U.S. says Iran, Syria incite cartoon protests

By Sue Pleming

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice accused U.S. adversaries Iran and Syria on Wednesday of inciting Muslim anger against the West over cartoons of the Prophet Mohammad that have sparked deadly protests.

President George W. Bush said governments should stop the violence that has erupted over the cartoons, including attacks on Western embassies in parts of the Muslim world. At least 10 people have been killed in protests in Afghanistan alone.

"Iran and Syria have gone out of their way to inflame sentiments and to use this to their own purposes and the world ought to call them on it," Rice said at a joint news conference with Israel's Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni.

She said nothing justified the violence that had resulted from the cartoons and appealed to governments to urge calm.

"There are governments that have used this opportunity to incite violence," she added, referring to Syria and Iran.

Rice took a more pointed jab at Iran and said it had "not even hidden its hand in this."

The United States is on a collision course with Iran over its suspected nuclear weapons program and was instrumental in getting the U.N.'s nuclear watchdog agency last Saturday to report Iran to the U.N. Security Council.

Oh, we are definitely being primed.