Iranian TV was forced to crudely draw clothing onto Charlize Theron during the Oscars after she wore a low-cut gown while presenting an award.

The South African actress had her shoulders and chest shoddily covered up with an overlay in a bid not to offend Iranian viewers.

So crude is the job, however, that producers later took to simply blurring everything but Theron's head.

The clip was broadcast in Iran by the state-run agency ILNA and also saw Iranian-American engineer Anousheh Ansari have a tiny part of her bare shoulder blurred.

The South African actress had her shoulders and chest shoddily covered up with an overlay in a bid not to offend Iranian viewers

So crude is the job, however, that producers later took to simply blurring everything but Theron's head

Charlize Theron (shown left) and Anousheh Ansari (shown right with Firouz Naderi) were both censored by Iranian state TV

She was accepting the award for Best Foreign Language Film, a category that Theron was presenting.

Ansari accepted the Oscar on behalf of director Asghar Farhadi for his film the Salesman.

Farhadi was boycotting the ceremony in response to the US immigration ban on seven primarily Muslim countries, including Iran.

The director had his own travel ban staved by US courts but still refused to attend the Academy Awards in defiance of President Donald Trump's executive order.

Facebook group My Stealthy Freedom said: 'Another typical example of the Islamic Republic’s fear of naked arms of Iranian women.

'It is shameful indeed, but that is how the Iranian media outlets based within the country have been covering such events for years.'