Schaeuble: Germany will allow Iran president World Cup visit

Hamburg - The German government will not oppose a visit by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to watch his team play at the football World Cup, Interior Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble said Saturday. 'He is welcome to come to the World Cup. We want to be good hosts,' said Schaeuble at a congress in southern Germany on the role of football during the Nazi era 1933-1945. But Schaeuble also admitted 'it won't be easy' to have Ahmadinejad in Germany and said he plans to 'approach him over several remarks in the past.' Ahmadinejad was elected Iran president last autumn and has since denied the holocaust and called for Israel to be wiped off the map or to be relocated to part of Germany and Austria. The statements led to calls for Iran to be kicked out of the June 9-July 9 World Cup, but that was dismissed by the ruling body FIFA, local organizers and the German government. Iran football supremo Mohammad Ali Dadkan said Thursday during a visit to Nuremberg's World Cup stadium that Ahmadinejad may come to Germany to watch Iran's first World Cup match against Mexico on June 11 in the local Frankenstadium. 'This is definitely possible. Our president likes football. He often visits games of the national team,' said Dadkan. While Dadkan said he did not expect trouble at the games, Schaeuble said there were security concerns around the Iran team, which is also playing against Portugal and Angola in the opening group stage. The authorities fear that German Neo-Nazis may use the game to express sympathy with Ahmadinejad. East German right-wingers reportedly plan the same for the game against Angola in Leipzig. Bavarian Interior Minister Guenther Beckstein said Saturday he could not imagine the Iran president visiting Germany for the World Cup. Beckstein said 'the easiest way would be denying him entry' but that this decision was with the German government. © 2006 dpa - Deutsche Presse-Agentur

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Peter FranklinApr 9th, 2006 - 03:05:04

This seems a good opportunity for Mr. Ahmadinejad's
hosts to organize for him a quick side trip to Dachau
and Buchenwald, where he could find out for himself if
the Holocaust was just a fabrication.

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Schaeuble: Germany will allow Iran president World Cup visit

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