As demonstrations against Art regime in Iran on Day 75, many of the protesters are hoping that the US men’s World Cup team and the Biden administration can send a signal of support to the protesters.
Some protesters believe that an Iran defeat or a draw in the upcoming game against the United States will damage the regime on the world stage and provide fuel for the protestors’ fight.
In a coded phone interview with Fox News Digital on Monday, an Iranian woman who identified herself as “Mahura” and lives in southern Iran, said: “It’s not just some people in Iran, it’s the majority of people in Iran who want the US to win” in Tuesday The silent majority [of Iranians] did not celebrate victory of the regime team over Wales.”
Mahura explained that Iranians are rejecting their national team, saying, “Because a football team should bring honor to its people. They should be our champions. But now people are being killed in the streets. And people bury children after they’ve been killed and the Mule football team met [President] Ibrahim Raisi celebrates someone’s birthday and shared a laugh. And they did not pay attention to people. Football players just wanted to be in the center of attention.”
She added: “The people of Iran know the US as [a] a symbol of democracy, and the people of Iran long for democracy.”
Reports claim that many Iranians did not cheer or celebrate Iran’s victory against Wales at the Ahmad Bin Ali Stadium in Al Rayyan, Qatar on November 25, 2022.
(AP Photo/Francisco Seco)
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During Fox News Digital’s interview with Mahoora, the internet connection was frequently interrupted due to the clerical regime’s efforts to disrupt conversations amid the protest movement that has unfolded in the totalitarian state.
Mahura noted that “after the victory of the Mule football team over Wales, the people of Iran did not celebrate. The regime brought in terrorists, Hezbollah from Lebanon and Houthis from Yemen, to celebrate the victory.”
Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran Ali Khamenei is fair [a] servant of Russia. Khamenei is stealing Iran’s wealth,” Makhura said.
Mahura cannot give his full name because of the brutal crackdown on dissent against the regime.
According to the NGO Human Rights Agency (HRANA), the clerical regime has killed 451 protesters and imprisoned 18,170 people since mid-September. HRANA reported that 60 security personnel were killed during the nationwide demonstrations.
Reports from Iran say Iranians have welcomed England’s victory over Iran and are now rooting for the USA to face Iran in the World Cup match on November 29, 2022.
(Richard Sellers/Getty Images)
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Uprisings across Iran were sparked on September 13 by the arrest of Mahsa Amini by morality police in Tehran for allegedly not properly covering her hair in a hijab.
Mahura mentioned three Iranian soccer stars who are not in Doha, Qatar — the site of the World Cup — but are standing with the Iranian people against the Khamenei regime: Ali Dai, Ali Karimi and Iranian-Kurdish player Voriya Ghafouri.
Ghafouri was imprisoned by the Iranian regime for showing solidarity with the “Woman, Life, Freedom” movement that is unfolding in Iran.
Tina Ghazimarad, chief news editor of London-based Manoto TV, echoed Mahur’s scathing criticism that the Iranian team is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Islamic Republic’s radical ideology and state security apparatus. Manoto is one of the most popular Farsi-language channels outside of Iran and is known for its criticism of the regime.
“The Islamic Republic took over the national team, like everything else in Iran, because they made it political. IRGC [Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps] manages sports teams,” Gazimarad said.
The US government has designated the KIRK as a foreign terrorist organization. Fox News Digital reported on the links between terrorism Iran’s karate team and the IRGC.
Gazimarad said that “Iranians will root for every team that plays against them.”
Iran is facing international criticism after a protester was brutally beaten by special forces.
(Foreign Department)
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She continued: “For many Iranians, it is the national team that has not shown any reaction appropriate to what is happening to Iranians in Iran. Many people lost their lives [in the protests] supported the national team. This is a very political team. The Islamic Republic advocates the creation of a false enemy, the United States. All dictators need an imaginary enemy. The hostility of the Islamic Republic of Iran to the United States…for 43 years has been unjustified.”
According to Ghazimarad, the regime in Tehran is diverting attention from the failures of the Islamic Republic in relation to this imaginary enemy: “People are suffering not from the sanctions, but from the actions of the Islamic Republic.” Gazimarad also “actions of the Islamic Republic led to sanctions.”
The US and the EU have imposed sanctions against the clerical regime for its pursuit of nuclear weapons and its widespread violations of human rights.
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Gazimarad said that it is impossible to create a wall between sports and power politics in Iran.
“Everything for the Islamic Republic is not pure sport or pure art because the Islamic Republic makes everything political,” she said. “It is a wrong argument to separate sports from politics. Sports in Iran are politicized.”
Gazimarad said a clear example of the Iranian regime’s use of sports as a political tool was “the team’s meeting with Raisi before going to Qatar and the goalkeeper [Alireza Beiranvand] bowed to Raisa.’
Beiranvand later broke his nose in Iran’s match against England. Iranians in Iran were “happy about that ‘goalkeeper’s broken nose’ because it’s some kind of punishment.”
Ghazimarad said Iranians want the national team to step up its protests against the regime. She pointed to a recent tweet posted by her channel showing Iranians cheering for England while watching a game in Iran.
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“They stand and do not sing [the] the national anthem, it’s not enough,” Ghazimarad said. She said the Iranian soccer team could “kneel like the England team or wear black armbands.”
Recent killing a 9-year-old child Iranian boy Kian Pirfalak, believed to be the youngest victim of a crackdown on protesters by Iranian authorities, has sparked new fury in Iran and against the country’s soccer team.
“The Iranian team did a photo shoot and laughed, and that increased the anger. The photo shoot destroyed them because they were just laughing. The photo session took place just a day after Kian’s death. Instead of laughing, they could just pose,” Gazimarad said.
Fox News Digital sent press requests to the US State Department, the Islamic Republic of Iran’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and its mission to the United Nations, and the US men’s soccer team.
Team USA in short deleted the emblem flag of the Islamic Republic of Iran from his Twitter account in sympathy with the protesters in Iran. Tehran’s leaders opened fire, calling on world soccer body FIFA to suspend the American team.
Iranian-American journalist and women’s activist Masih Alinejad told Fox News that the Islamic Republic of Iran “regime of gender apartheid” because “half of Iran’s population is not even allowed to go to the stadium and watch [a] a game of football.”
University students in Tehran take part in a protest on October 7, 2022, sparked by the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini while in custody by the country’s moral police.
(AP photo)
Iran’s ban on women in soccer stadiums did not prompt FIFA to punish the Islamic Republic. Alinejad also said that the Iranian football team does not represent the people of Iran.
Lisa Daftari, an Iran expert and editor-in-chief of The Foreign Desk, told Fox News Digital: “Imagine how horrible the situation is for Iranians who don’t actually support their own team because they don’t see their national team as their national team. expansion of the Iranian people, but supporting the Islamic regime.’
Iranians protest in Tehran, September 20, 2022, over the death of Mahsa Amini after she was detained by the country’s moral police.
(AP Photo/Middle East Images, file)
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Daftari added: “In the match between Iran and England, we saw how the Iranians actually cheered when the opposing teams scored a goal, and they can do the same by cheering for the USA in this match. At least we will see the Iranians use this opportunity to call on the US to support their movement.”
Iran observers say there is a striking parallel between the 2022 World Cup and Iran’s first appearance at the 1978 World Cup in Argentina. In 1978, Iranians took to the streets to protest the government of Iran’s last monarchical ruler, Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi.
A year later, the Islamic revolution overthrew the Pahlavi dynasty.
There are many questions now as to whether the theocratic Islamic state is on the verge of collapse due to the mass protests that are shaking the Khamenei regime.
