Iranian actor to boycott Oscars

Tehran, Jan 26: The Iranian star of the Oscar-nominated film The Salesman on Thursday announced she would boycott the awards in protest against US President Donald Trump s "racist" ban on Muslim immigrants."Trump s visa ban for Iranians is racist. Whether this will include a cultural event or not, I won t attend the #AcademyAwards 2017 in protest," Taraneh Alidoosti tweeted.Trump told ABC News on Wednesday that his plan was not a "Muslim ban," but targeted countries that "have tremendous terror.""The Salesman," directed by acclaimed Iranian filmmaker Asghar Farhadi is nominated for best foreign-language film at the Academy Awards, which take place next month. Visa applications from Iraq, Syria, Iran, Sudan, Libya, Somalia and Yemen are all expected to be stopped for a month under a draft executive order published in the Washington Post and New York Times.The draft order also seeks to suspend the US refugee program for four months as officials draw up a list of low-risk countries.