NJ man, Hadi Matar, with sympathies toward Iran arrested in stabbing of Salman Rushdie

A New Jersey man with sympathies toward the Iranian government was arrested and accused of stabbing famed novelist Salman Rushdie on Friday, according to law enforcement sources briefed on the investigation.

Hadi Matar, 24, was arrested after he stormed the stage at the Chautauqua Institution in Western New York and allegedly stabbed the author in the neck.

Sources told The Post that an initial investigation suggests Hadi is sympathetic to the Iranian regime and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard.

Rushdie, 75, was stabbed ahead of a planned talk about “the United States as [an] asylum for writers and other artists in exile and as a home for freedom of creative expression,” according to the institution’s website.