Thousands of Iranians flooded Tehran streets on Friday yelling "Death to America" and "Death to Israel" to protest the Islam-offense film which caused violent anti-US demonstrations in the Muslim World.
Thousands of Iranians flooded Tehran streets on Friday yelling "Death to America" and "Death to Israel" to protest the Islam-offense film which caused violent anti-US demonstrations in the Muslim World.
State television showed the crowd streaming out after Friday prayers at Tehran University in which Ayatollah Ahmad Janati blamed the United States for the crude film, which ridicules the Holy Prophet of Islam, Mohammad (pubh).
"It is a wonder how those running a country claiming to be a superpower become so stupid in taking such actions," he said.
"In their recent lunacy, they have made a movie -- whose finances are said to be paid by the Zionists -- to insult the prophet," he added.
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was separately quoted by state media as claiming "lowbrow Zionists... seek to create a religious war between the followers of (different) faiths."
Earlier on Thursday, hundreds of Iranians held a peaceful protest over the offensive film near the Swiss embassy in Tehran, which handles US diplomatic interests. Security forces kept them well away from the compound.
Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, on Thursday demanded the United States punish those behind the film.
"If the American politicians are honest that they had no role, then they must punish those who committed this heinous crime and their financial backers in proportion to this great crime," Ayatollah Khamenei said, according to a statement posted on his official website.
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has condemned the film as "disgusting and reprehensible" and said "the United States government had absolutely nothing to do with this video."
Protests in the region have been taking place ever since Tuesday, when US diplomatic missions in Libya, Yemen and Egypt were attacked by crowds whipped into a fury by the movie.
A US ambassador and three other US officials were killed in the Libya attack.
