Iran’s Rouhani warns insulting Mohammed may encourage ‘violence’ after Macron defends cartoons

TEHRAN, Iran — Iranian President Hassan Rouhani warns that insulting the Prophet Mohammed may encourage “violence and bloodshed” following Paris’ defense of the publication of cartoons depicting the Islamic prophet.

“Insulting the prophet is no achievement. It’s immoral. It’s encouraging violence,” Rouhani says in a televised speech during the weekly cabinet meeting.

“It’s a surprise that this would come from those claiming culture and democracy, that they would somehow, even if unintentionally, encourage violence and bloodshed,” he adds.

French President Emmanuel Macron has strongly defended secular values and the right to mock religion following the murder of a French schoolteacher who had shown his class cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed.

Macron’s comments triggered protests and a call to boycott French goods in some Muslim-majority countries.

Rouhani says that “the West should understand that… insulting the prophet is insulting all Muslims, all prophets, all human values, and trampling ethics.”

He adds that “every single European is in debt to the prophet, as he was the teacher of humanity.”

Rouhani also calls on the West to “stop interfering in Muslims’ internal affairs” if it “truly seeks to achieve peace, equality, calm and security in today’s societies.”

Iran yesterday summoned a senior French envoy, the charge d’affaires, to protest the “unacceptable behavior of the French authorities,” after a chorus of criticism aimed at Macron by top Iranian officials in recent days.

— AFP