Britain Freezes Iran Ties; Bounty on Rushdie Raised

British government Thursday froze diplomatic relations with Iran, angry over reports that assassination squads were en route to London to carry out a “death sentence” imposed by the Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, Iran’s supreme leader, on British author Salman Rushdie.

The British Foreign Office condemned Khomeini’s death threat against Rushdie, whose book “The Satanic Verses” has been denounced across the Muslim world as blasphemous.

“We recognize that Muslims and others may have strong views about the contents of Mr. Rushdie’s book,” it said in a statement. “However, no one has the right to incite people to violence on British soil or against British citizens.” The statement, however, stopped short of completely severing relations.

It summoned Iran’s lone diplomat in Britain, Mohammed Basti, told him Khomeini’s threat was “totally unacceptable” and demanded special protection for its Tehran embassy, which it reopened in December after eight years.

However, Basti emerged from the Foreign Office in a defiant mood, saying Rushdie’s “infamous book” has had “appalling consequences in some Islamic countries.”

“It is a decree, it is a verdict after careful consideration,” he said of the death sentence. “It has nothing to do with any particular country.”

Earlier Thursday, fundamentalist leaders in Iran, in a declaration on Tehran Radio, said, “We have already put on our death shrouds and pledge to carry out the Imam’s (Khomeini’s) death sentence against Salman Rushdie and his publishers in the United States and Europe.”

Adding to the tension were reports that the bounty for killing the writer was doubled--to $5.2 million. Tehran Radio said that the original $2.6-million bounty offered by Iranian religious leaders was matched Thursday by Mohammed Hashemian, a religious leader in the southwest city of Kerman.

In Washington, State Department spokesman Charles Redman said the United States was “appalled” by the threats.

“Such threats are completely irresponsible and are incompatible with basic standards of international conduct,” he added.

In Luxembourg, Secretary of State James A. Baker III agreed.

“I think it is regrettable. As you know, the United States is firmly committed to opposing terrorism in all its forms, particularly state-sponsored terrorism.”

Rushdie, who was born a Muslim in Bombay, India, but no longer practices Islam, is a naturalized Briton whose novel has sparked violent protests from Islamic fundamentalists. He has canceled a promotional tour for the book in the United States and remains in hiding with his American wife, Marianne Wiggins. British news reports said they were under police guard.

In New Delhi on Thursday, an anonymous caller to the United News of India threatened to bomb British flights unless Rushdie emerged from hiding. India immediately stepped up security at its airports.

At London’s Heathrow Airport, British Airways also tightened security with bag-by-bag searches of luggage of passengers on its Thursday evening flights to the Indian subcontinent and the Far East.

The European Parliament, meanwhile, called on the 12 European Community nations to make it clear to the Iranian government that “if there is an attempt on the life of Mr. Rushdie and his editors, serious sanctions will be taken against Iranian interests.”

At the same time, French, Spanish and West German publishing companies dropped plans to publish the novel.