Khamenei-Linked Paper Says Attack On Rushdie 'Divine Vengeance'

Marilyne Guèvremont, a spokesperson from Global Affairs Canada, said the families, and the victims, are at the heart of the International Coordination and Response Group’s efforts in the pursuit of truth, justice, and accountability, noting that the body has determined further attempts to negotiate with the Islamic Republic authorities are in vain.

The coordination group represents states whose citizens were among 176 passengers killed when Iran’s Revolutionary Guard fired two missiles at the place as it was taking off from Tehran on January 8, 2020.

Describing it as a reprehensible tragedy, she said, “We are now focused on the subsequent actions to resolve this matter in accordance with international law. We will not rest until the families get the justice, transparency and accountability from Iran that they deserve.”

According to a document obtained by Iran International, the Swiss embassy in Tehran, which represents US interests, has officially informed Tehran about a lawsuit filed against the Islamic Republic and IRGC by families of victims of the Ukrainian plane. 

In June, Canada also announced that it has notified Iran of Ontario's Superior Court of Justice’s ruling that IRGC’s downing of Ukraine Airlines Flight PS752 was intentional.

Earlier in August, the father of one of the victims embarked on a symbolic 400-kilometer march after a press conference at his son's grave in Richmond Hill, Ontario, and will go to Ottawa to personally deliver his protest letter to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

Rushdie, who spent years in hiding after Iran urged Muslims to kill him over his novel "The Satanic Verses", was stabbed in the neck and torso on stage at a lecture on Friday.

Police have identified the suspect in custody as Hadi Matar, a 24-year-old man from Fairview.

A preliminary law enforcement review of Matar's social media accounts showed he was sympathetic to Shi'ite extremism and IRGC causes, NBC New York reported.

Matar was born in California and recently moved to New Jersey, the NBC New York report said, adding that he had a fake drivers license on him.

NBC New York said the official told it that there were no definitive links established to the IRGC, but the initial assessment indicated the suspect was sympathetic to the Iranian government group.

There has been no official government reaction in Iran to the attack on Rushdie, but several hardline Iranian newspapers expressed praise for his assailant.

Ali Tehfe, mayor of Yaroun in the south of Lebanon, said that the suspect was the son of a man from the town. The suspect's parents emigrated to the United States, and he was born and raised there, the mayor added, but said he had "no information at all" on their political views.

An official from Hezbollah told Reuters that the Iran-backed Lebanese armed group had no additional information on the attack on Rushdie.

Reporting by Reuters

The 17-year-old confirmed on his social media accounts in the past few days that he has migrated to the European country. 

Hamid Ataollahi, the secretary of Iran’s Cycling Federation, said on Saturday that the International Cycling Union – known as Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) -- had allocated a berth for a cyclist from Iran but the expenses were supposed to be paid by the cyclist. Shahsavari was introduced to the UCI as a representative from Iran but the federation had not sent him, and he went there on his own, the official added. 

In May, Iran’s Ministry of Sports rejected reports that athletes have to provide a property deed as collateral to be allowed to leave the country for international competitions. 

A member of Iran’s national rowing team, Ahmad Ahmadi said earlier that a notarized pledge to transfer the property is also signed before any trip abroad, adding that the federation also gets two guarantee-of-return undated checks of about $500 and $1,000 from the athletes.

Around 30 Iranian athletes have defected in recent years, seeking asylum in other countries. Some took part in this year’s Olympics in Tokyo as non-state athletes.

In addition to dress code restrictions, another issue forcing Iranian athletes to defect is Tehran’s policy of not allowing them to compete against Israelis, as was the case for Iranian judoka Olympian, and 2018 world champion Saeid Mollaei.

Kayhan is known to be close to Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei’s office and its firebrand editor, Hossein Shariatmadari, is Khamenei’s appointee and representative at the flagship ultra-conservative paper.

The Iranian government has not officially reacted to the stabbing of the renowned writer who has been haunted for 33 years by a death edict issued by Iran’s former leader Ruhollah Khomeini. His book, the Satanic Verses was deemed as blasphemy against Islam’s Prophet Muhammad.

Government media in their reporting did not condemn or express dismay at the attack seriously injuring Rushdie, who has probably lost one eye and is still not out of danger.

“The news is not good,” Andrew Wylie, Rushdie’s representative announced. “Salman will likely lose one eye; the nerves in his arm were severed; and his liver was stabbed and damaged.”

The official government news website IRNA praised a man who in the past had tried to kill the British-American author and indirectly praised Friday’s attacker Hadi Matar. Government media also published articles trying to justify Khomeini’s fatwa condemning Rushdie to death and used words like “apostate” to describe him.

Iran International reported on Friday that Mohammad Marandi, an American-born academic who has acted as a spokesman-cum-advisor for Iran in nuclear talks in Vienna, tweeted he would not be “shedding tears for a writer who spouts hatred & contempt for Muslims & Islam.”

Marandi called Rushdie a “pawn of empire” and suggested it was “odd” the attack should occur just as agreement on restoring the 2015 Iran nuclear deal was “near.”

The Asr Iran news site on Saturday carried an often-cited quote by Khamenei that said the "arrow" shot by Khomeini "will one day hit the target".

The headline of the hardline Vatan Emrooz newspaper read: “Knife in Salman Rushdie’s neck”.

The Khorasan daily carried the headline: “Satan on the way to hell”.

Although US law enforcement agencies have not assigned a motive to the attacker, Fox news published a photo of his fake New Jersey driver’s license that bore the name Hassan Mughniyeh. This can offer a clue to his motive. Imad Mughniyeh was a wanted Hezbollah terror operative who was assassinated in Syria in 2008. Other reports alleged that Matar’s social media accounts show his support for the Iranian brand of Shiite causes, including support for the Revolutionary Guard.

Pro-Iran and Pro-Hezbollah social media feeds began praising Matar, who was is said to have Lebanese roots, but there is still no information about his family history. One account described him as a “Lebanese hero who stabbed Satan Salman Rushdie,” according to Algemeiner.

While it is not clear if his religious beliefs led him to attack Rushdie or if he had links to any militant group, Iran’s long-standing edict to eliminate Rushdie could be a motivating force for religious extremists.

Matar who grew up in California is said to be a devout Muslim. The Daily Beast quoted a former classmate, Gabrial Sanchez as saying that while in school Matar “was a very devout Muslim,” but he never spoke about Rushdie or Iran.

The Daily Beast also reported that Matar apparently took up boxing training in April at a club. He also obtained his fake drivers license in May, which could point to some degree of planning for a violent or illegal act similar to what he eventually did on Friday.

In response to a Thursday letter from Ziyad al-Nakhalah, Secretary General of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad Movement, Khamenei said on Friday that the group’s perseverance in its recent conflict with Israelhas elevated the its status among other Palestinian factionsand proven that “each segment of the Resistance block is able to rub the enemy's nose to the ground on its own.”

Palestinian militant groups and other Iranian allies and proxies are often referred to collectively as the “Resistance” in Iranian official’s jargon.

The Iranian leader also stressed the need for maintaining the unity of all Palestinian groups. “You by linking the fight in Gaza with the West Bank, and other forces of the Resistance with their support for the Jihad movement, have been able to demonstrate the solidarity of the Palestinian nation’s jihad to the malicious, deceptive enemy. Palestinian groups in all the Palestinian lands should direct all their efforts towards protecting this solidarity,” he added.

“The usurping enemy is becoming weaker, while Palestinian Resistance is becoming stronger,” he wrote.

The latest bout of violence has been the most serious flare-up between Israel and Gaza since an 11-day conflict in May 2021 that left more than 200 Palestinians and a dozen Israelis dead.

Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid last week called the Islamic Jihad an Iranian proxy that wants to destroy Israel, noting that Israel has a zero-tolerance policy for any attempted attacks from Gaza.

Khamenei had not commented about the Israeli-Palestinian issue while Tehran’s negotiators were trying to salvage the 2015 nuclear deal in Vienna.

In April, Khamenei’s adviser Ali Akbar Velayati called for closer ties between Tehran and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, designated a terrorist organization by the US, EU, and UK, during a meeting with the leader of the group Ziyad al-Nakhalah in Tehran last week.

In a letter to Iran's supreme leader earlier this week, Nakhalah highlighted the presence of Palestinian fighters throughout the Gaza Strip and the West Bank in a united front against Israeli forces.

“We dubbed the recent bout of violence ‘Wahda al-Sahat’ (Unity of the Arenas) to emphasize the unity of our nation against the enemy, which through all available means and conspiracies is trying to destroy it,” Nakhalah wroteabout the recent clashes between his group and Israeli forces.

“This battle frustrated the Zionist regime's appraisals to such a large extent that after just three days they were forced to ask for a ceasefire and to accept the terms set by the Resistance,” Nakhala wrote while boasting that Israel failed to divide Palestinian groups and all of them including Hamas approved of the Islamic jihad's stance and supported it.

However, the reality was that Hamas largely stood on the sidelines and hundreds of missiles first from Gaza were ineffective, while Islamic Jihad’s military leadership was wiped out by Israeli targeted strikes.

In his letter to Khamenei, Nakhala also lauded Iran's support as well as the role played by Iran's proxy, the Lebanese Hezbollah, and its leader Sayyid Hassan Nasrallah.

The Political Studies Bureau of the Iranian parliament’s Research Center in a new paper published Wednesday said that the 700 missiles fired at Israel from Gaza during the new round of conflict proves that any future “adventurism will be very costly” to Israel.