The United States has imposed financial sanctions on an Iranian foundation it accused of issuing a multimillion-dollar bounty for the killing of novelist Salman Rushdie.
The U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) announced the sanctions against the Iran-based 15 Khordad Foundation on October 28.
The OFAC accused the foundation of issuing a multimillion-dollar bounty for the killing of Rushdie, a prominent Indian-born, British-American author, who was seriously injured in an attack on August 12 in western New York state.
“Since Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini’s order pronouncing a death sentence on Rushdie in February 1989, 15 Khordad Foundation has committed millions of dollars to anyone willing to carry out this heinous act,” the department said in a news release. “Since putting its bounty on Rushdie, the 15 Khordad Foundation, which is affiliated with the supreme leader, has raised the reward for targeting the author.”
Rushdie, 75, lost sight in one eye and the use of one hand in the attack, which occurred just before he was to be introduced for a discussion of protections for writers in exile and freedom of expression.
"This act of violence, which has been praised by the Iranian regime, is appalling. We all hope for Salman Rushdie’s speedy recovery following the attack on his life," Treasury Undersecretary Brian Nelson said in the statement.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who issued a separate statement on the sanctions, noted that the fatwa, or religious edict, was reaffirmed by Iran’s current supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, in 2017 and was republished by Iranian state-controlled media as recently as August 2022.
"The infamous fatwa was intended to incite terrorism and violence, bring about the death of Rushdie and his associates, and intimidate others," Blinken said in the statement. "The United States condemns such incitement and the attack on Rushdie in the strongest terms as a blatant assault on freedom of speech and an act of terrorism."
Prosecutors say the man arrested in the attack on Rushdie, Hadi Matar of New Jersey, stabbed the author in the neck, stomach, chest, hand, and right eye after rushing the stage at the event in New York’s western Chautauqua County.
Mater, who has been in custody since the attack, has pleaded not guilty to second-degree attempted murder and assault charges.
Mater praised Khomeini in an interview with The New York Post after his arrest. He also spoke of his dislike for Rushdie, author of the novel The Satanic Verses, which some Muslims consider blasphemous.
Iran has denied involvement in the attack on Rushdie, who spent years in hiding after Khomeini issued the fatwa, or religious edict, against him following the publication of The Satanic Verses.
The sanctions freeze any U.S. assets belonging to the foundation and generally bars Americans from dealing with it. Those dealing in certain transactions with the foundation also risk sanctions.