One of Iran’s four presidential candidates, Mohsen Rezaei, clarifies his foreign policy agenda and his position on the Holocaust.
“We have no intention of continuing the debate on the Holocaust, because it is not right to let in this topic into our revolutionary political vocabulary,” Rezaei said in a Tuesday television interview.
“My policy toward Palestine will focus on both supporting the resistance and initiating diplomacy on an international level. Based on this plan, we will ask the United Nations to hold a referendum in Palestine,” he went on to say.
Since the beginning of his presidential term, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has on several occasions called for a probe into the scope of the Holocaust.
The incumbent president has also come under attack during the past few years for making comments about Israel that have mistranslated and used as part of Western propaganda tactics.
During his TV interview, the former commander of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) and current member of Iran’s Expediency Council also attacked the Foreign Ministry over its performance and described the body as ‘incompetent’.
“While no Iranians have ever participated in any terrorist activities in other parts of the world, they are accused of terrorism everywhere,” he explained.
Rezaei said if elected president, he would select a female foreign minister and employ the expertise of prominent figures from the two main rival camps in the country to promote Iranian interests abroad.
The presidential hopeful said he would seek the help of former Reformist president Mohammad Khatami on both domestic and European affairs.
Rezaei also announced plans to further develop ties with the Arab world with the help of another former president, Ayatollah Akbar Hashemi-Rafsanjani.
He also suggested a former Principlist parliament speaker, Ali-Akbar Nategh-Nouri, as one of his Foreign Ministry pointmen on developing relations with Asia and Russia.