Special report: Iran Nuclear Crisis

    TEHRAN, Sept. 3 (Xinhua) -- Iran said on Sunday that it would go ahead to hold later this year a conference to examine the Holocaust, one day after visiting UN Secretary General Kofi Annan warned against inciting hatred.

    "God willing, a conference on the Holocaust will be held in theautumn. The Holocaust is not something sacred that no one can touch," Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid-Reza Asefi told reporters.

    "When I was ambassador I visited several Nazi camps in (the former) East Germany and Poland. I think it has been exaggerated,"he said.

    His remarks came one day after UN chief Annan raised concerns with Iranian officials over an exhibition of cartoons about the Holocaust currently being held in Tehran.

    In a meeting with Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki on Saturday, Annan said "we should avoid anything that incites hatred," according to his spokesman Ahmad Fawzi.

    But Asefi said that different points of view could be expressedbecause Iran believes in freedom of expression.

    "Annan could express his point of view and we expressed ours," Asefi added. Enditem