Hard-line Iranian media has praised the knife attack on the author Salman Rushdie, who once had a death sentence issued against him by the founder of the Islamic Republic, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.

The hard-line Kayhan newspaper wrote — in an article titled, “Rushdie received divine revenge, Trump and Pompeo are next” — how Rushdie’s novel “Satanic Verses” was deemed an “insult to  Islam, the Prophet and the Quran” by Khomeini. In 1989, Khomeini issued a fatwa calling on Muslims who are able to kill Rushdie and those behind the publishing of the book.

The article noted that despite living with constant US and British security, Rushdie was not able to hide and was attacked during the day while giving a speech in public. The article continued that this fact would certainly cause worry for former President Donald Trump and Secretary of Defense Mike Pompeo, as both had a hand in the assassination of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Quds Force commander Qasem Soleimani at a Baghdad airport in 2020. Iran has vowed revenge for the killing. 

“The attack on Salman Rushdie has shown that revenge against criminals on US soil is not a difficult thing and after this Trump and Pompeo are feeling a greater sense of danger. The attack on Salman has rang the alarm bells for the agents behind Soleimani’s assassination that even under widespread security, revenge is near,” Kayhan wrote.