Iran is scheduled to hold a two-day conference next week, discussing scientific evidence for the Holocaust, which 67 foreign researchers from 30 countries are expected to attend.
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad who calls the Holocaust a “myth,” initiated the conference, which was sponsored by the Foreign Ministry's Institute for Political and International Studies.
“The president simply asked whether an event called the Holocaust has actually taken place... No rational response was ever given to Ahmadinejad's questions,” said Deputy Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mohammadi.
He also said the conference “provides an opportunity for scholars to offer their opinions in freedom.”
Mohammadi rejected any suggestion that the conference supports anti-Semitism and holds Iran’s 25,000-member Jewish community as proof to his claims.