The Iranian Football Association protested, on Sunday, that its American counterpart removed the word “Allah” from the flag of the Islamic Republic on social media, before the next match between the two countries, the arch-rivals.
In a politically charged meeting, the Iranian national team will face its American counterpart in its last match in Group Two, on Tuesday, and its victory will lead to its nomination for the final price of the FIFA World Cup finals in Qatar.
Iran witnessed more than two months of demonstrations that erupted after the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini, who was arrested for allegedly violating the country’s strict women’s dress code.
“In an unprofessional act, the American Football Association’s Instagram page removed the symbol of God from the Iranian flag,” the official IRNA news agency said.
“The Iranian Football Association sent an email to FIFA (the International Federation of Football) asking it to issue a serious warning to the US Federation,” it added.
The flag of the Islamic Republic consists of three horizontal bands of red, white and green, with the word “Allah” in stylized script in the middle.
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,” said a media official from the American Federation, adding that the flag had not been changed on the Federation’s website.
An NFL spokesperson later told reporters that the post was removed and replaced with one displaying the correct flag, but added, “We still support the women of Iran.”
Iran’s Tasnim news agency said on Twitter that the US team “violated the FIFA charter, and its appropriate punishment is a 10-match ban.”
She added that the US team “should be eliminated” from the World Cup.
The United States and Iran severed diplomatic relations in 1980, months after dozens of American students were taken hostage at the US embassy in Tehran.
For his part, the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said on Saturday that negotiations with the United States would not end the “turmoil” that shook the Islamic Republic during the past two months.
When Iran and the United States faced each other in the 1998 World Cup, the Iranian players handed their American counterparts white roses, symbolizing peace.