On 10 January 2006 , Ahmadinejad declared that his government is following the " religious mission " initiated by Navvab Safavi , a Shi'a cleric who assassinated the historian and author Ahmad Kasravi in 1946 for " insulting Islam . " In 2001 , Mohammad Taghi Mesbah Yazdi , Ahmadinejad ’s ideological mentor , praised Safavi and encouraged Muslims in taking similar steps against the " enemies of Islam . " Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has issued a number of statements claiming The Holocaust as is commonly accepted is " a myth " , and " a lie " His words have been publicly repudiated by world leaders from many countries including the United States , the United Kingdom , Germany , France , and others , including Iranian academics and expatriates
The Holocaust
The Holocaust
Controversies of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad