IRNA – First Vice-President Eshaq Jahangiri extended congratulation to prominent Iranian director Asghar Farhadi on winning the Oscar 2017.

Addressing a local ceremony here on Monday, Jahangiri said his congratulations to Farhadi had two reasons: first for presenting a sterling and valuable job that led to winning the Academy Award, and second for making the right decision not to attend the Oscars ceremony in Los Angeles in order to defend his country against the inhuman measure taken by the US President Donald Trump on Jan 27 to impose visa ban on the nationals of seven Muslim countries including Iran.

On Jan 29, Farhadi did announce that he would not participate in the 2017 Oscars ceremony in protest to the US visa ban.

Farhadi’s “The Salesman” won the Oscar 2017 on Monday. It was the second time that the prestigeous award was given to Farhadi.

Farhadi’s “A Separation” won Iran's first-ever Academy Award in 2012.

Two Iranian-American elites Anousheh Ansari, the first female space tourist engineer, and Professor Firouz Naderi, former director of Solar Systems Exploration at NASA, represented Farhadi at the 89th Oscar Academy Awards.