A man accused of stabbing Salman Rushdie 15 times on stage allegedly held a fake drivers licence in the name of an infamous Hezbollah commander.
Hadi Matar, from Fairview, New Jersey, has been charged with assault and attempted murder after he allegedly leapt at Rushdie with a blade.
Sir Salman Rushdie, 75 is currently on a ventilator and may lose an eye after he was stabbed in the neck and torso on stage in New York state, according to his agent.
Now it has been claimed his suspected 24-year-old attacker, Matar, had a fake ID card with the name Hassan Mughniyah and praised the Iran Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).
Both the IRGC and the names 'Hassan' and 'Mughniyah' have links with Hezbollah.
The militant group's current leader is named Hassan Nasrallah, while one of its most notorious commanders was Imad Mughniyeh.
Matar's social media pages showed he was sympathetic to the Shia causes and supported the IRGC which has offered training and funding to Hezbollah since the 1980s, NBC New York reports.
Since that time, Sir Salman has also faced death threats from Iran in response to his writing.
His book The Satanic Verses has been banned in Iran since 1988, as many Muslims view it as blasphemous.
Its publication prompted Iran's then-leader Ayatollah Khomeini to issue a fatwa calling for his death.
He was about to deliver a lecture at the Chautauqua Institution, in Chautauqua some 65 miles south-west of Buffalo, when the incident occurred.
The Indian-born British author sustained nerve damage to his arm and damage to his liver, according to the New York Times.
New York state police said Matar was taken into custody following the incident and was charged with attempted murder today (August 13).
On Friday, police claimed they had not established a motive for the attack on Rushdie, 75, who was being introduced to give a talk to an audience of hundreds on artistic freedom when the alleged attacker rushed to the stage and lunged at the novelist.
NBC New York said officials said there were no definitive links established to the IRGC, but the initial assessment indicated the suspect was sympathetic to the Iranian government group.
According to the NYT Sir Salman's agent Andrew Wylie said he is on a ventilator and unable to speak.
Mr Wylie added the news was "not good" and the author will "likely lose one eye".
Major Eugene Staniszweski of New York State Police said late on Friday: "Earlier today at approximately 10.47am, guest speaker Salman Rushdie, aged 75, and Ralph Henry Reese, age 73, had just arrived on stage at the institution.
"Shortly thereafter, the suspect jumped on to the stage and attacked Mr Rushdie, stabbing him at least once in the neck and at least once in the abdomen.
"Several members of the staff at the institution and audience members rushed the suspect and took him to the ground, and shortly thereafter, a trooper who was at the institution took the suspect into custody with the assistance of a Chautauqua County Sheriff's deputy.
"Mr Rushdie was provided medical treatment by a doctor who was in the audience until EMS arrived on scene.
"Mr Rushdie was airlifted to a local trauma centre and is still currently undergoing surgery."
Photos from the Associated Press (AP) news agency showed Sir Salman lying on his back with his legs in the air and a first responder crouched over him.
Mr Reese, from the City of Asylum organisation, a residency programme for writers living in exile under threat of persecution, suffered a minor head injury.
They were due to discuss America's role as an asylum for writers and other artists in exile and as a home for freedom of creative expression.
A video posted to Twitter by an AP reporter in the audience showed a man dressed in black being led away from the stage.
New York Governor Kathy Hochul told a press conference that a state police officer saved Sir Salman's life.
She added: "He is alive, he has been airlifted to safety.
"But here is an individual who has spent decades speaking truth to power, someone who's been out there unafraid, despite the threats that have followed him his entire adult life."
The Chautauqua Institution, which was hosting the lecture, tweeted about the incident, writing: "We ask for your prayers for Salman Rushdie and Henry Reese, and patience as we fully focus on co-ordinating with police officials following a tragic incident at the amphitheatre today."
Its President Michael Hill said: "What we experienced at Chautauqua today is an incident unlike anything in our nearly 150-year history.
"We were founded to bring people together and community to learn and in doing so, to create solutions through action, to develop empathy and to take on intractable problems.
"Today now we're called to take on fear and the worst of all human traits - hate."
Sir Salman began his writing career in the early 1970s with two unsuccessful books before Midnight's Children, about the birth of India, which won the Booker Prize in 1981.
It went on to bring him worldwide fame and was named "best of the Bookers" on the literary award's 25th anniversary.
The author lived in hiding for many years in London under a British Government protection programme after Ayatollah Khomeini issued a fatwa calling for his death over The Satanic Verses.
Finally, in 1998, the Iranian Government withdrew its support for the death sentence and Sir Salman gradually returned to public life, even appearing as himself in the 2001 hit film Bridget Jones's Diary.
The Index on Censorship, an organisation promoting free expression, said money was raised to boost the reward for Sir Salman's killing as recently as 2016, underscoring that the fatwa for his death still stands.
He was knighted in 2008 and earlier this year was made a member of the Order of the Companions of Honour as part of the Queen's Birthday Honours.