Iran claims Salman Rushdie to blame for stabbing that left author with 'life-changing' injuries'
The stabbing attack that left Sir Salman Rushdie with "life-changing" injuries was brought on by the author himself, Iran's foreign ministry has said.
In the country's first public comments on Friday's attack, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Nasser Kanaani denied that Tehran was involved in the assault, saying instead that "(We) do not consider that anyone deserves blame and accusations except him and his supporters."
“Nobody has right to accuse Iran in this regard," he added.
Sir Salman, 75, was stabbed while attending an event in New York on Friday.
He suffered a damaged liver and severed nerves in an arm and an eye, his agent said, adding he was likely to lose the injured eye.
His alleged assailant, 24-year-old Hadi Matar, has pleaded not guilty to charges stemming from the attack, via his lawyer.
Iran has denied carrying out other operations abroad targeting dissidents in the years since the country's 1979 Islamic Revolution, despite prosecutors and Western governments attributing such attacks back to Tehran.
Sir Salman, an award-winning author, has for more than 30 years faced death threats for his novel The Satanic Verses, which has been banned in Iran since 1988, over accusations of blasphemy due to its portrayal of the Islamic Prophet Muhammad.
He lived in hiding for many years in London under a government protection programme after Iran's late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khomeini issued a fatwa calling for his execution over the novel.
Iran also offered over $3 million (£2.5m) in reward for anyone who kills him.
Foreign ministry spokesperson Mr Kanaani said Iran did not "have any other information more than what the American media has reported.”
He added that the West “condemning the actions of the attacker and in return glorifying the actions of the insulter to Islamic beliefs is a contradictory attitude."
The US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, said on Sunday that Iranian state institutions had incited violence against Sir Salman for generations, adding state-affiliated media had gloated about the attempt on his life.“This is despicable,” Mr Blinken said in a statement. “The United States and partners will not waver in our determination to stand up to these threats, using every appropriate tool at our disposal.”
New York governor Kathy Hochul also condemned the assault on Sunday, declaring "a man with a knife cannot silence a man with a pen."
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How Friday's attack unfolded
Sir Salman was about to give a lecture at the Chautauqua Institution in Western New York on Friday and was being introduced when a man stormed the stage just after 10.47am and stabbed him about 12 times, including in the neck and abdomen.
Several members of the staff and audience members then rushed at the suspect and took him to the ground, and he was taken into custody, police said.
Sir Salman was given medical treatment by a doctor who was in the audience until emergency services arrived.
He was then airlifted to a local trauma centre, where he was placed on a ventilator and underwent hours of surgery.
The interviewer at the event, Henry Reese, suffered a minor facial injury during the attack, and was also taken to hospital.
On Saturday, fellow author Aatish Taseer tweeted that Sir Salman was “off the ventilator and talking (and joking)," which his agent, Andrew Wylie, confirmed.
He remained hospitalised however, with serious injuries.