Iran’s Foreign Ministry denied responsibility for the attack on the indian-born British-American novelist Salman Rushdie earlier this week, saying that only Rushdie and his supporters are to blame.
The author was stabbed several times during an interview on stage in New York, and had to be transported to a hospital in Pennsylvania where he was put on a ventilator, unable to speak.
“We do not consider anyone other than Salman Rushdie and his supporters blameworthy,” Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Nasser Kanaani said on Monday.
Iran had placed a reward of $3 million for the killing of Rushdie following his controversial 1988 novel, “The Satanic Verses.”
The author has been showing signs of recovery, with his agent saying that his condition is “headed in the right direction.” With damage to his liver, arm, and eye, the agent had previously stated that Rushdie might lose the injured eye.
Although the country said in 1998 that it would no longer back the fatwa decreeing the author’s killing, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khameini said in a 2019 tweet that the fatwa was “solid and irrevocable.”
“The Satanic Verses” was the subject of great controversy in the Muslim world, with many accusing it of being blasphemous and insulting to Islam, forcing the author to go into hiding for 10 years out of fear for his life.
After the book’s release, a Japanese translator was stabbed to death, and the Norwegian publisher of the book was shot.
The attack on Rushdie’s life was met with worldwide backlash, including from US President Joe Biden who expressed shock and sadness at the attack, stating that Rushdie stands for “essential, universal ideals.”
In Iran meanwhile, reactions in the media and public have been mixed. Some have praised the attacker while others have expressed fear of repercussions.
