Iranian director Asghar Farhadi attends a press conference for the film "Histoires Paralleles" (Parallel Tales) at the 79th edition of the Cannes Film Festival in Cannes, southern France. AFP
Farhadi, who travelled from Tehran last week, trod a fine line when asked for his thoughts about events in his war-hit homeland at the Cannes Film Festival, where his latest film, the French-language "Parallel Tales", received its premiere.
Speaking of two "tragic events" this year, Farhadi referred to "the death of many innocent people, children, civilians who were killed during the war, during the attack that Iran has suffered."
"And before this war, there was the death of many demonstrators, people who had taken to the streets to protest, who were just as innocent, and who were massacred," he added.
"Every murder is a crime. From no point of view, or with any justification, can I accept life being taken away from someone, whether it's a war, an execution, or massacring protesters."
On 28 February, the United States and Israel launched a war against Iran, with a shaky ceasefire in place since April 8.
US and Israeli airstrikes killed 3,468 to over 6,000, with an estimated 15,000 to 26,500 people injured, according to data from Iran’s Ministry of Health and human rights groups.
The airstrikes destroyed vast swathes of Iranian civilian infrastructure, including factories, universities, schools, hospitals, bridges, and highways.
On the first day of the war, a US airstrike on a primary school in Minak killed dozens of girls and their entire teaching staff.
In January, Iran was rocked by huge anti-government protests.
The government acknowledged more than 3,000 deaths during the protests, but blamed the violence on "terrorist acts" orchestrated by the United States and Israel.
Farhadi has won two Oscars for best foreign language movie, for "A Separation" (2011) and "The Salesman" (2016).
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