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September 26th, 2013 
Peter Nolan
According to Fars’ translation, Mr Rouhani said: “I have said before that
I am not a historian and historians should specify, state and explain the
aspects of historical events, but generally we fully condemn any kind of
crime committed against humanity throughout the history, including the crime
committed by the Nazis both against the Jews and non-Jews, the same way that
if today any crime is committed against any nation or any religion or any
people or any belief, we condemn that crime and genocide.
“Therefore, what the Nazis did is condemned, (but) the aspects that you
talk about, clarification of these aspects is a duty of the historians and
researchers, I am not a history scholar.”
That translation was closer to the answers Mr Ahmadinejad gave when
interviewers tackled him on the issue.
CNN said it used a translator provided by the Iranian
government for Mr Rouhani’s interview. Close inspection reveals that he does
not use the word Holocaust when answering the interviewer’s question in
Farsi.
That could bolster the doubts of Israeli officials who argue that Mr Rouhani’s
stance remains ambiguous. In a later session with American journalists in
New York – where he is attending the UN general assembly – the Iranian
leader said the Nazis had carried out a “massacre that cannot be denied
– especially against the Jewish people”.
In Iran, the controversy appears to be part of a power struggle between Mr
Rouhani and hardliners over his attempted rapprochement with the west.
This month, Fars questioned the authenticity of a Twitter message issued in Mr
Rouhani’s name that congratulated Jews on the Jewish new year, Rosh
Hashanah.
The agency quoted an aide as saying the president did not have a Twitter
account. But observers say the account is run with the approval of Mr
Rouhani, who did not disown the message.
Separately, Mr Rouhani said in an interview with the Washington Post that Iran
and the US should strike a deal “within three months” to break the
long deadlock over Tehran’s nuclear programme. He also said that Iran’s
powerful Revolutionary Guards should stay out of politics, saying “it
shouldn’t get itself involved in any political groupings or activities”.
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