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Iran strongly rejects any connection with Rushdie's attacker

ISNA - Iranian Students' News Agency

Mon / 15 August 2022 / 12:44

Tehran (ISNA) - Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kanaani strongly rejected the allegations regarding Iran's connection with Salman Rushdie's attacker.

Speaking at a weekly press conference on Monday, Kanaani pointed to Salman Rushdie's case and said, "In this case, we don't blame or condemn anyone except Salman Rushdie and his supporters".

"With insulting the Islamic sanctities of more than one and a half billion Muslims and crossing the red lines of all the followers of divine religions, Salman Rushdie exposed himself to the anger and ire of the people, not only Muslims but also all the followers of divine religions," he added.

"The anger and ire caused by the action were not limited to Iran and millions of people in different countries reacted to this issue and were outraged by this insult," the spokesman stressed.

"We have no information about the attacker who did this, other than what we heard from the American outlets," Kanaani noted.

He also strongly rejected the allegations regarding Rushdie's attacker's connection with Iran, saying, "No one has the right to accuse Iran in this regard".

When asked about the recent round of Vienna talks and Iran's perspective towards EU and the Union coordinator Enrique Mora's proposal, the spokesman said, "As you know, the Iranian negotiating team participated in the talks decisively to reach a good, serious and long-lasting deal and to provide Iran's basic benefits".

"This round of talks was sensitive. Generally, we had significant progress. In some cases of our demands, we had relative progress and some of our expectations were fulfilled. The teams returned to their countries, and we're considering the aspects to finalize it," he added.

Kanaani stated, "We can say precisely that we're in progress, but saying that we're close to the agreement depends on fulfillment of Iran's expectations. We can reach an agreement if our red lines are respected. Also, if Iran's fundamental benefits come true, reaching an agreement is possible in the near future".

Regarding the latest developments in Iraq, Kanaani declared, "Iraq issues are important to us. We are following carefully the development of this country, and we're trying to make different political Iraqi parties close to one another. We urge all political parties of the country to respect Iraqi constitution and legal institutions. Also, we emphasize that peace and comfort can be achieved through consultation with various domestic parties in Iraq".

With regard to Afghanistan's situation after a year into Taliban rule, he said, "The illegal occupation and illegitimate militarism of US in Afghanistan result in nothing but the destruction of infrastructure in Afghanistan, and the current grim situation of the country results in America's illegal actions in Afghanistan".

The Iranian spokesman with referring to irresponsible American withdrawal, noted, "As we have mentioned many times, establishing an inclusive government alongside all Afghan political groups can help to restore peace and stability in the country. In addition, we continue to interact with Afghanistan's interim government at different levels. We make efforts to stay with Afghans and play our own constructive role to establish an inclusive government in the country".

In the light of Iran-Russia cooperation in the field of technology and some American officials' allegations regarding the cooperation, Nasser Kanaani emphasized, "Iran-Russia has a variety of cooperation. We have good and serious cooperation for example the successful launch of the "Khayyam" satellite in orbit. Also, Iran-Russia cooperation in technology has nothing to do with the new developments occurred in the region, and America's claims are based on the political purposes".

"We expect that the US makes commitment to establish peace and stability in the region and international arena instead of working on these political issues and interfering with bilateral cooperation of countries," he added.

Regarding Iran's frozen assets in South Korea, the Iranian spokesman said, "We're still following the case with South Korea. Releasing these frozen assets is Iran's rights, so they should return the assets to Iran as soon as possible without linking the issue to other things. Iran's Deputy Foreign Minister and top negotiator Ali Bagheri have recently discussed with his Korean counterpart to put an emphasis on this issue, so we hope that the Korean side makes it commitments to return the frozen assets to Iran as soon as possible".

In case of the next round of talks between Iran and Saudi Arabia, Kanaani told reporters, "As I've told you before, the outcome of the previous talks has been satisfactory, and it leads the situation to hold the new round of talks. We hope that we can hold the next talks in Tehran and Riyadh".

Regarding the latest Zionist Regime's attacks against Gaza Strip as the official visit of the leader of Palestinian Islamic Jihad, Ziyad al-Nakhalah to Tehran, Kanaani stated, "We consider these attacks as Zionist Regime's invasive policies. The identity of the Regime is based on invasion, terror, murdering people and kids".

"Al-Nakhalah paid an official visit to Tehran based on the interactions between Iran and different Palestinian groups, but I don't know whether the Zionist Regime's attack against Gaza was a preplanned action or not," he added.

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