TEHRAN, Iran -- Hard-line Iranian lawmakers grilled the country's foreign minister Tuesday about Tehran's step back from past policies of denying the Holocaust.

The questioning was prompted by an interview Mohammed Javad Zarif gave to German media in February in which he said the Holocaust was a "horrifying tragedy" that should never happen again.

In Tuesday's parliament session, aired live on state radio, Zarif defended his stance, saying that Holocaust denial had given Iran's archenemy Israel a tool to use against it.

It was the second time Zarif was summoned to the parliament and questioned about his stance and comments.

Hard-liners have placed increasing pressure on the administration of moderate President Hassan Rouhani, who has offered outreach, unlike his predecessor Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. In 2005, Ahmadinejad prompted an international outcry when he called the Holocaust a "myth."

Six million Jews were killed by German Nazis and their collaborators in the Holocaust, which wiped out a third of world Jewry. Today, fewer than 200,000 elderly Holocaust survivors remain in Israel.

A Section on 05/07/2014