MOSCOW, February 7 (RIA Novosti) - The scandal surrounding Danish cartoons satirizing Mohammed, the main prophet of Islam, benefits Iran, a senior Russian parliamentarian said Tuesday. Konstantin Kosachev, the chairman of the lower chamber of parliament's international affairs committee, said the controversy was helping to radicalize sentiments in the Islamic world against the West.
Moscow will be unable to influence Tehran's position on the issue, he said.
Depictions of the Mohammed are explicitly prohibited in Islam. The cartoons, originally published in a Danish newspaper and subsequently reprinted in several other countries, have provoked protests throughout the Muslim world.
Kosachev said: "For us Iran is not the most comfortable of partners, particularly the president of Iran [Mahmoud Ahmadinejad], who through his public speeches on a range of international issues has ruled out the possibility of an alliance with Russia. We have virtually no means of applying pressure on Iran."
The Islamic Republic has been at the center of controversy over its insistence on developing a controversial nuclear energy program, and toward the end of last year, over its leader's comment that Israel should be "wiped off the map."
