Iran denies involvement but justifies Salman Rushdie attack

Contributing sentiments towards policy:

51% : Independent experts, Western nations and U.N. experts have traced weapon components back to Iran.
39% : An Iranian government official denied on Monday that Tehran was involved in the assault on author Salman Rushdie, though he justified the stabbing in remarks that represented the Islamic Republic's first public comments on the attack.
39% : "In this regard, no one can blame the Islamic Republic of Iran," he added.
38% : Since 1979, Iran has targeted dissidents abroad in attacks.
35% :Last week, the U.S. charged a Guard member in absentia for allegedly plotting to kill one-time Trump adviser and Iran hawk John Bolton.
34% : In his remarks Monday, Kanaani added that Iran did not "have any other information more than what the American media has reported."
33% : And while Iran hasn't focused on the writer in recent years, a decades-old fatwa demanding his killing still stands.
32% : Meanwhile, U.S. prosecutors say Iran tried to kidnap in 2021 an Iranian opposition activist and writer living in New York.
28% : U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, while not directly blaming Tehran for the attack on Rushdie, made a point to mention Iran in a statement early Monday praising the writer's efforts in supporting freedom of expression and religion.
22% : Former U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and an aide are under 24-hour security over alleged threats from Iran.
18% : However, Iran has denied carrying out other operations abroad targeting dissidents in the years since the country's 1979 Islamic Revolution, despite prosecutors and Western governments attributing such attacks back to Tehran.

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