Iran “strongly condemns, denounces and regrets the repeat of insults to the great prophet of Islam and the sanctities of more than one-and-a-half-billion Muslims on the anniversary of the publication of the offensive cartoons,” a foreign ministry statement said.

It was referring to the publication in September 2005 of 12 caricatures of Mohammed by the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten, which later sparked outrage and weeks of violent protests across the Muslim world.

“The world of Islam expects the Danish government to prevent the occurrence of such insults which hurts the feelings of the world’s Muslims,” it added.

Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad also vehemently condemned the video in comments quoted by news agencies late on Sunday.

“The leaders of some nations jail scholars who deny the Holocaust, (but) on the other hand they keep silent towards those who insult the great prophet of Islam on the pretext of freedom,” said Ahmadinejad, who has previously called the Holocaust a “myth”.

“They should know that if the ocean of human nature erupts, its repercussions will be uncontrollable,” he added.

The images were shown on TV2 only fleetingly, with a youth playing the part of Mohammed visible only from the back, as well as a drawing.