Iranian Foreign Minister Calls on UN Chief to Prevent Further Quran-Burning Acts

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian has sent a formal letter to UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, urging him to take rapid action to prevent repeated desecration of the Quran in Sweden, the Iranian Foreign Ministry said on Friday.

On Wednesday, the Swedish police issued a permit to publicly burn a copy of the Quran in front of the Iraqi embassy in Stockholm. Overnight into Thursday, hundreds of Iraqi nationals stormed the Swedish embassy in Baghdad and set it on fire in protest. Later in the day, the scheduled action took place in Stockholm. The protesters did not burn a copy of the Quran as planned, but one of them trampled on it.

"I request Your Excellency to immediately condemn this action, take necessary measures ASAP in order to prevent the repetition and the dangerous implications of the expansion and persistence of this insulting and provocative phenomenon. I also request Your Excellency to ask the member states of the United Nations to deal strongly with the orchestrators and perpetrators of this action," Amirabdollahian said in the letter.

Further Quran desecration acts "under the guise of freedom of speech" are an open insult to the Muslim community and a provocation for various groups that promote Islamophobia and extremism, the minister warned. Issuing permits to desecrate the Quran or any other holy book would have irreversible consequences, including the spread of hate, violence and xenophobia, which poses a threat to peaceful coexistence of the adherents of different religions, he added.

Amirabdollahian also said that Sweden's attitude towards repeated acts of desecration of the Quran was "irresponsible" and that Iran was ready to take coordinated action to prevent such acts from taking place in the future.

"The repetition of the desecration of the holy Quran and the irresponsible move of the Swedish government to support this disgusting act is highly deplorable. Insulting the beliefs and divine books has no place in any of the divine religions. Iran, alongside other Muslim countries and those that believe in divine books, is ready to take coordinated and deterring action," Amirabdollahian was quoted as saying by the Iranian Foreign Ministry.

On June 28, the first day of the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha, a protest took place outside Stockholm's main mosque during which a Quran was burned. The Swedish police authorized the demonstration. Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson said the authorization was "lawful but inappropriate." A similar demonstration took place in Sweden in January, when Danish far-right politician Rasmus Paludan burned the Muslim holy book in front of the Turkish embassy.