The foreign minister, whose name means in Persian “elegant” or "delicate," tried to be very delicate in his choice of words. He was clear in condemning the “killing of Jews by Nazis, as we condemn the killing of Palestinians by the Zionists.”

Zarif explained his country’s differentiation between Zionism and Judaism with, “Judaism is a divine religion that we respect in accordance with the teachings of our religion and our country's constitution.” He added, "In the Islamic Republic of Iran Jewish compatriots are a recognized minority and in the parliament they have an active parliamentary member."

“Zionists are a minority with the Jews," he said. "They are exploiting the suffering of the Jews to justify their crimes against the Palestinians. We won’t allow them to propagate that Iran hates the Jews and that it's a country that wants war.” Zarif concluded, “The Zionists for 60 years used the Holocaust as a pretext for all the crimes against the Palestinians, the world should have a say on this so that the Palestinians won’t suffer for another 60 years in the name of the Holocaust.”

Earlier, Zarif tweeted from his new Twitter account, “Happy Rosh Hashanah.” Al-Monitor’s Laura Rozen reported that the tweet led to a stunning Twitter exchange with Christine Pelosi (@sfpelosi), the daughter of ranking House Democrat Nancy Pelosi, about former Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s Holocaust denial. Zarif’s reply: “Iran never denied it. The man who was perceived to be denying it is now gone. Happy New Year.”