The Guardian- The US state department has tweeted and then deleted a congratulatory message for an Oscar win by a prominent Iranian director who criticized President Donald Trump�s travel ban as �inhumane�.

The state department�s official Persian-language Twitter account, @USAdarFarsi, tweeted congratulations to the Iranian people and Asghar Farhadi, director of The Salesman, after the movie won an Oscar for best foreign-language film on Sunday, according to screenshots of the message circulated on Twitter.

Farhadi boycotted the Oscars ceremony and issued a statement criticising Trump�s January executive order that temporarily banned entry to the United States by Iranians and citizens of six other Muslim-majority countries. The ban was blocked by federal courts, although the administration has said it is working on a new order.

Farhadi chose two Iranian-Americans � a female engineer and a former Nasa scientist � to represent him at the ceremony. Anousheh Ansari, an engineer who was the first female space tourist, read a statement on Farhadi�s behalf calling the travel ban �inhumane�.

�Dividing the world into the �us� and �our enemies� categories creates fear, a deceitful justification for aggression and war,� Ansari said, reading from Farhadi�s statement.

 

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