Iran denies being involved in attack on Salman Rushdie

An Iranian government official denied on Monday that Tehran was involved in the assault on author Salman Rushdie, in remarks that were the country's first public comments on the attack.

Nasser Kanaani, the spokesman of Iran's Foreign Ministry, made the remarks in a briefing to journalists.

"We, in the incident of the attack on Salman Rushdie in the U.S., do not consider that anyone deserves blame and accusations except him and his supporters," Kanaani said. "Nobody has right to accuse Iran in this regard."