UPDATE - US says burning of Sweden's Iraq embassy 'unlawful act of violence'

ADDS DETAILS ON SUBSEQUENT QURAN DESECRATION/IRAQ PNG

By Michael Hernandez

WASHINGTON (AA) - The US sharply denounced the storming of Sweden's embassy in Iraq on Thursday, saying Iraqi security forces' failure to thwart the attack was "unacceptable."

State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said that while "freedom of peaceful assembly is an essential hallmark of democracy," the assault on the diplomatic mission "was an unlawful act of violence."

"It is unacceptable that Iraqi Security Forces did not act to prevent protestors from breaching the Swedish Embassy compound for a second time and damaging it. We are in contact with our Swedish partners and have offered our support. Foreign missions should not be targets of violence," Miller said in a statement.

"We call on the Government of Iraq to honor its international obligations to protect all diplomatic missions in Iraq against any intrusion or damage, as required by international law," he added.

Early Thursday morning, a crowd of Iraqis stormed Sweden’s Embassy in Baghdad and set it ablaze in protest of the June 28 burning of a copy of the Quran, Islam's holy book, last month by Salwan Momika, an Iraq-born man who now lives in Sweden.

Sweden's Foreign Ministry condemned the attack on its embassy in Baghdad, calling it a "serious violation" of the Vienna Convention.

Many states, including the US, Russia, Türkiye, Iraq, Pakistan, Indonesia, Afghanistan as well as other Islamic countries, decried the attack.

Sweden also launched an investigation into the incident.

Following the storming of Stockholm's diplomatic mission, Momika again desecrated a copy of the Quran, stepping on it and the Iraqi flag in front of Iraq's embassy in Sweden.

Thursday’s incident happened after Iraq warned Sweden it could break diplomatic ties if such Quran desecrations happen again. Baghdad went through with the action, declaring Sweden's envoy persona non grata after the holy book was desecrated for a second time in a month.

Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani directed his country’s Foreign Ministry to recall its charge d'affaires in Stockholm.

The Iraqi premier’s office said on Twitter that al-Sudani also directed a request to the Swedish ambassador in Baghdad to leave the country.

The move came “in response to the repeated permission of the Swedish government to burn copy of the holy Quran, insult Islamic sanctities, and burn the Iraqi flag.”