TEHRAN, Iran (AP) - The Iranian government on Sunday rejected an accusation by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice that it has fanned violent protests over caricatures of Islam's Prophet Muhammad and demanded an apology, saying that could reduce growing tension.

Rice, meanwhile, said Iran and Syria should be urging their citizens to remain calm - not encouraging violence like last week's attacks on Western diplomatic missions in Tehran, Damascus and Beirut, Lebanon. Nearly a dozen people also were killed in protests in Afghanistan.

"If people continue to incite it, it could spin out of control," she said Sunday on ABC's "This Week" as furor mounted over the cartoons of Islam's most revered figure that first appeared in a Danish newspaper four months ago.

The drawings - including one that depicts the prophet wearing a turban shaped like a bomb - have been reprinted in several publications in Europe, the United States and elsewhere in what publishers say is a show of solidarity for freedom of expression.