Iran’s culture ministry has decided to ban the use of the word “wine” from any books published in the country, reports .

The ministry of culture and Islamic guidance has also decided to censor the names of “foreign animals” and dignitaries.

The government say the new rules are designed to protect Iranians from a western “cultural onslaught”.

Mohammad Selgi, the head of book publishing at the ministry of culture and Islamic guidance, said: "When new books are registered with us, our staff first have to read them page by page to make sure whether they require any editorial changes in line with promoting the principles of the Islamic revolution, effectively confronting the Western cultural onslaught and censoring any insult against the prophets."

Words like wine and the names of foreign animals and pets, as well as names of certain foreign presidents are also banned under the new restricting regulations.

How they plan to write the legislation for this ruling maybe slightly problematic, however: "Apparently they decided to ban the word 'wine' in print in Iran. But since they can't use the word 'wine' in the decree, it got complicated," writes Karl Sharro in Twitter.

bbabo.Net