Happy Nowruz! The Persian New Year arrived on March 20. Festivities abounded across Iran, and well-wishes and seasonal greetings poured in from the likes of the United States and Israel, wishing the Iranian people a year of reconciliation and “silence and peace.”

In a video presentation to the Iranian people, Israeli President Shimon Perez extrapolated on Jewish-Persian history: “The Jewish people, and the Persian people—the Iranian people—have a very long history, and we’re going to have a longer future …. Actually, your great King Cyrus was really the man, the leader, that called the Jewish people to come back, and go back, to their land, to Israel …. We shall never forget it.”

Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei also marked the day with a word or two about history. In true anti-Semitic style, he said that the “Holocaust is an event whose reality is uncertain and if it has happened, it’s uncertain how it has happened.” The remarks are sure to upset people across the globe, many of whom have been touched in some way by the atrocity that claimed the lives of over two thirds of the Jewish population in Europe.

This isn’t the first time Khamenei has come out expressing his Holocaust denial. In 2006, he claimed that many individuals in European countries doubted the Holocaust but were afraid to speak up lest the U.S. punish them. Later the same year, he accused the U.S. of the open defamation of Islam while never making “inquiry into a questioning of the Holocaust.” In 2012, Khamenei again raised the issue, saying, “Today in many Western countries, nobody dares question the Holocaust whose nature is questionable.”

It is fitting that the supreme leader would again mention these views on such a day as Nowruz, lest anyone mistakenly believe Iran’s leadership is softening in its attitude toward Israel and the West.

The sad thing is, many Western leaders are convincing themselves that Iran’s leaders are doing exactly that.

News sources were quick to celebrate comments made by President Hassan Rouhani shortly after he was elected into office in 2013. In an interview with cnn, it almost sounded like Rouhani was admitting the Holocaust’s existence: “But, in general, I can tell you that any crime that happens in history against humanity, including the crime the Nazis created towards the Jews as well as non-Jews, is reprehensible and condemnable. Whatever criminality they committed against the Jews, we condemn.”

The comment was interpreted by Western reporters as a break from Rouhani’s predecessor, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who claimed the Holocaust was a lie perpetuated by the West.

In truth, however, Rouhani never actually mentioned the Holocaust, and his statements were refuted by Iranian state news agencies, which accused cnn of taking what Rouhani said out of context. Rouhani has not come out and stated dogmatically that he recognizes the Holocaust.

However, look beyond that one statement by Rouhani and what do you have? You have a history of attempted concealment and denial of one of the most gruesome attempts at genocide this world has witnessed.

There are occasional “slip-ups” such as Rouhani’s comment and when Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif acknowledged on German television that the Holocaust occurred. However, the Iranian elites are quick to pull the men in line. In that case, Zarif had to appear before Iran’s parliament to explain his actions.

Western nations should take a long, hard look at the statements coming out of Iran and reevaluate whether or not the country is really on a path to moderation as many assume. Holocaust denial is a common belief among raging anti-Semites. And such people rule Iran with an iron fist.

Can such a nation really become a reformed member of the international community like President Obama seems to think? Bible prophecy indicates that the anti-Semitism of Iran’s leaders is symptomatic of a dangerous mindset that will push the world to war. For more information on this biblical prophecy, read The King of the South.