Anne Applebaum sees Tehran's own version of "realism" Iran's Holocaust Denial Conference:
Of course, Holocaust denial also has broader roots and many more adherents in the Middle East, which may be part of the point: Questioning the reality of the Holocaust has long been another means of questioning the legitimacy of the state of Israel, which was indeed created by the United Nations in response to the Holocaust, and which has indeed incorporated Holocaust history into its national identity. If the Shiite Iranians are looking for friends, particularly among Sunni Arabs, Holocaust denial isn't a bad way to find them.
No, it isn't, although it is an excellent way to moot of one of the ISG's vaunted recommendations: putting the mullahs on the spot by engaging them diplomatically, or at least trying to. If they refuse to negotiate in time-honored pragmatic terms then so much the worse for "world opinion" of them. (Niall Ferguson, citing his latest biographical subject Henry Kissinger, recently applauded this logic of the Baker-Hamilton commission.)
I have to say, I love the idea that world opinion of the Islamic Republic could remain neutral or positive after its capital city hosts an international gathering of Holocaust "skeptics" and deniers. This is a provocation, I hope you'll agree, a few shades darker than even vowing to wipe Israel off the map.