Iran State TV Blasts ‘Argo’ Oscar Win

Iran state television called "Argo" an advertisement for the CIA

Iran's state television called "Argo" an "advertisement for the CIA" on Monday after the film won the Oscar for Best Picture.

Though "Argo" did not appear in Iranian theaters, bootleg DVDs spread around the country, selling in downtown Tehran for about 30,000 rials, or less than $1, the Associated Press reported.

The film, directed by and starring Ben Affleck, depicts a CIA mission to evacuate a handful of U.S. embassy staff who escaped the American Embassy as students pushing for the 1979 Islamic Revolution captured 52 Americans for 444 days. (Click on the live widget below to see where "Argo" ranks in the PowerGrid.)

Also read: Oscars 2013: 'Argo' Wins Best Pictures, Ang Lee Wins Best Director

Tehran City Council member Masoomeh Ebtekar, one of the students who occupied the U.S. embassy, said the film exaggerated the violence in the crowds in November 1979.

Afflect "goes and shows scenes of a very violent and very angry mob throughout the film,'" Ebtekbar told the AP. "It is never mentioned that these are a group of students."

The Mehr news agency called the Oscar "politically motivated" because First Lady Michelle Obama helped present the Best Picture award.

Comments