ATHENS -- Iranian Parliament speaker Hashemi Rafsanjani said Friday the only way to end the diplomatic dispute between Iran and the West over British author Salman Rushdie's novel, 'The Satanic Verses,' is to agree to burn every copy of the book.
The official Islamic Republic News Agency quoted Rafsanjani as saying at Friday prayer ceremonies in Tehran: 'The only solution that exists ... is to issue a strict order to seize all copies (of the book) in the entire world and burn' them.
'If it stays, it will remain forever a source of rebellion and it would be impossible that peace would come between real Moslems and the supporters of this book,' he said.
The news agency, monitored in Athens, quoted Rafsanjani as saying the Rushdie affair was 'the strangest and rarest crisis in history,' and that the solution should be sought 'where it first began.'
'The West is in a dilemma,' Rafsanjani said. If it stopped printing Rushdie's novel 'it would have to retreat from the claim of defending the right of free expression.
'On the other hand,' he said, 'if it allows the continued distribution of the book, it would always provoke anger from Moslems.' He said 'if those who ignited this flame do not find a suitable solution, no one knows where it would lead to.'
Rafsanjani, believed to have been the architect of Iranian moves last year to take Tehran out of its diplomatic isolation, stopped short of repeating a call for Rushdie's murder.
Since Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, Iran's spiritual leader, issued a death decree against Rushdie Feb. 14, Rafsanjani has expressed support for the decree once, but apparently has avoided making repeated calls for the author's death.
