Iranian speaker says Koran burnings "an unprecedented crime"

Sep 13, 2010, 9:12 GMT

Tehran - The speaker of Iran's parliament said Monday that Muslim nations worldwide would not remain silent on Koran burnings in the United States, describing them as 'an unprecedented crime.'

'The US is quite aware of the fact that the Muslim nations will not remain silent as far as one of their most important sanctities is concerned,' Ali Larijani said in a statement on behalf of parliament.

The US Christian minister Terry Jones called off his proposed Koran burning scheduled for Saturday, but Iran said copies of the Koran were burned in some parts of the US.

State television showed footage of an English-speaking man with an American accent burning a copy of the Koran but did not clarify the date and location of the incident.

Iran insisted the US government was responsible for the burnings, saying President Barack Obama did not explicitly condemn the plan itself but said only that such a move would endanger the lives of US soldiers in Afghanistan and Iraq.

However, Obama did ask the minister, Terry Jones, to call off the burning, saying it was 'completely contrary to our values as Americans' and violated the country's ideals of religious freedom and religious tolerance.

But Iran claimed Washington backed the plan. 'We warn the US government to drop its support for this unprecedented crime and savage act; otherwise, it should await a resolute reply by world Muslims,' Larijani warned in his statement carried by the ILNA news agency.

Students from several Tehran universities are to gather Monday in front of the US interest section of the Swiss embassy in northern Tehran to protest the Koran burnings.

Switzerland represents the interests of the US in Iran because Tehran and Washington have had no diplomatic ties for more than three decades.

Larijani also accused Iran's archfoe Israel of being the main element behind the Koran-burning plans, echoing remarks by Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki.