TEHRAN, Jan. 8 (Mehr News Agency) -- Deputy Minister of Culture and Islamic Guidance for Cultural Affairs Mohsen Parviz said that some literary awards in Iran are financed by the U.S.

"Once I said that we have two kinds of literary awards in Iran: one group of awards is Iranian and the other is from those who are in service of the enemy," he told the Mehr News Agency.

Some Iranian awards are private and others are supported by the government, Parviz added.

"But I am strongly opposed to those awards which do not come from Iranian origins. These Awards may be presented by Iranians but they are supported by foreigners and their financial support is not restricted," he lamented.

He went on to say that for many years, the U.S. has maintained a secret budget for funding confronting the Islamic Republic of Iran in various ways including politically and militarily, but nobody really knows the details of how every single dollar of such a huge budget is spent.

"And now this is my question: who spends this huge budget and where is it spent? I think that the subject is clear and it answers some of the ambiguities about the funding of certain literary awards," he said.

"I believe that the number of [Iranian] literary awards should be increased and we should establish literary awards in different fields to encourage those who are active," he mentioned.

He went on to say that the awards should be authentic and should be funded without exception.

"I should announce here that the Ministry of Culture is the presenter of many of these awards such as the Jalal Literary Awards but they are not funded by the ministry,

"Even the Parvin Etesami Award is approved by the Iran's Supreme Council of the Cultural Revolution and is merely presented by the ministry, which is an honor for us," he added.

Parviz said that the main objectives of such literary awards are to encourage authors who are active in particular fields and also to introduce new paradigms to enthusiasts.

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