Grand Ayatollah Mohammad Fazel-Lankarani said the cartoons, which originally appeared in September in the Danish paper "Jyllands-Posten," were a deliberate attempt to provoke a confrontation with Islam.
He called for a "serious" reaction from Shi'ite clerics and criticized Iranian officials for their "weak" response. He said the government's reaction should have been at least as strong as its position on Iran's nuclear program.
Ayatollah Fazel-Lankarani specifically suggested two signs of protest, the calling of a state of public mourning and the temporary closure of all religious schools in the holy city of Qom.
(Fars)