BICOM

In an interview with German television, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad repeated his longtime Holocaust denial, calling the Holocaust a “lie” and accusing Israel of using it to suppress Palestinians. Israeli statehood “was a colonialist plan that resulted from a lie,” Ahmadinejad said in a 40-minute interview with ZDF public television. “They never were rulers of this land. They made a story named Holocaust and the Palestinians have to pay the price for it.”

When Asked about Iran’s nuclear programme, Ahmadinejad said that atomic weapons are immoral and “belong to the last century,” adding Iran “would never build an atomic bomb — but if we did build one, we wouldn’t be afraid to. If Ahmadinejad were to build a bomb, he would announce it — and he would not be afraid of anybody.”

When asked whether Iran would retaliate if it were attacked, the president equated his country’s response to that of the US: “What does a country do if it’s attacked? What would the Americans do?” Ahmadinejad said, “They would defend themselves, clearly. That’s what we would do.”

The Iranian president also asserted that Iran was “cooperating at maximum” with the International Atomic Energy Agency, but blamed the UN watchdog for succumbing to pressure from the “great powers” to cajole his country into going beyond IAEA rules. “The IAEA tells us that we must prove that we’re clean, that we’re correct,” Ahmadinejad said. “How can you prove that? How can you prove that you’re not sick?”

The IAEA have said that Iran must provide nuclear inspectors access to a secret military installation in Parchin southwest of Tehran, where Iranian officials have blocked entry. UN inspectors have said they have “credible” evidence of nuclear-military work there. Iran has so far denied access to the site. The E3+3 – the permanent UN Security Council members and Germany – have also said this month that Iran must enter negotiations “without preconditions.” The group is committed to resuming talks with Iran over its nuclear programme after the last round fell through in January 2011.