Questioned by NBC News’ Ann Curry, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani was loath to get into details about the Holocaust. When asked if he agrees with the belief of the former President of Iran, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, that the Holocaust was a myth, Rouhani responded, “I am not a historian. I’m a politician.”
Ahmadinejad, who was president of Iran from 2005 until last month, is notorious for his full-throated denials of the Holocaust. In a farewell ceremony, Ahmadinejad said that publicizing his Holocaust denial was a great achievement of his tenure. Prior to his presidency, Holocaust denial was ”a taboo topic that no one in the West allowed to be heard,” said the former president, who has called the event a “fairy tale.”