BEIJING, Jan. 16 -- Iran says it will sponsor a conference to examine the scientific evidence supporting the Holocaust.

    The announcement is seen as an apparent next step in Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's campaign against Israel and a move likely to deepen Tehran's international isolation.

    Ahmadinejad has already called the Nazis' World War II slaughter of European Jews a myth, and said the Jewish state should be wiped off the map or moved to Germany or the United States.

    Speaking on Sunday, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi didn't disclose where or when the Holocaust conference would be held, nor would he say who would attend or what had prompted Tehran to sponsor it.

    "The Foreign Ministry is going to hold a conference on the scientific aspect of the issue and to discuss and review its repercussions. We will announce the time of the conference in the future."

    On Saturday, Ahmadinejad urged the West to be sufficiently open-minded to allow a free international debate on the Holocaust.

    Ahmadinejad's initial remarks prompted a global outpouring of condemnation, and Tehran further raised international concern last week when it resumed "research" at its uranium enrichment facility. Enditem

(Source: CRIENGLISH.com)