Iranian Officials Condemn Plan to Burn Quran, Say It Is American-“Israeli” Scheme

Local Editor

Manouchehr Mottaki also blames former U.S. President George Bush for inciting Islamophobia following Sept. 11, 2001 attacks.

Tehran on Thursday said that "Israel" was behind the plan by a United States pastor to burn copies of the Holy Quran on the ninth anniversary of the September 11, 2001 attacks, the official news agency IRNA reported.

"The software for this plan was made by the Zionists following their defeats against Muslims and the Islamic world," Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said in a meeting with foreign diplomats in Tehran.

Terry Jones, who leads an evangelical congregation of just 50 people at the Dove World Outreach Centre in Gainesville, Florida, declared this coming Saturday "Burn a Quran Day."
Mottaki also blamed former U.S. President George W. Bush, saying Bush's religious rhetoric after the September 11 attacks led to "Islamophobia" in the U.S.

"The current U.S. administration should fulfill its duties in guaranteeing the basic rights of American Muslims for avoiding the spread of such inappropriate and devilish moves," Mottaki said.

On the same note, A senior Iranian commander said on Wednesday that burning the holy Quran is part of a US scenario to distract global attention from its crimes.

Deputy Head of Iran's Armed Forces Joint Chiefs of Staff Brigadier General Seyyed Masoud Jazayeri said there is strong evidence that the September 11 incident was staged by the then US government and their "Israeli" agents.

Jazayeri argued that certain decision-making lobbies in the US were looking for an acceptable excuse to expand their influence throughout the world and for which the September 11 incident provided the necessary pretext.

Also on Wednesday, Ayatollah Safi Golpaygani, one of the senior clergy figures in Iran, harshly condemned the Quran-burning plan and called on the U.S. administration to arrest Terry Jones.
He further warned that if such a "gruesome and inhuman act" took place, Muslims would hold the administration of U.S. President Barack Obama responsible.

The ayatollah further said that desecrating the Quran would not only insult Muslims worldwide, but also the followers of Jesus Christ, his mother Mary and the prophet Moses.