During a visit to London Wednesday, Iraq's Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari expressed his critical opinion over Britain's knighthood award for author Salman Rushdie.

Zebari called the award "untimely" and said that Iraq, as a Muslim country, shared the "views of many Muslims."

"This is my view. I don't have any official position from my government on this issue, but I think it would be used by many quarters to exploit this issue outside this country," added Zebari.

Salman Rushdie, a British citizen born in Inida, was condemned to death by the late Ayatollah Khomenei after he published his 1988 novel The Satanic Verses, which was considered blasphemous against Islam. 

The knighthood awarded by Queen Elizabeth II has sparked an angry response in Pakistan, Iran, Malaysia and other parts of the Muslim world.

In Pakistan, Britain's ambassador Robert Brinkley insisted that the honour was not meant to offend the Muslims after Mohammed Ijaz ul-Haq, Pakistan's minister for religious affairs, reportedly said that the knighthood for Rushdie could be seen by some Muslims as justifying suicide attacks.

According to Fars news agency the Iranian Foreign Ministry summoned the British ambassador, Geoffrey Adams over the knighting. The move is regarded by Tehran as a "provocative act" which angered one and a half billion Muslims worldwide.

Home Secretary John Reid told an audience in New York Wednesday that the British government stood by the honour and would not "apologize" for it.