The Iranian Football Federation protested the removal of the word “Allah” from the flag of the Islamic Republic by its American counterpart on social media today, Sunday, ahead of the next match between the two countries’ national teams at the end of the group stage of the World Cup 2022.
In a politically charged match the day after tomorrow, Tuesday, the Iranian national team will face their American counterparts in their final match of Group Two and their victory will lead to their bid for the final quotation of the tournament hosted by Qatar.
“In an unprofessional act, the NFL’s Instagram page removed the God symbol from the Iranian flag,” Iran’s official IRNA news agency said. issue a serious warning to the USFA.” “.
The flag of Iran consists of 3 horizontal stripes of red, white and green, with the word “God” in a stylized font in the center. The word was removed from the flag in two posts on the American Federation’s Instagram and Twitter pages .
“It was a one-off photo to show solidarity with women in Iran,” a US Federation media official said, adding that the flag has not been changed on the Federation’s website.
An NFL spokesperson later told reporters that the post had been removed and replaced with one displaying the correct flag, but added: “We still support the women of Iran,” referring to the protests that took place. are carried out in Iran after the killing of the young woman, Mahsa Amini.
Iran’s Tasnim News Agency said – via Twitter – that the US team “has violated the FIFA Charter, and its appropriate sanction is a 10-match ban. The US national team should be barred from the World Cup.”
The United States and Iran severed diplomatic ties in 1980 months after dozens of American students were taken hostage at the US embassy in Tehran. When Iran and the United States met in the 1998 World Cup, Iranian players handed their American counterparts white roses, to symbolize peace.
