|
EU summit to address Ahmadinejad comments |
|
|
|
|
Thursday, 15 December 2005 |
 Associated Press
BERLIN (AP) - European Union leaders will address the Iranian
president's denial of the Holocaust as a ``myth,'' Germany's foreign
minister said Thursday, warning that patience is running out with
Tehran.
The German government has condemned the remarks by Iran's Mahmoud
Ahmadinejad and called on the United Nations as well as the EU to
follow suit. Berlin says the comments will also weigh on talks over
Tehran's disputed nuclear program.
The EU summit beginning Thursday in Brussels will address Ahmadinejad's
statements ``also at our urging,'' Steinmeier said in the German
parliament. The remarks showed ``with how much irresponsibility and
cynicism the Iranian government currently regards the situation of
Israel and the Near East.''
``I say again: the government in Tehran must understand that the
patience of the international community is not endless,'' Steinmeier
said.
Germany, along with France and Britain, has been leading diplomatic
efforts to allay fears over Iran's nuclear intentions. Later this
month, Iran is due to resume negotiations the issue with envoys from
the three countries.
Ahmadinejad first provoked an international outcry in October when he
called for Israel to be ``wiped off the map.'' He then expressed doubt
about the Nazi destruction of European Jewry during World War II and
went further Wednesday - saying that the Holocaust is a ``myth'' that
Europeans have used to create a Jewish state in the heart of the
Islamic world.
Denying the Holocaust is a crime in Germany. |
