Crackdown threatens Iran's allegiances ahead of the Qatar World Cup kick-off
The biggest question Iran will face in the run-up to the FIFA World Cup is not how the team will perform against England, the United States and Wales, but how the players will protest at home in Qatar, the regime’s violent response and the call for it country out of the tournament. Hints can be found in recent domestic games. Football World Cup 2022 fans can buy England Vs Iran Tickets from our website.
Esteghlal, one of Iran’s biggest clubs, won the Super Cup on Wednesday, but most of the team failed to celebrate when it won the trophy. State television was quickly cut off.
A month ago, their Tehran rivals Persepolis wore black wristbands in a league game against Tractors – only international midfielder Mehdi Torabi did not. Few were surprised as Torabi scored during the 2019 crackdown on protesters and lifted his shirt to reveal: “The only way to save the country is to obey its leaders.” He later insisted that was his idea.
On October 2, when Persepolis was awarded a penalty with two minutes to go, Torabi, who was not the designated taker, stepped forward. His teammates (though no fans, empty for fear the stadium could become a breeding ground for protests) were ready for another pro-government chant, but he missed and was immediately replaced.
Mehdi Taremi
In Esteghlal’s case, players may have taken note of the criticism Mehdi Taremi greeted in September. The Porto striker scored Iran’s only goal in a 1-0 win over Uruguay, finishing with fluidity and an impressive win for Melli, who struggled to arrange a friendly against a formidable opponent.
When Taremi celebrated in front of a small crowd of fans at the Vienna Stadium, it sparked a lot of criticism on domestic social media. Despite recent posts being more pro-people, the popularity of the team’s star players has yet to recover.
Mahsa Amini
Perhaps the Esteghlal players thought there was nothing to celebrate. On September 13, Mahsa Amini was arrested by the Morality Police for being “inappropriately dressed”. Days later, she died in police custody as protests across Iran were met with violence, coercion and arrests from a regime desperate to maintain its grip on power. According to human rights groups, 253 protesters have been killed. Thousands were arrested.
“This is the Islamic Republic’s team, this is not Iran’s team and certainly not my national team,” a female Tehran fan named Zeinab told The Observer.
Others agreed, including the Football Federation of Ukraine, which asked FIFA to exclude Iran from supplying weapons to Russia.
Women’s rights organization Open Stadiums, which has been campaigning for years to allow female fans into Iran’s stadiums, wrote an open letter to the world’s government calling for Iran’s deportation.
Carlos Queiroz
Carlos Queiroz is of the opposite view. The former Real Madrid boss returned as head coach in September, replacing Dragan Skocic, in Iran’s first attempt to exit the group stage in a sixth attempt. Queiroz said last week there was no debate ahead of his third Football World Cup with the country.
“Most Iranians have a clear answer to this campaign,” he said.
“They want their national football team to participate in the 2022 World Cup.”
Some critics of the regime agree, arguing that more international isolation won’t help. Some say the games will provide players with a valuable opportunity to show their support for the protesters and their opposition to the regime on the world stage. FIFA World Cup 2022 fans can buy Iran Vs Wales Tickets from our website.
The players are in a difficult situation. If they speak out against a regime that has been in power for 43 years and does not give up quietly, there could be consequences or threats to their families and loved ones.
Iran’s Chief Justice Gholam-Hossein Mohseni-Ejei
In September, Iran’s Chief Justice Gholam-Hossein Mohseni-Ejei pledged to “punish those known for their institutional support, and join the enemy in difficult times, not the people”.
The warning came after one of the team’s biggest stars, Sardar Azmoun, took to Instagram to express his dismay at the regime’s violence.
“The ultimate punishment is to be kicked out of the national team, a small price to pay for even a hair of Iranian women,” he wrote.
“You are ashamed that you have killed the Iranian people and long live the women. Long live the Iranian women!”
Bayer Leverkusen
The Bayer Leverkusen striker removed the post a few days later. “I have to apologize to the national team players,” he said.
“Because my hasty actions have angered my dear friends, and some national team players have been insulted by users, which is not unfair in any way. Yes, the fault is mine.”
This shows that Azmoun’s opinion is not shared by all teammates. The team’s unity broke with the coaching change over the summer, with Taremi among those backing Queiroz and Azmoun backing Skocic, leading the team through qualifying.
The divergence threatens to reappear. Torabi is the only open supporter of the regime, but there are likely others who agree or do not want to be involved. It’s happened before. At the 2009 World Cup qualifiers in Seoul, most (but not all) Iranian starting lineups wore green armbands in support of the “green movement” returning at full speed.
There seems to be more risk this time. The World Cup may be unimportant in the grand scheme of Iran’s war. but it may be big enough to play a small part in determining the country’s future.
Thousands call on FIFA to kick Iran out of World Cup over Russian ‘kamikaze drone’
Iran has supplied Russia with ‘Kamikaze drones’ used in the Ukraine war, with fans demanding FIFA expel the Middle East country from the upcoming World Cup.
Thousands have called on FIFA to kick Iran out of the World Cup. After admitting to supplying Russia with “kamikaze drones” to bomb Ukraine.
Vladimir Putin’s invading army used Iranian-made Shahed-136 drones as its “secret weapon” to destroy the power and water pumping stations.
Iran has repeatedly denied Ukraine’s claims that the equipment it supplied had crippled infrastructure, leading to massive power cuts and water shortages.
Iran Foreign Minister Hussein Amir-Abdollahian
But Iranian Foreign Minister Hussein Amir-Abdollahian (corr) told the country’s official news agency, “We supplied Russia with a limited number of drones in the months leading up to the Ukrainian war.”
Yesterday’s revelations sparked calls to kick Iran out of the World Cup. The national team will be England’s first opponent on November 21. But more than 26,000 people signed a petition calling on organizers FIFA to ban Iran.
It was founded by a group calling itself “Iranian protesters” and criticizing the country for “aggression” against “its own people” and for “violating” human rights.
“Since early September, the Russian military has been using Iranian-made kamikaze drones not so much to inflict damage on Ukrainian troops as to destroy civilian morale,” the report said.
“In fact, a word so ideologically rich that Russia called them Geranium-2, the Islamic Republic has called these drones Shahed-136 (martyrs).”
“These drones are Vladimir Putin’s secret weapon. Iranian drones have become an important part of Russia’s terrorist activities on Ukrainian soil.
“We therefore respectfully invite FIFA to convene an emergency meeting to consider suspending the participation of the Islamic Republic’s national team in the 2022 Football World Cup.”
Signatories from around the world wrote: “With women banned from stadiums and massacred on the streets of Iran, this team doesn’t deserve a place in the World Cup.”
Another said: “I live in Iran and I don’t want a terrorist regime to be my representative for the World Cup.”
Others claimed that “the people of Iran want their national football team to be expelled” and that their participation in the game would give the country’s regime “more reason to continue their barbaric practices”.
The Ukrainian government responded to Iran’s drone access, warning that the “consequences” of Putin’s “crimes” would be “far greater than the benefits” of Russian support.
Some Western leaders have called drone strikes a war crime because civilian infrastructure cannot be deliberately attacked under the Geneva Conventions, which set the rules of war.
Russia was banned from all international football matches “until further notice” shortly after Putin’s invasion in February.
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