TEHRAN, Feb 12: Iran on Sunday rejected US accusations it was using a row over cartoons of the holy Prophet Muhammed (peace be upon him) to incite anti-West violence, arguing that only a formal apology from Denmark could ease protests.

“This is wrong. Muslim anger is natural,” foriegn ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi told reporters, responding to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice’s charge that Iran and Syria had gone out of their way to inflame sentiments.

“Instead of being misleading, the Danish prime minister should present an apology and put an end to this affair, and promise it will never happen again,” Mr Asefi said.

Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen has apologised for any harm the drawings may have caused but not for the satirical sketches themselves, saying the Danish government can never apologise on behalf of a “free and independent” newspaper.

Several European embassies in Tehran, including that of Denmark, have been firebombed and stoned in protests over the caricatures.

Denmark, the country where the cartoons were first published last September before being reprinted in newspapers across Europe, has since pulled out its diplomatic staff from Tehran.

The cartoons, first published in a Danish newspaper in September, were seen by millions of Muslims around the world as an attack on Islam and an insult to their most revered prophet.

The drawings — including one that depicts the holy prophet wearing a turban shaped like a bomb — subsequently were reprinted in several publications in Europe, the United States and elsewhere. Publishers said they printed the cartoons to show solidarity for “freedom of expression.”

Tehran said the newspaper caricatures were insulting all Muslims.

Asefi said Denmark could have resolved the problem had it apologized immediately for the caricatures. He also backed views of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad who said that the drawings were part of an Israeli conspiracy.

Last week, demonstrators in Iran attacked the Danish, French and Austrian embassies with stones and firebombs and hit the British mission with rocks.

Denmark warned its citizens to leave Lebanon, Syria and Iran. On Sunday Copenhagen told Danes to leave Indonesia as well. saying they faced a significant and imminent danger from an extremist group. Denmark pulled embassy staff from Jakarta, Iran and Syria.

Holocaust: On the issue of Holocaust, the foriegn ministry spokesmen said Israel’s treatment of the Palestinians constituted a greater crime than the Holocaust.

“I believe the crimes committed by the Zionist regime are greater than the Holocaust,” the spokesman said.

“Unfortunately, the Zionist regime is blackmailing the Europeans with the Holocaust,” he added.

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has labelled the Holocaust a myth and has called for Israel to be wiped off the map, comments that drew almost universal international condemnation.

He has called for an academic conference on the Holocaust which he thinks will prove that the number of deaths was exaggerated. Western leaders have criticised the proposal as “distasteful.”

Iran’s press and officials have rounded on the West for its hypocrisy, arguing satirical cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) are allowed but that frank discussion of the historical details of the Holocaust are not, saying this exposes double standards in the Western press about so-called press freedom.

The United Nations Security Council sharply rebuked Iran for doubting that six million Jews were murdered by the Nazis and their allies between 1933 and 1945.

Iran has been a vocal advocate of the Palestinian cause since the Islamic revolution, but insists its support is purely moral and does not extend to funds and arms, as Washington alleges.

Malaysian help sought: In a related development Denmark has sought Malaysia’s help to calm Muslim outrage over the cartoon controversy, a Malaysian newspaper said on Sunday.

Malaysian Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar said he received a call from his Danish counterpart Per Stig Moeller on Friday, the Star newspaper reported.

“He told me they respect Islam and it was never their intention to hurt the feelings of Muslims,” the newspaper quoted Syed Hamid was quoted as saying.

“He hopes Malaysia can help in explaining and containing the situation from getting out of control and causing a divide between Muslims and non-Muslims.”

Malaysia chairs the Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC), the world’s largest grouping of Islamic nations. The government suspended the publishing licence of a daily newspaper last week after it re-printed the cartoons.

Denmark has been the target of protests in Islamic countries since cartoons of the Prophet, first published in the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten in September, were reprinted by other European newspapers in January.

It has urged its citizens to leave Indonesia, warning of “clear and present danger” from Muslims seeking revenge over the cartoons, after withdrawing diplomats and staff from Jakarta and Iran because of security threats.

Their departure follows that of Danish embassy staff in Syria who left on Friday on the grounds that the security provided by Syrian authorities was inadequate.

At least 11 people have been killed this year in the protests over the cartoons.

Syed Hamid said the Iran’s Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottak had also contacted him on Friday, asking for an emergency meeting of OIC foreign ministers to discuss the issue.

The Malaysian minister said he supported the proposal for a meeting to be held, the report said.—Reuters/AP/AFP