Trump's Muslim ban: Iranian director might not attend this year's awards

President Donald Trump's “Muslim Ban” enacted on Friday could prevent Iranian director Asghar Farhadi from attending this year’s Oscars — where his film, The Salesman, is nominated for Best Foreign Language Film.

On Friday, the president signed an executive order that temporarily bans any refugees from entering the U.S., indefinitely bans refugees who hail from Syria and
temporarily banning citizens from several Muslim countries from entering the U.S., according to the New York Times.

The president also said in the order that Christians and other minority religions from Muslim countries should be given preferential treatment when entering the U.S. over Muslims.

Titled “Protection Of The Nation From Foreign Terrorist Entry Into The United States,” the order closes the nation’s borders for four-months.
“We don’t want them here,” Trump said while signing the order at the Pentagon. “We want to ensure that we are not admitting into our country the very threats our soldiers are fighting overseas. We only want to admit those into our country who will support our country, and love deeply our people.”


For 90 days, visas will also not be issued to nationals from several Muslim countries — Iraq, Sudan, Libya, Somalia, Yemen and Farhadi’s native Iran.

This ban would apply to anyone from those countries visiting the U.S., not just people seeking asylum or looking to immigrate.

On Saturday, reports began surfacing that because of the ban, Oscar-winning Iranian director Farhadi, 44, wouldn’t be able to attend this year’s Academy Awards. Actor Jamie Bell was one of the first celebrities to comment on the reports.