBC.
"Whatever criminality they committed against the Jews we condemn," Rouhani told CNN. "The taking of human life is contemptible. It makes no difference if that life is Jewish life, Christian or Muslim. For us it is the same."
"This does not mean that on the other hand you can say 'Nazis committed crimes against a group, now therefore they must usurp the land of another group and occupy it,'" he said. "This too is an act that should be condemned. There should be an evenhanded discussion."
Also on Tuesday, Rouhani used his speech at the U.N. General Assembly to blast the international sanctions imposed on Iran over its controversial nuclear program, comparing them to the widely criticized punitive measures against Iraq while Saddam Hussein was in power.
"Unjust sanctions, as manifestation of structural violence, are intrinsically inhumane and [go] against peace. And contrary to the claims of those who pursue and impose them, it is not the states and the political elite that are targeted, but rather, it is the common people who are victimized by these sanctions," he said.
"These sanctions are violent, pure and simple; whether called smart or otherwise, unilateral or multilateral. These sanctions violate inalienable human rights among other things, the right to peace, right to development, right to access to health and education, and above all, the right to life.
"Sanctions, beyond any and all rhetoric, cause belligerence, warmongering and human suffering. It should be borne in mind, however, that the negative impact is not merely limited to the intended victims of sanctions; it also affects the economy and livelihood of other countries and societies, including the countries imposing sanctions," Rouhani said.
טעינו? נתקן! אם מצאתם טעות בכתבה, נשמח שתשתפו אותנו