As Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani is visiting France, the country’s s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei questioned whether the Holocaust is “reality or not,” coinciding with International Holocaust Remembrance Day.

A video published on Khamenei’s website questioned whether the Holocaust happened. The three-minute clip features a montage of images, including those of David Irving and other Holocaust-deniers, lamenting that “expressing doubts about it [the Holocaust] is considered to be a great sin” in the West.

The video claims that, “No one in European countries dares to speak about Holocaust” claiming that “it is not clear whether the core of this matter [the Holocaust] is a reality or not. Even if it is a reality, it is not clear how it happened.”

The video titled “Are the Dark Ages Over” shows a series of photos showing killed or injured Palestinian children is displayed on screen, while a Farsi-speaking man, presumably Ayatollah Ali Khamenei himself, can be heard condemning the nations of the world for offering support to Israel.

“It is Western powers headed by America that are [supporting Israel],” the narrator says. “This is while they say in their slogans that they are opposed to terrorism and [the Islamic State terrorist group].”

The speaker goes on to accuse European nations of silencing any view that does not conform to the historically accepted account of the genocide against the Jews by Nazi Germany.

Khamenei has expressed doubts about the historicity of the Holocaust in the past.

Earlier this month, the Tehran Municipality launched its annual Holocaust denial cartoon contest, which offers a prize of tens of thousands of pounds. The Israeli media reported this week that United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) sent an official complaint to Iran over the contest.

The video was uploaded as Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani visited Europe, with trips to Italy, where he met with the pope on Tuesday, and France on Thursday.

Rouhani is thought to be focusing on building trade and business ties following the lifting of nuclear sanctions earlier this month by both the United States and European Union. The move will free billions of pounds of Iranian assets, which Israeli leaders and others fear will be used by Tehran to increasingly fund terror proxies such as Hezbollah.

Some 250 people demonstrated in central aris against Rouhani’s visit.

The demonstration was organized by labor unions, left-wing groups and associations of Iranians who oppose the regime. Many of the participants held aloft photos of Iranian activists imprisoned in Iran or activists executed there in the past two years, since Rouhani was elected president.

One of the demonstration’s leaders said about 2,000 people have been executed in Iran since Rouhani became president, and that Tehran maintains a policy of arresting those who criticize the government.

The demonstration joins a massive campaign in French media and social networks against Rouhani’s visit. The campaign focuses on the violation of human rights in Iran and on its support for terrorism.

Several other demonstrations took place on Thursday, including a large rally, organized by several Jewish groups, outside of the French Senate. NGOs dedicated to human rights and women’s rights and student organizations are also planning to hold protests.

France’s main newspapers – Le Monde, Le Figaro and Liberation — all published over the past two days editorials stating that Iran has not changed and has not yet become a progressive and liberal country with which France can renew relations, especially against the backdrop of Iranian ties with Hezbollah’s military wing and its involvement in the Syrian civil war.

by Joseph Byron