The Dangers Of Iran’s Holocaust Denial

(New York, N.Y.) — A week before International Holocaust Remembrance Day, January 27, the U.N. General Assembly adopted an Israeli-sponsored resolution condemning Holocaust denial. Notably and unsurprisingly, the Islamic Republic of Iran was the sole country to oppose the measure. To make matters worse, the U.S. government in recent days greenlighted South Korea’s release of frozen Iranian funds in its banking system to allow Tehran to pay off its debts to the U.N., which had suspended its voting rights for delinquent dues. The leading state-sponsor of anti-Semitism and terrorism should not have voting rights at the U.N.

Iran’s support for antisemitic Holocaust denial is well-documented. Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei himself has cast doubt on whether the Holocaust occurred and expressed support for Holocaust deniers. Khamenei also approved of multiple presidents’ supporting Holocaust denial. In 2006, the regime hosted a conference on Holocaust denial in Tehran. In 2005 and 2016, Iran held Holocaust cartoon contests. In 2012, an antisemitic cartoon won a state-run cartoon contest and Holocaust-denying cartoons were aired on public television on International Holocaust Remembrance Day. Years earlier, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini instituted Quds Day as an annual day of solidarity against Israel that envisages the elimination of the “Zionist regime.” The rhetoric at Quds Day rallies often includes statements denying the Holocaust. 

The Holocaust prompted the U.N. General Assembly to recognize genocide as a crime under international law in 1946, thereby threatening its mission to maintain international peace and security. Iran’s support for and enabling of Holocaust denial represents one of many ways that the Islamic Republic fails to comport itself with the goals and obligations of member states under the U.N. Charter. 

To read United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI)’s resource Iran’s Anti-Israel Ideology: Quds Day, please click here. 

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