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Condemning Qur'an desecration

Iran’s Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian has strongly condemned desecration of the Holy Qur’an in Sweden. The top diplomat said desecration of the Qur’an and other divine books under the pretext of freedom of speech will only foment hatred, violence and xenophobia. Amir-Abdollahian noted that the provocative move is a brazen insult to all Muslims and is aimed at spreading Islamophobia and extremism. The Iranian foreign minister made the comments in a letter to the UN secretary general. He demanded that Antonio Guterres condemn the sacrilegious act.

Qur'an desecration fallout

The desecration of the Holy Qur’an in Sweden continues to draw strong reactions from across the Muslim world. The leader of Lebanon's Hezbollah movement has called on all Arab and Islamic nations to follow suit with Iraq in responding to the latest desecration of the Qur'an. He also called on all Muslims to massively attend Friday Prayers and prove to the world that they are ready to defend the Qur'an with everything they’ve got. This, after earlier on Thursday, Iraq recalled its charge d'affaires in Sweden and asked the Swedish ambassador to leave following another sacrilegious act against the Qur'an in front of its embassy in Stockholm. Iraqi people stormed the Swedish embassy in Baghdad early Thursday to protest the insulting act and some of them set parts of the embassy on fire. Saudi Arabia and Qatar have also summoned Swedish envoys in Riyadh and Doha, handing them notes of protest over the desecration of the Qur'an. Turkey, for its part, condemned the sacrilege and called on Sweden to take decisive measures to prevent such moves.

Ukraine grain deal

Russia has denied the US’ claims that it might attack civilian shipping in the Black Sea following the expiration of a UN-brokered grain deal. Russia's ambassador to Washington was reacting to statements by the White House that Russia could expand its attacks on Ukrainian grain facilities to include civilian ships in the Black Sea. Anatoly Antonov described any allegation about Russia preparing attacks on civilian shipping as pure falsification. He added that the US is trying to cover up its role in sabotaging the deal, which facilitated the export of Ukrainian grain to global markets. On Monday, Moscow quit the deal saying a parallel memorandum signed in Istanbul had been ignored. The memorandum was meant to facilitate Moscow's own grain and fertilizer exports in the face of Western sanctions on Russia over the war in Ukraine.

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