Iran condemns burning of Quran in Denmark

TEHRAN, July 22 (Xinhua) --

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kanaani on Saturday strongly condemned a recent "insult" to the Quran in Denmark.

He made the remarks in a statement released by the Iranian Foreign Ministry, reacting to the burning of a copy of the Quran by members of an Islamophobic group in Denmark on Friday.

Kanaani highlighted the necessity for greater "unity" among the Muslim states and Abrahamic religions' followers in order to "effectively" counter any insult to the Quran and other Abrahamic religions' sanctities.

He said Iran will continue its contacts and talks with other Muslim states to counter such incidents.

Iran maintains that the Danish government is duty-bound to prevent such insult and to hold those affronting them responsible, Kanaani said, urging the Danish government to take "practical" measures against the case.

A copy of the Quran was burned by the group called Danske Patrioter in front of Iraq's embassy in the Danish capital Copenhagen.

The group's members also carried a banner with insulting slogans against Islam, before stomping on the Iraqi flag and a copy of the Quran.

They said they made the move to protest against the Iraqis' attack on the Swedish embassy in Baghdad on Thursday.

Hundreds of angry protestors stormed the Swedish embassy in Baghdad on Thursday and set fire to the building in protest against the burning of the Quran and the Iraqi flag in the Swedish capital Stockholm.