Khamenei says Sweden took a 'war stance' by allowing Quran burning

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Iran’s supreme leader on Saturday said that Sweden has taken a "war stance" against the Islamic world for allowing the desecration of the Holy Quran by an Iraqi refugee in Stockholm and called for handing over the perpetrator.

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said in a message publicized by Iranian state media that the insult against the Quran was a “bitter, conspiratorial and dangerous” incident, which has the most severe punishment in the “consensus view of Islamic scholars.”

“The Swedish government should also know that by supporting a criminal, it has taken a war stance against the Islamic world and attracted the hatred and enmity of the Muslim nations and many of their governments,” Khamenei said.  

“The Swedish government is supposed to hand over the agent behind the crime to the judicial system of the Muslim countries,” he added.

Salwan Momika, an Iraqi refugee who burned the Quran last month outside a mosque in Stockholm, organized the event outside the Iraqi embassy in Stockholm on Thursday. Momika went ahead with his protest, stomping on the Islamic holy book and the Iraqi flag. 

The reoccurrence of Momika’s protest for the second time within a month drew the ire of Muslims around the world, in Iraq, Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, who commands significant influence over the streets, called for demonstrations against the disrespect of the Quran, which grew into the storming of the Swedish embassy in Baghdad and setting it on fire.

Sadr threatened that he was waiting for “the firm official response before any action of my own,” saying that Baghdad must react strongly if the Iraqi flag is burned and avoid resorting to “condemnations, as this indicates weakness and submissiveness.”  He also called on regional giants Saudi Arabia and Iran to take a stance against the incident.

Following Sadr’s warning, the Iraqi government began severing ties with Sweden, a statement from Prime Minister Mohammed Shia’ al-Sudani’s office said that he “directed the ministry of foreign affairs to withdraw the Iraqi charge d’affaires from the Embassy of the Republic of Iraq in Stockholm. He also directed a request to the Swedish ambassador in Baghdad to leave Iraqi territory in response to the repeated permission of the Swedish government to burn the holy Quran, insulting Islamic sanctities, and burning the Iraqi flag.” 

Following the decision to begin severing diplomatic ties, Iraq’s Media and Communications Commission suspended the license of the Swedish telecommunications company Ericsson, state media reported.