Death toll from Afghan cartoon protests rises

Diplomatic impacts
Apart from fueling protests, the controversy has also had an impact on foreign relations.

On Monday, Iran announced it cut all trade ties with Denmark because of the cartoons. Iran imports some $280 million worth of goods a year from Denmark.

Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen has said he disapproves of the caricatures, but insisted he cannot apologize on behalf of his country's independent press.

The United States condemned the protests Monday, as administration officials continued to walk a fine line between supporting free speech and calling the cartoons offensive.

State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said that “what we can do is to speak out very clearly in support of freedom of expression, freedom of the press, and urge understanding and tolerance — not violence.”

“We certainly at this time urge governments to take any steps that they might to lower tensions concerning this issue,” McCormack said.

He specifically said Saudi Arabia might be one. “Certainly the leaders of the Saudi government might be individuals who might fulfill that role,” he said. “There are others in the region who also might fulfill that role as well.”

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