The Improbably Long Reach of the Rushdie Fatwa

Abstract

More than 33 years after Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini issued the extraordinary fatwa calling for Salman Rushdie’s death for blaspheming Islam in The Satanic Verses, a Lebanese-American man attacked and badly injured Rushdie in upstate New York. Although the attacker may have drawn some inspiration from Iran’s hostility towards Rushdie, and the attack did coincide with the discovery of Iranian plots to assassinate American officials in retaliation for the killing of Qasem Soleimani, there is no evidence that Iran or any Iranian proxy was involved, and there seemed to be no information about active threats. Iran’s response to the attack was malicious and provocative, but its condemnation of blasphemy is hardly unique or surprising. It is unrealistic for some Western commentators and officials to conclude that Iran’s vendetta against Rushdie means it cannot be trusted to abide by a revived Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action.