Iran denies involvement in assassination attempt on writer Salman Rushdie

“No one has the right to blame the Islamic Republic of Iran. We do not know anything about this attack and the person who carried it out, except for what the Western media wrote”, - said Kanani, whose words are reported by the Iranian and Western media (quote from Interfax).

On August 12, in New York, Rushdie was going to give a lecture, but right on stage he was attacked by 24-year-old Hadi Matar from New Jersey. The assailant stabbed the writer more than 10 times before he was arrested. Matar pleaded not guilty. Rushdie's agent reported serious damage to the writer's liver and arm, and also stated the possibility of losing one eye. The author of the scandalous "Satanic Verses" was connected to a ventilator, but yesterday it became known that he was already breathing on his own and began to talk. Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini issued a fatwa calling for the assassination of the writer in 1988, the year the sensational novel was published. 10 years later, the Iranian government stated that it no longer intended to abide by this fatwa, but in 2005, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei declared that the fatwa was valid.