Peres dismisses Holocaust, Iran comparison

President Shimon Peres on Thursday distanced himself from the Israeli premier’s comparison between the Holocaust and the threat posed by Iran’s nuclear programme.

In a speech last week to mark the Nazi Holocaust, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said: “People who refuse to see the Iranian threat have learned nothing from the Shoah (Holocaust).

Israel, the United States and many other countries suspect Iran of using its civilian nuclear programme to mask an arms drive, something Tehran vehemently denies.

There has been growing concern the Jewish state might carry out military strikes on Iran in a bid to destroy, or at least severely disable, the nuclear programme.

But Peres voiced confidence the sanctions imposed on Iran by the international community would prove an effective deterrent.