An Iranian official on Monday denied Tehran was involved in the stabbing of British Indian author Salman Rushdie, though he sought to justify the attack in the Islamic Republic’s first public comments on the bloodshed, reports AP.

The spokesman for Iran’s Foreign Ministry Nasser Kanaani said, “Regarding the attack against Salman Rushdie in America, we don’t consider anyone deserving reproach, blame or even condemnation, except for (Rushdie) himself and his supporters.”

Rushdie was attacked on Friday as he was about to give a lecture in western New York. He suffered a damaged liver and severed nerves in an arm and an eye, according to his agent, Andrew Wylie.

After three days the writer has been taken off a ventilator and is “on the road to recovery,” according to his agent.

Rushdie, 75, has faced death threats for more than 30 years over his novel “The Satanic Verses,” whose depiction of the Prophet Muhammad was seen by some Muslims as blasphemous.

Bd-pratidin English/Tanvir Raihan