Written question asked by Andrew Rosindell (Conservative) on Monday, 12 December 2005, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Wednesday, 14 December 2005. It was answered by Kim Howells (Labour) on Tuesday, 20 December 2005 on behalf of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.

Iran

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what discussions he has had with (a) the president of Iran, (b) his US counterpart and (c) counterparts in the European Union on the Iranian president's recent comments about Israel.

Answer: On 8 December, my right hon. Friend the Foreign Secretary, acting on behalf of the UK presidency of the European Union, condemned unreservedly the comments in which President Ahmadinejad denied that the holocaust had taken place and called for Israel to be moved to Europe. The European Council repeated this condemnation on 16 December. My right hon. Friend the Foreign Secretary has not discussed these remarks with the President of Iran. My right hon. Friend the Foreign Secretary has very regular discussions with his US counterpart on Iranian issues but it would be inappropriate to go into the detail of those conversations.

Secondary information