A U.S.-Iran Soccer Showdown Intensifies With Protests as a Backdrop

When the players representing Iran and the United States take to the field at the World Cup in Qatar on Tuesday, millions of fans will dissect every move – not just the passes, fouls and headers, but the whether the Iranian players sing the national anthem or not, celebrate whatever. target or talk about the protests that rocked their country.

The showdown between two longtime geopolitical foes, an important roadblock for both teams if they hope to progress to the next stage, has become yet another front line in the most significant challenge facing the Republic. Catholicism has faced since the 1979 revolution that brought the country to power. . And this time, it’s all happening under the bright lights of the world’s most watched event.

For 10 weeks, anti-government protests rocked Iranian cities; As a result, the crackdown sent thousands of protesters to prison and killed hundreds more. That unrest has spilled over into two of Iran’s matches so far in Qatar, where spectators booed Iran’s national anthem and waved flags with one of the protest’s slogans, “Women, life, freedom. do,” only to be escorted out by security officials.

Pro-government Iranians confronted and threatened Iranian fans wearing protest suits outside stadiums. At the end of last week, even the United States Soccer Federation stepped in to support the protesters, removing Iran’s official symbol and Islamic writing from Iran’s red-white-blue flag in recent weeks. Pictures posted on social media. It later deleted the posts after Iran’s football federation called for the US team’s expulsion from the World Cup.

Safia Allah Faghanpour, legal adviser to the Iranian football federation, said in comments reported by the semi-official state news agency in Iran: “Respecting the flag of a country is an international practice. accepted that all other countries must follow. offended at pro-government rallies in Iran.

Now the main question is what Team Melli, Iran’s team affectionately known to fans around the world, will do in its next turn on the field: Please the government sponsoring the team by complying strictly adhere to sports, or win the hearts of the opposition on the street. Whatever happens, winning or drawing the United States, which will either get them into the next round, will place Iran’s domestic conflict in front of a large global audience for at least a few more days.

“This is why the US vs Iran will be the most important and political match in World Cup history,” said Omid Djalili, a British-Iranian comedian and actor who has been watching closely. tight-knit team, combining fan passion with activist enthusiasm.

This is no exaggeration, he insists: “The deeper they get into the tournament, the more people are interested in these protests,” he said of the Iranians. “The mode can turn this around any way they want — the globe will see what’s going on.”

Giving no sign of solidarity with the protests could alienate millions of fans, many of whom have seen the players as tools of a despised regime. But actions like refusing to sing the national anthem risk being sent home.

Last week, a star member of Iran’s 2018 World Cup squad, Voria Ghafouri, was arrested and charged with “propaganda against the Islamic Republic and insulting the national football team” after broadcasting it. demonstrations in support of the protesters and called on the government to stop killing the Kurds. , the minority to which he belongs. Mr Ghafouri was dropped from the squad for the World Cup earlier this year, leading fans to conclude that he was being punished for his activism.

Mr Ghafouri was released on Monday, according to state media. But the other celebrities and athletesHe is still in prison or has been forced to withdraw publicly after expressing support for the protests.

Carlos Queiroz, Iran’s coach, said in a press conference on Thursday: “To make them the only people they need to give you answers to human problems around the world. gender, I don’t think that’s fair.”

Iran’s leaders have declared the group their own, using its success to stoke national pride and show strength and unity.

They have also helped to reduce political statements at the tournament. Security officials from Qatar, with which Iran has mostly friendly relations, confiscated some protest-themed equipment at matches, and FIFA, world football’s governing body, banned the devices. The team’s political rally and several controversial flags, including the flag of the previous Islamic Republic of Iran.

An Iranian newspaper close to the reformist political camp, Hamdeli, reported on Monday that hundreds of government officials and supporters had come to the World Cup at public expense to cheer on Iran. . It is unclear if they are the pro-government fans who clashed with anti-government protesters outside the stadium last week.

Before Team Melli set off for Qatar, state media broadcast images of the players meeting the ultra-conservative president of Iran, Ebrahim Raisi, who posed for pictures with the team holding up a jersey featuring print his name on the back. At least one player bows.

Many protesters and their supporters in the Iranian diaspora immediately protested against the players, a measure of the degree of bitterness in the faction’s pro- or anti-us mentality. Iranian opposition. They said they wouldn’t be cheering for a shills regime group.

Nima, a football fan from Tehran who joined the protests, said: “I hate that the regime even takes away our football. “I can’t even comfortably cheer for the national team for all that they’ve done.”

Others have found themselves torn, or subdued, by the team’s gestures of solidarity.

After Iran’s national team noticeably muted their national anthem in the first match, after being beaten 6-2 by Britain, Kayhan, an Iranian newspaper affiliated with the leader the supreme religion of the country, proved harsh.

“Iran 2 – Britain, Israel, Saudi Arabia and traitors at home and abroad 6,” its title reads, naming some of Iran’s main enemies. It criticized the players as “without honor” for refusing to sing the national anthem.

As they beat Wales 2-0 in their next game on Friday, the players said or mumbled the national anthem, “a damned choir if they do, damn it if they don’t.” do,” as Guardian football reporter Andy Hunter wrote. it.

But it was clearly good enough for Kayhan. “Iran 2 – Wales, Israel, Saudi Arabia and traitors at home and abroad 0,,” its new title reads. After the match, members of Iran’s security forces – the same riot police and paramilitary volunteers who violently, sometimes fatally, suppressed the protests – were photographed dancing on top of riot vehicles in tactical gear, waving a gun in one hand and a flag in the other. .

During the tournament, the players repeatedly voiced their sympathy for the protests and posted messages on social media expressing solidarity with the people of Iran.

“This goal is a gift to my people in Iran,” said Ramin Razaeean, who scored against Wales in the 101st minute to seal the victory. “Especially,” he added, those “are suffering.”

Nima, a football fan from Tehran, said the players should have gone further by mimicking the haircut on the pitch, as an Iranian beach soccer player did recently, to show Show solidarity with the protesting women who tore off their headscarves and cut their hair during recent protests.

Although he was “screaming with joy” when Iran scored the winning goal against Wales, he said, he felt he couldn’t really enjoy the victory as security forces were also celebrating. . “They mock us with these gestures,” he said. “The same forces kill innocent people, kill children on the streets.”

There has always been much tension between the United States and Iran, the two countries having severed official diplomatic relations after the 1979 hostage crisis in Tehran, where the slogans “Death to America” ​​were in fact a government slogans and US sanctions helped a lot. crippled the Iranian economy. But Iranians are now chanting “death to the dictator” against their own leaders, angered by repression, violence, corruption and government restrictions on everything from food to food. to political freedom.

When the United States and Iran met for the first time at the 1998 World Cup in France, the Iranian players helped defuse the geopolitical turmoil by handing out white roses, a symbol of peace, to the American players before the match. fight. But domestic conflict still hangs over the game.

Thousands of Iranian fans smuggled T-shirts and banners into the stadium with the faces of the two leaders of an Iranian dissident group based in Paris, jubilantly waving banners into the stadium. break when the public address system plays Macarena.

After Iran won 2-1, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei declared victory for the Islamic Republic. “Tonight, once again,” he said on state television, “strong and arrogant opponents have tasted bitter defeat at your hands.”

Jeré Longman contribution report.