Source: BBC News
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4705246.stm
On February 11, 2006 BBC News reported, "The chairman of Iran's Jewish Council has strongly criticised the country's hardline president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad for saying the Holocaust was a myth. In a letter to the president, Haroun Yashayaei said the leader's remarks had shocked the international community and caused fear in Iran's Jewish community. Mr Yashayaei described the Holocaust as one of the most obvious and sad events in the 20th Century. Six million Jews were killed in Nazi persecution during World War II. This is the first time that a senior Iranian Jewish leader has openly criticised President Ahmadinejad for denying the Holocaust. In his strongly-worded letter, Mr Yashayaei asked the president how he could justify what he termed the crimes of Hitler. Mr Yashayaei said the Holocaust was a fact of history and not a myth and accused the Iranian president of ignorance and political prejudice. Iran's small Jewish community of about 30,000 is recognised by the Islamic Republic and there is even a Jewish member of parliament."