Brussels, Belgium ? Iran backed calls from other Muslim and world leaders Monday for an end to violent protests over the Prophet Muhammad cartoons, urging calm after weeks of demonstrations that have left at least 45 people dead in the Muslim world.

Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki, on a visit to European Union headquarters, said he and EU chief Javier Solana urged better dialogue between the Muslim world and the West over respect and tolerance.

“We accepted to cooperate with each other to calm down the situation, not to offend the values, religious values in particular from one side, and freedom of expression from the other side – some kind of balance,” Mottaki said. “We should try to cool down the situation. We do not support any violence.

The caricatures, first printed in a Danish newspaper and republished recently in other European papers, offended many Muslims.