Asia

Asia

’Muslim states must close US bases’

11 September 2010 18:46 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. In response to plans by a US pastor to burn copies of the holy Quran, Iran’s former envoy to Mexico has urged Muslim nations to shut down US bases on their soil, APA reports quoting Press TV.

"The simultaneity of this Islamophobic act by the extremist pastor and the award handed by the German Chancellor to the caricaturist who insulted theâ€¦Prophet [of Islam Mohammad] (PBUH), is not a coincidence and the Muslim world must give a suitable response to these behaviors," Iran’s former ambassador to Mexico, Mohammad Hassan Qadiri Abianeh, said on Saturday.

Qadiri Abianeh advised Muslim nations with US bases on their soil to close down the facilities, end the US military presence and cancel any joint military maneuvers with Americans.

Following fierce international condemnation of the plan by both Muslim and non-Muslim leaders and communities, Florida pastor Terry Jones announced on Thursday that he had put his Quran burning plans on hold.

The radical evangelist was initially planning to burn hundreds of copies of the holy book on the ninth anniversary of the September 11, 2001 attacks.

Senior Washington officials have slammed the plans as "disrespectful," "disgraceful" and "un-American," and the scheme has even prompted the Vatican to condemn the "outrageous" move.

On Friday, angry demonstrators marched in Tehran to condemn the Islamophobic decision, as protests in neighboring Pakistan and Afghanistan as well as India and Indonesia continued.