Iranian Cleric Suggests Swedish Embassy Turn Into ‘Quran Center’

In the aftermath of the Quran burning in Sweden, an Iranian cleric has proposed that the Swedish embassy should be transformed into a Quran teaching center.

During a speech on Thursday, Hassan Akbari, the Supreme Leader's representative in Qom province's IRGC, urged high-ranking officials in Iran to protest against the insulting act and its support by Western governments by closing the Swedish embassy in Tehran and turning it into a center for Quran teaching.

He also expressed strong condemnation and called for decisive actions from the judiciary and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs against such acts.

The Quran burning incident in Sweden garnered international condemnation, prompting Iran's Supreme Leader, Ali Khamenei, to call for the perpetrator to face the severest punishment. Khamenei claimed last week that his stance is supported unanimously by all Muslim clerics.

In a statement addressing the incident, he urged the Swedish government to hand over the culprit to the judicial authorities of Muslim countries for appropriate legal action.

The perpetrator, identified as Salwan Momika, an Iraqi immigrant, burned the Quran in front of the central mosque in Stockholm on the first day of Eid al-Adha, after obtaining a permit from the Swedish government. He repeated the desecration in front of the Iraqi embassy in Stockholm on July 20.