What did Rice do? She said that Iran was fanning the flames of cartoon rage. Rice should apologize, says Hamid Reza Asefi, admirably impervious to self-examination, for such comments only enflame cartoon rage. Just like depicting Muhammad as violent evidently so enrages Muslims that they become…violent. “Update 8: Iran Rejects Charge of Inflaming Violence,” from AP, with thanks to Banafsheh Zand-Bonazzi:
Iran on Sunday rejected U.S. and Danish accusations that the government had inflamed and encouraged last week’s violent protests against Western embassies in Tehran over caricatures of Islam’s Prophet Muhammad and demanded an apology.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi singled out comments by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and said Denmark should apologize to help calm the furor that has erupted over the images that first appeared in a Danish newspaper four months ago.
“What happened was a natural reaction. Rice and Danish officials should apologize. Such comments could worsen the situation and an apology could alleviate the tension,” Asefi said.