Iran’s Ambassador to the UN Mohammad Khazaei has called for the indictment of those behind the recent burning of a copy of the Holy Quran

Iran's Ambassador to the UN Mohammad Khazaei has called for the indictment of those behind the recent burning of a copy of the Holy Quran.

Khazaei made the remarks on Tuesday at a meeting with the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and a group of ambassadors representing Muslim countries, according to a fax by Permanent Mission of the Islamic Republic of Iran to the United Nations.

He urged the UN chief to take action against the sacrilege, adding that Qur'an-burning can have dire consequences and provoke violence in the Muslim world.

The Iranian official also earlier said that those who planned and carried out the desecration should be tried by judicial authorities.

On March 20, American evangelical preacher Wayne Sapp set fire to a copy of Qur'an in a small church in Florida under the supervision of radical pastor Terry Jones. Sapp, a member of the Dove World Outreach Center, claimed that the holy book had been found "guilty" of crimes in the course of an eight-month trial and was therefore "executed."

The move provoked public outrage around the world and deadly protests in Afghanistan.