INGLEWOOD, Calif. (AP) — Iranian Americans are torn over Iran's participation in the World Cup, as some community members plan to watch Monday's match and others are protesting outside the stadium where the team will play.
A rally was taking shape outside the stadium near Los Angeles, home to the largest Iranian community outside Iran. Many of Southern California’s Iranian Americans arrived after the 1979 Islamic Revolution, and a hub of eateries, shops and markets about 10 miles (16 kilometers) from the stadium is known as “Tehrangeles.”
Draped in red and green flags emblazoned with the golden lion and sun, demonstrators gathered outside the stadium where Iran will face New Zealand. Just hours before kickoff, a Los Angeles judge upheld FIFA's ban on the pre-revolutionary flag at matches, The Athletic reported.
Ella Bah, 42, nevertheless was wearing the flag tied around her like a dress before the match. She and other protesters had brought extra clothing to cover it up before entering the stadium, and planned to reveal themselves after entering, she said.
“We’re not here to cheer them on,” she told The Associated Press. “We’re here to be the voice for the people inside Iran.”
When soccer and geopolitics collide
Like Bah, some protesters said they had tickets to watch the game, while others do not. Rameileh Jaffrey, 46, of Los Angeles, said she wants a change in Tehran’s government to bring freedom to the people living in the country she left a dozen years ago.
“They are not my team. They are a government team,” she said. Even so, she said she hopes Iran will win, and has plans to see the team play later in the tournament.
Iran's participation in the tournament has been fraught with conflict because of the country's war with U.S. and Israeli forces. Late Sunday, President Donald Trump announced that the U.S. had reached a deal with Iran to end the war and open the Strait of Hormuz. The war launched by the U.S. and Israel on Feb. 28 has rattled the region and virtually shut down oil and natural gas shipments from the Persian Gulf.
After the war's outbreak, the team moved its training base to Mexico from Tucson, Arizona, and some of the country's soccer officials were not granted visas to enter the United States. Many in the diaspora have mixed feelings over how to show their support of the Iranian people, but not the government, through their love of soccer.
“We play for every Iranian, be it in the diaspora or in Iran. People have different opinions, but we are here to unite people and we will try to bring joy to all Iranians wherever they live,” team captain Mehdi Taremi said at a press conference Sunday. “We are here to bring joy to Iranian people. We do not get involved in politics. We are here to play football.”
A wide range of views
Reza Garajedaghi, 57, said he will watch the game with his 96-year-old father in San Diego. He said he didn’t buy tickets for the game, partly because of the sky-high pricing. But he supports the team, politics aside, while respecting the wide range of views in the diaspora.
“I’m a football die-hard, and the boys, they’re representing all Persians, Iranians around the world,” said Garajedaghi, who left Iran when he was 10. “To me, it has nothing to do with whatever government they have in Iran.”
Watch parties are planned to cheer on the team, and when Iran was assigned last year to play in LA, many bought tickets. But in recent months, some said they have sold off their tickets in anger following January's brutal repression.
Some Iranian American soccer fans have also said the team is tied up in politics. In the past, Iranian athletes have faced serious consequences for speaking out. In 2022, a prominent former member of the national team was arrested for allegedly protesting against the country’s leadership, and star striker Sardar Azmoun wasn’t selected for the World Cup squad this year, reportedly because of a social media post that angered authorities.
Iran coach Amir Ghalenoei called Azmoun an “excellent player” and said he wished he were with the team.
“I am just happy that they are coming to watch us and I hope that they will pray for us and I hope that they will encourage us,” Ghalenoei said Sunday when asked about the sizable diaspora. He added that he hoped the team would pay back that loyalty by playing a good game.
The flag question
Some Iranian Americans are also upset about FIFA's rule barring political flags from being flown. They want to fly the lion-and-sun flag from before the revolution, which is not the official flag of Iran. The Iranian American Institute for Voices for Liberty filed a lawsuit last week to challenge FIFA’s flag rule, but a Los Angeles Superior Court judge ruled Monday the ban could stand.
“There may be harm to some 2,500 staff members who have to deal with safety protocols,” Judge Curtis Kin said, according to The Athletic. “It is a tremendous burden to change a long-standing stadium protocol for a massive event in a period of hours. It is hard to see how FIFA could make a change at one stadium and not the rest.”
Parsa Ezati, 21, and his mother brought the official Iranian flag of the current government to the protest so that people could stomp on it. Many passersby took the opportunity to walk over it, some giving it an extra scuff or taking a minute to spit on it.
“It represents the ayatollahs that killed so many Iranians and have massacred people in my generation,” Ezati said. “FIFA only accepts this flag on the floor.”
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AP Sports Writer Greg Beacham contributed to this report.
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AP World Cup coverage: https://apnews.com/hub/fifa-world-cup
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