Iraqi demonstrators hold the Koran during a protest near the Green Zone against the burning of a copy of the Koran and the Iraqi flag in the Swedish capital Stockholm, in Baghdad, Iraq July 22, 2023. (Photo: REUTERS)

Iran's supreme leader said those desecrating the Quran should face the "most severe punishment" and that by defending perpetrators Sweden was gearing for "war" against Muslims.

Many Muslim states have protested at insults to the Quran this week in protests in Sweden and Denmark, which both allow the book's burning under legal protections for freedom of speech.

Protesters gathered in Baghdad amid heavy security measures, with bridges leading to the Green Zone that houses many foreign embassies shut after an attempt by demonstrators to get to the Danish Embassy in the early hours of Saturday.

That attempt, repelled by Iraqi security forces who fired tear gas according to a government source, came 48 hours after the Swedish Embassy was overrun and set alight in protest at a planned burning of the Quran in Stockholm.

Iraq condemned the attack on the Swedish Embassy but also expelled the Swedish ambassador in protest at the planned burning of the Quran, the central text of Islam which Muslims believe to be a revelation from God.

Iran's foreign ministry summoned the Danish ambassador to protest against "the desecration of the Koran in Copenhagen," the ministry tweeted on Saturday.