He also suffered nerve damage to his hand and damage to his liver. It was reported Saturday night that Rushdie’s injuries included three stab wounds to the right side of his front neck, four stab wounds to his stomach, puncture wounds to his right eye and chest and a wound to his right thigh, according to CNN cited details from the Chautauqua County District Attorney. The FBI said it was supporting state police and “working closely with our international partners in the UK to provide additional resources as the victim is a dual UK-US national”. Malek Shariati, an Iranian politician, said the attack was a “warning to the killers of Qasem Soleimani”. He added: “If the attack on Salman Rushdie is an Iranian operation, it shows our strength. “If the attacker did it under the influence of Iran, it proves the success of our Islamic revolution.”
“Satan on the Road to Hell”
Iranian media hailed the attack, with The Khorasan newspaper running the headline “Satan on the Road to Hell”, while the country’s state broadcaster called Rushdie a “heretic”. Mr Sunak said: “The situation in Iran is extremely serious and enduring [Vladimir] Putin, we can’t take our eye off the ball elsewhere.” Warning of the potential futility of efforts to revive Iran’s nuclear deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), he added: “A nuclear-armed Iran would pose an existential threat to our ally Israel and indeed endanger the whole of Europe with ballistic missile capability. “We urgently need a new, strengthened agreement and much tougher sanctions, and if we can’t get results then we have to start asking whether the JCPOA is deadlocked. Salman Rushdie’s brutal stabbing should be a wake-up call to the West, and Iran’s response to the attack strengthens the case for banning the IRGC.” A fatwa calling for Rushdie to be killed for his book The Satanic Verses was issued by the late Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini in 1989.
