Iranian Leader Bans Western Music

Iran’s new hardline president, who has made waves in recent weeks with his comments questioning the scale of the Holocaust and calling for the destruction of Israel, has banned all Western music from state-owned radio and TV stations. The ban includes everything from American pop to European classical music, and is “an eerie reminder of the 1979 Islamic revolution when popular music was outlawed as ‘un-Islamic’ under Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.” The move comes weeks after the conductor of the Tehran Symphony quit his post and left the country in protest of the government’s ill treatment of his musicians.