'The Wrestler' slammed as 'anti-Iranian'

New movie The Wrestler promotes anti-Iranian sentiment, according to media outlets in the country.

In the Darren Aronofsky film, Mickey Rourke's character Randy 'The Ram' Robinson steps into the ring to battle villain The Ayatollah. Robinson takes The Ayatollah's Iranian flag from him and snaps the pole over his knee.

According to newspapers and websites in Iran, this represents a campaign of "psychological warfare" and Western hatred towards the country.

The Warner Brothers movie 300 was also criticised in the same way, with the media accusing the Zach Snyder picture of "plundering Iran's historic past and insulting its civilisation".