Iran refuses to accept Swedish envoy after latest Quran burning incident

Iran’s foreign minister said on Saturday that until Sweden takes decisive action against the burning of the Holy Quran, Tehran will not accept a new ambassador to Stockholm. 

Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian said in an interview with state TV that Iran would also not send its own envoy to Sweden. 

This comes after the last Quran burning incident in the Nordic country.

“Upon the conclusion of the Swedish envoy’s tenure in Tehran, we will refrain from receiving his successor until there is decisive action from the Swedish government against the offender who disrespected the Quran,” Amirabdollahian said. 

In a previous announcement earlier this month, Amirabdollahian had said Iran would not be sending an ambassador of its own to Stockholm.

Earlier, Iran had summoned the Swedish Ambassador Matthias Lentz to protest the repeated desecration of Islam’s holy book and to hold the Swedish government accountable for offending the feelings of Muslims around the world, according to Iran’s official news agency IRNA.

According to a statement by the ministry’s spokesman Nasser Kanaani: “We strongly condemn the repeated desecration of the Holy Quran and Islamic sanctities in Sweden, and we hold the Swedish government fully responsible for the consequences of inciting the feelings of Muslims around the world.

“Continuing to desecrate Islamic holy places and spreading hatred in this way is considered a perfect example of organized violence and a hostile action against the world’s two billion Muslim population, God-believing people and followers of the heavenly religions,” the spokesman said. 

Early Thursday morning, a crowd of Iraqis stormed Sweden’s embassy in Baghdad and set it ablaze in protest of the June 28 burning of a copy of the Quran by Salwan Momika, an Iraq-born man who now lives in Sweden.

Sweden’s Foreign Ministry condemned the attack on its embassy in Baghdad, calling it a “serious violation” of the Vienna Convention.

Many countries, including the US, Russia, Türkiye, Iraq, Pakistan, Indonesia, and Afghanistan, as well as other Islamic states, decried the attack.

Following the storming of Sweden’s diplomatic mission, Momika desecrated another copy of the Quran by stepping on it and the Iraqi flag in front of the Iraqi Embassy in Stockholm.

In response to the repeated act, the Iraqi government warned Sweden that it would break diplomatic relations if such desecrations of the Holy Quran continued.

Baghdad also declared Sweden’s ambassador in the country a persona non grata after the holy book was desecrated for the second time in a month, ordering him to leave the country.