Iran's Rouhani affirms Holocaust was crime against Jews

Iranian President Hasan Rouhani, who had failed to renounce his predecessor's denial of the Holocaust, on Tuesday condemned the Nazis for crimes committed against the Jewish people.

In a CNN interview, Rouhani was asked whether he believed, as did his predecessor, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, that the Holocaust was a myth.

"I have said before that I am not a historian and when it comes to speaking of the dimensions of the Holocaust it is the historians that should reflect on it," Rouhani said, according to CNN's translation of his comments. "But in general I can tell you that any crime that happens in history against humanity, including the crime the Nazis committed toward the Jews, as well as non-Jews, is reprehensible and condemnable."

Over the years, Israeli officials had sharply criticized Rouhani, a moderate cleric who has made diplomatic overtures to the West, for not renouncing Ahmadinejad's denial of the Holocaust, which killed 6 million Jews.