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Merkel sends condolences over Iran earthquake

31 March 2006

BERLIN – German Chancellor Angela Merkel – who has harshly criticized Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad for denying the Holocaust – sent the Iranian leader a telegram on Friday expressing condolences over the deadly earthquakes which hit the country.

“It fills me with great sadness that the Iranian people again have to suffer from an earthquake disaster,” said Merkel in a statement, adding that she extended her “deepest sympathy to the victims and their families.”

Since her election last November, Merkel has been infuriated over President Ahmadinejad’s repeated calls for Israel to be “wiped off the map” and for terming the Holocaust a “myth”.

Merkel’s government led European Union and international moves to have the Iranian leader condemned for the remarks.

Three earthquakes shook Iran’s western Lorestan province Friday morning, killing at least 66 people and injuring more than 1,200, officials in Iran said.

DPA

Subject: German news