Sarkozy slams Ahmadinejad's Holocaust denial (Roundup)

Jun 3, 2009, 18:56 GMT

Paris - French President Nicolas Sarkozy Wednesday fiercely criticized statements by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad refuting the historical existence of the Holocaust.

The Iranian president's statements were 'unacceptable and deeply shocking,' Sarkozy's office at the Elysee Palace said after the French president met with Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki in Paris.

According to the ISNA news agency, Ahmadinejad had earlier Wednesday described the Holocaust as 'an historical deception' and called Israel 'the most criminal bogus regime in history.'

According to the Elysee Palace statement, Sarkozy told Mottaki about his 'profound concern over Iran's (nuclear) proliferation program' and about France's desire to contribute to a solution to the crisis.

France belongs to the so-called E3+3 group - with Britain and Germany, plus the United States, Russia, and China - which has been trying to convince Iran to give up its program of uranium enrichment, a key stage in developing a nuclear weapon.

Most Western powers and Israel believe that Iran wants to develop nuclear arms.

The meeting with Mottaki, at which French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner also took part, was Sarkozy's first with a senior Iranian official since he took office in May 2007.

Sarkozy refuses to meet Ahmadinejad because of his open hostility to Israel. The Iranian leader has on several occasions said that Israel should be 'erased' from the map.

Last month, Sarkozy inaugurated a French military base in Abu Dhabi, just across the Strait of Hormuz from Iran.