Iran Wants U.S. Banned From World Cup Over Social Media Post
Iran wants U.S. banned from the World Cup. The Iranian football federation is calling on FIFA (Federation International de Football
Toni Gonzales
Iran wants U.S. banned from the World Cup. The Iranian football federation is calling on FIFA (Federation International de Football Association) to ban the U.S. soccer team from the World Cup over social media posts that were seen as disrespectful to Iranians. At issue is the altering of the Iranian flag by the United States Soccer Federation in which the flag was stripped of the country’s official emblem and then posted to American social media.
The United States Soccer Federation admitted that the editing of the flag was intentional. In a statement released yesterday morning the USSF said the flag sans Islamic script and official emblem was posted to show “support for the women of Iran fighting for basic human rights.” The post with the edited image was deleted and replaced with the correct flag a day after it was first posted. “We wanted to show our support for the women in Iran with our graphic for 24 hours,” the federation said.
“We wanted to show our support for the women in Iran with our graphic for 24 hours.”
The United States Soccer Federation
The emblem on the Iranian flag is the Islamic Republic emblem. It was designed in the early 80’s. The green, white and red horizontal striped flag has a sword surrounded by four smaller circular marks surrounding it, two on each side. It is a representation of the Islamic saying, “There is no god but God.” The flag also has 22 inscriptions of “God is great,” at both the top and the bottom.
“Measures taken regarding the Islamic Republic of [the] Iran flag are against international law and morality, and we’ll pursue this through FIFA’s morality committee,” said legal adviser to the Iranian Football Federation, Safia Allah Faghanpour. In other words, Iran wants U.S. banned from the World Cup.
Tasnim, the Iran state-affiliated media, tweeted the FIFA statute on Sunday to offer credibility in their call to action. “According to section 13 of #FIFA rules, any person who offends the dignity or integrity of a country, a person or group of people … shall be sanctioned with a suspension lasting at least ten matches or a specific period, or any other appropriate disciplinary measure,” it said.
As of the time of this posting, FIFA has not commented on the subject.
Iran Plagued With Protests
The incident was one of many political controversies in recent weeks from the region. In Iran nationwide protests against the Tehran theocratic government have been growing rapidly since the killing of Mahsa Amini in mid September. Amini was arrested by Iran’s morality police for not wearing a hijab, a required piece of clothing for a woman that is inline with government standards. Amini was detained and later died under suspicious circumstances just days shy of her 22nd birthday. Since Amini’s death, it has been reported by Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) that more than 18,000 protestors have been detained and 450 others have been killed.
Since the World Cup has kicked off Iran and its flag have been making headlines. Fans with Iran’s prerevolutionary flag (a lion and sun, after its former ruler the late Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi) have been turned away. Additionally, a few of Iran’s own players have come under fire (and praise, depending on which side you are on) for refusing to sing the national anthem at the teams World Cup opening game. For their second game, the same players showed obvious hesitancy in participating in the anthem.
Prior to the worldwide protests, activists have called for FIFA to keep Iran from competing in the World Cup for similar reasons. Two of which are the limited access of women to attend a match, and the providing of weaponized drones to Russia that assisted in the invasion of Ukraine.
The two teams of Iran and the United States will take to the FIFA field for a much anticipated match tomorrow (Tuesday, November 29) at 11am PST/2pmEST.