TEHRAN, Aug. 15 (Xinhua) -- Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Nasser Kanaani on Monday denied Tehran's involvement in the attack on novelist Salman Rushdie and urged Western media to refrain from leveling accusations against the Islamic republic.
When asked about Western media reports concerning Rushdie's attacker's connection with Iran, Kanaani said Iran "categorically and officially" denied such a claim. "No one has the right to accuse the Islamic Republic of Iran," he added.
Salman Rushdie, whose 1988 novel "The Satanic Verses" outraged many Muslims for its alleged blasphemy passages, was attacked in New York on Friday by a man who stabbed him in the neck and abdomen. ■
