LONDON: The US is considering fresh sanctions on Iranian proxies promoting attacks on writer Salman Rushdie, according to reports.
Rushdie was stabbed several times during a literary event at the Chautauqua Institution in New York last month, where he was due to speak.
Investigations into the motive of the suspected attacker, Hadi Matar who is of Lebanese descent and pled not guilty to charges of attempted murder and assault last month, are ongoing, but US officials say the regime in Tehran is responsible for the attack.
According to a report in the Wall Street Journal, the administration of US President Joe Biden is considering sanctions on Iranian officials who have offered rewards for Rushdie’s murder, which would include limiting their access to the global financial system.
A bounty of $2.5 million on Rushdie was offered by the 15th Khordad Foundation in 1997, which had risen to $3.3 million by 2012, since when a further $600,000 has been added by Iranian state-run outlets including the Fars news agency, according to reports.
A fatwa was issued by Ayatollah Khomeini in 1989 calling for Rushdie’s execution following the publication of his book “The Satanic Verses” a year earlier.
No decision has yet been approved or finalized by the Biden administration, according to Wall Street Journal sources, but US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in the days after the attack that the US would “use every appropriate tool at our disposal” to hold Iran accountable.
“Iranian state institutions have incited violence against Rushdie for generations, and state-affiliated media recently gloated about the attempt on his life,” he said.
