FM Iran: Holocaust does not excuse Israel's "apartheid policy in Palestine"

Iran's Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mohammad Javad Zarif, said in an interview broadcast Sunday that the Holocaust could not be used "to justify an apartheid policy in Palestine".

Zarif, speaking to CBS's "Face the Nation," was asked about a recent statement by US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who said "for a country that denies the Holocaust threatens Israel to compare US United the most outrageous things I've ever heard.

Zarif responded by acknowledging the Holocaust first, but then saying that it was not an excuse for Israel to abuse the Palestinians. The Iranian regime has a long history of denying the Holocaust.

Receive daily editions of the Times of Israel by email and never miss our best stories

Free registration

"Iran has made it very clear that we reject the killing of innocent people, no matter how many, no matter who," Zarif said before being invited to speak about the Holocaust and acknowledge that six million Jews had been murdered.

"Of course, yes," he said. "And a lot of people are dead – a lot of innocent people are dead."

"But that does not justify depriving others of their homeland. This does not justify the construction of settlements in the territory of other people. This does not justify the massive violation of Palestinian rights. The Holocaust can not be used to justify an apartheid policy in Palestine, "said Zarif.

When asked why Iranian President Rouhani had said that US President Donald Trump had trends that resembled a Nazi trend, Zarif defended the words of his president.

"The xenophobic tendencies he exposed, the wall, the Muslim ban, the ban on Iranians traveling to the United States. All this is reminiscent of the type of mentality, "said Zarif.

In addition to the interview published earlier, Zarif rejected Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's allegations about a new "secret atomic warehouse" near Tehran, calling it the latest claim to the Islamic Republic's nuclear program. until 1992.

"He's just trying to find a smoke screen," Zarif said in an excerpt from an interview published Saturday night.

"He's been making allegations about Iran since 1992," Zarif said with a smile. "In 1992, according to him, we were supposed to have finished making a bomb in about five years. In 1996 another five years. It has therefore been registered – even in Congress – that Iran is about to make a nuclear weapon. "

Zarif rejected all of Netanyahu's claims.

"Netanyahu's previous allegations have been reviewed by the IAEA [International Atomic Energy Agency] and were rejected, "said Zarif. "He was wrong about the previous one [allegations] and he's wrong about this one … These are nonsense.

In addition, added Zarif, if Netanyahu wanted to make sure that Tehran could not produce nuclear weapons, he should have supported the agreement reached between the world powers and Iran in Iraq. 2015, that he had tried to torpedo. The United States, in May, withdrew from the agreement.

"If he is concerned about the Iranian nuclear program, the best way to ensure it is the agreement that he did his best to undermine, because the nuclear deal , the JCPOA, allows the IAEA the most intrusive inspections available in the world. " Zarif said. "And Iran has accepted these intrusive inspections because we had nothing to hide."

Zarif also accused Netanyahu of hypocrisy in his threat against Iran in late August, issued outside the Dimona nuclear facility in southern Israel.

"You remember that a few weeks ago, he was standing next to Dimona, the Israeli bomb-making factory, and threatened the destruction of Iran", a- he declared. "And now he says the Iranians have threatened them with annihilation. This is absurd. "

The full interview of CBS must be broadcast Sunday night.

Zarif's comments reiterated his dismissive tweets on Thursday.

No craft show will ever obscure the fact that Israel is the only regime in our region to have a * secret * and * undeclared * nuclear weapons program, including a * real atomic arsenal *. It is time for Israel to emerge and open its illegal nuclear weapons program to international inspectors.

– Javad Zarif (@JZarif) September 27, 2018

"No craftsmanship exhibition will ever obscure that Israel is only the regime of our region endowed with a nuclear weapons program * secret * and * undeclared * including a * real atomic arsenal *, "said Zarif. "It is time for Israel to deflate and open its illegal nuclear weapons program to international inspectors."

It is generally believed that Israel has a nuclear arsenal but has never publicly acknowledged it.

Zarif further called Netanyahu's accusation of "obscene charge", the official Iranian news agency IRNA reported Friday, calling the Israeli prime minister a "liar who would not stop lying" .

Netanyahu in his speech last week revealed what he called a previously unknown Iranian nuclear site, claiming it could hold up to 300 tons of nuclear material, and accused the International Atomic Energy Agency not to investigate nuclear program.

Addressing the UN General Assembly (full text), Netanyahu also revealed what he said were Hezbollah precision missile sites hidden in Beirut, warning that Israel would act against Iran "anywhere and any where".

The prime minister said that the IAEA, the UN's nuclear agency, had taken no action after revealing in April a nuclear archive that Israeli spies had managed to drive out of Iran. warehouse "in the Turquzabad district of Tehran, a few kilometers from the archives.

Netanyahu said the warehouse was used to "store huge amounts of equipment and materials from Iran's secret weapons program," which was quickly transferred to other parts of the city.

He claimed that some 15 kilograms (33 pounds) of radioactive material had recently been removed from this atomic warehouse and scattered around Tehran, endangering the inhabitants of the capital. The site can hold up to 300 tonnes of equipment and nuclear material in 15 containers, he added.

He did not specify which nuclear material was contained on the site.

Israel had provided details of the warehouse to the IAEA and the US administration six weeks ago, but Netanyahu accused the IAEA of failing to act. After consultations on security in the Prime Minister's Office, it was decided that Netanyahu would release the information to the UN, hoping to galvanize the IAEA.

The United States asked the IAEA on Friday to investigate Netanyahu's new allegations, although Reuters also quoted a US official as saying the Prime Minister's information was misleading and that the site contained documents. and not nuclear material.

An Israeli official rejected the proposal on Friday, stating, "These are not just documents. There are other things out there, "and added," Has he checked? First, they check. He said it seemed "very important that Iran hide it, spread things through Tehran."

Michael Bachner and the agencies contributed to this report.