AFP: Denmark and Iran said Wednesday they are still at odds over who should pay for damage done to the Danish embassy in Tehran during violent protests in last year’s Mohammed cartoons row. COPENHAGEN, May 9, 2007 (AFP) – Denmark and Iran said Wednesday they are still at odds over who should pay for damage done to the Danish embassy in Tehran during violent protests in last year’s Mohammed cartoons row.
During a visit to Copenhagen on Wednesday, Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki met with his Danish counterpart Per Stig Moeller but the two failed to resolve the issue though talks are ongoing, they said.
The Danish embassy compound in Tehran was pelted with stones, firecrackers and Molotov cocktails during the demonstrations. The mission was closed for six weeks.
“Those who have been the cause of the problem have to pay,” Mottaki said.
He did not specify if he was referring to the demonstrators who caused the damage, to the Danish paper Jyllands-Posten which published the cartoons or the Danish government or with another party.
“This issue is not solved but we are negotiating,” Moeller said, stressing that under the Vienna Convention it is the obligation of the Iranian government to protect the embassy.
“We suppose the Iranian government accepts this,” Moeller said.
Mottaki said the two countries were “faced with some difficulties” but stressed the importance of dealing with the conflict and establishing good relations.
The publication of the 12 controversial cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed in Danish daily Jyllands-Posten in September 2005 led to violent demonstrations throughout the Muslim world.
Protestors also burned Danish flags and set fire to Danish diplomatic offices in Damascus and Beirut in February 2006.
Syria and Lebanon have already agreed to pay for those damages.
