New Iranian censorship rules have banned TV makers in the Islamic Republic from showing women eating pizza on screen, according to opposition sources.
Also, drama makers have been warned that men should not be shown serving women tea in scenes involving a workplace, while women must not wear leather gloves.
According to IranWire, government officials have issued the new guidelines to broadcasters and film makers following a recent audit.
The website said Amir Hossein Shamshadi, the head of PR at the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting, also ruled that women should not be shown on screen drinking any red-coloured beverages. Sandwiches are also on the list.
To ensure that the strict new rules are followed, any scenes or photographs showing men and women in a domestic setting will have to be cleared by the IRIB before broadcast.
Some Iranian streaming sites will self censor to avoid facing sanctions from authorities in Tehran.
US authorities have placed sanctions on the IRIB over the Iranian’s regime’s plans to develop a nuclear weapon.
Opposition sources, such as the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), claim the regime’s Quds Force of the Revolutionary Guards are using drones which are then deployed in Iraq and Syria.
The Quds Force, which was led by commander Qassem Soleimani until his killing in a US strike in Iraq in 2020, is accused by the West of leading Iranian operations in Iraq, Syria and Yemen and seeking to strike Western targets.
However, Iran said it hopes that talks with the West over its nuclear plans could resume leading to a removal of sanctions.
The country’s foreign minister, Hossein Amir-Abdollahian said in Moscow on Wednesday that he expects negotiations on the 2015 Iran nuclear deal to restart in Vienna soon.
The deal, which gave Iran sanctions relief in return for curbs on its nuclear programme, has been on life support since 2018 when then-US president Donald Trump withdrew from the accord.
US President Joe Biden has signalled a willingness to return to the deal, but his Secretary of State Antony Blinken warned last week that time was running out and the ball was in Iran’s court.
On Wednesday Iran’s foreign minister said the nuclear talks could resume soon.
‘We are now finalising consultations on this matter and will soon restore our negotiations in Vienna,’ Amir-Abdollahian told reporters after talks with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov.
In Tehran, parliament’s national security and foreign policy commission spokesman Mahmoud Abbaszadeh Meshkini said the talks would resume ‘in coming days’.
Source » dailymail