No politics please: Iran and the USA square off in the FIFA World Cup
The FIFA World Cup hosted in Qatar is under scrutiny for equal rights violations
Sunday 20th November marks the start of this year’s FIFA World Cup, hosted by Qatar. Football’s governing body has urged the competing nations and their stars to concentrate on the game rather than the politics. Good luck trying to mute a rich band of global superstars.
We know football does not live in a vacuum and we are equally aware that there are many challenges and difficulties of a political nature all around the world. But please do not allow football to be dragged into every ideological or political battle that exists. FIFA president Gianni via CBS Sports
The first game sees Qatar versus Ecuador, hardly a match to get excited about. It doesn’t feel like a World Cup is on the horizon, partly because European domestic leagues are in full swing, and partly because of the controversy surrounding the widely reported human rights violations in Qatar.
The nation has a zero tolerance on same sex relations and drinking alcohol in public is strictly forbidden, and it is a crime to be drunk in public. Amidst tensions in global politics, FIFA is worried about how the players and fans will use this year’s tournament to express their feelings.
The idea behind the World Cup is to bring together the world’s best national soccer teams. It will also bring enemies together, and look no further than the Group B opponents, the USA and Iran. Both countries have suffered political unrest in recent years and the future looks unsettled for both governments.
American politics is still reeling after the Capitol Hill riots on January 6, 2001, and many Republican supporters and conspiracy theorists still believe Donald Trump had the 2020 election stolen from him. Many believe Trump will run for a second term in the White House when the nations go to the polls in 2024.
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the Supreme Leader of Iran faces internal and external pressures, many of the latter are driven by US led sanctions. It is believed Khamenei nurtured a deep state to mask his soft underbelly as a religious leader. National protests have reached global radio waves and broadsheets. The world is watching America as much as it is watching events in the Middle East.
Iran has had a history of protests, and the latest shows no signs of abating. As many women refuse to back down, an army of females (Sisters’ Basij) continues to infiltrate every part of society.
The country’s architecture of fear and social pressure has always been maintained in part through the regime’s female spies and ambassadors. Foreign Policy
How Iran will juggle its politics and its sporting expectations
Iran have never gotten out of the group stages in five attempts. With England, Wales and the USA in their group, a pathway to the knockout stages looks impossible for Carlos Queiroz’s team.
Politics is arguably bigger than sport in Iran, partly because of the country’s foreign policy. More recently, its violation of the rights of women and girls and its ongoing crackdown on demonstrators, when thousands took to the streets after the death of a 22-year-old woman taken into custody by the morality police.
Relations between Iran and the west has been frosty for decades, and tensions could rise on the pitch between Queiroz’s team face the US National men’s team on 29th November.
Grand Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini turns Iran from a pro-West monarchy to a anti-West Islamic state
To understand why Iran - USA relations are fragile, we need to go back to the 1950s, because Iran has long pointed a finger at the USA for meddling in its affairs. In 1953, U.S. and British intelligence agencies helped a faction in the Iranian military overthrow Iran’s democratically elected prime minister, Mohammed Mossadeq. Relations between the USA and Iran were cordial until 1979, when Grand Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, a Shiite cleric took power as the supreme leader, turning Iran from a pro-West monarchy to a vehemently anti-West Islamic theocracy.
Born in 1900, Khomeini was raised by his mother from the age of five months, because his father was killed on the orders of a local landlord. From a young age, Khomeini wrote on Islamic law, ethics and philosophy and he denounced Western influences and Israel. In 1963, Khomeini served a year in prison for inspiring antigovernment riots.
In November 1979, the US had a hostage situation on its hands when radical Iranian students took 52 American citizens hostage at the US embassy. Negotiations for the release of the hostages were successful and Ronald Regan started his tenure as the US president by announcing their release.
In 1980, Iran went to war with Saddam Hussein’s Iraq, and the United States provided aid to the latter, in much the same way Joe Biden supports Ukraine. During the Iran-Iraq conflict, Khomeini formed the Basij, a civilian militia. The “Sisters’”basij also came about in the 1980s. The Sisters’ form the morality police in approximately 20,000 locations across the country.
It’s not just the men in Iran who are skilled in the art of interrogation and purging of political groups, the Sisters’ are skilled in the art of counter-espionage. According to Foreign Policy, one former head of the Sisters’ Basij has said gender equality is illegal. The report also claims female officers facilitate humiliation and threaten protesters.
In 1984, an attack on US and French troops in Lebanon lead to hundreds of deaths (241 were US military). A group by the name of Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility. The US subsequently withdrew from Lebanon and the US State Department designated Iran as a state sponsor of terrorism.
Since 1992, the United Nations has ramped up sanctions against the Iranian regime, a nation seeking to build its own tactical nuclear arsenal. Last week, per Politico, Iran admitted to providing Russia with drones in the fight against Ukraine.
We provided Russia a small number of drones months before the Ukraine war. Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian via Politico
According to the Arab Gulf States institute in Washington, relations between Qatar and Iran are strong, but how long will the Iranian regime last? According to Foreign Affairs, writer Masih Alinejad believes Iranians have had enough of Theocracy.
When Raisi met with Qatari Emir Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani in February, the two leaders signed 14 agreements for greater cooperation in aviation, trade, shipping, media, cancellation of visa requirements, electricity, education, and culture.
Voting is underway in the U.S. Midterm Elections, and results from a consequential election could decide which party will control Congress. According to the New York Times, 45,800,000 Americans have visited the ballet box. Victory for the Republicans will unravel President Biden’s agenda.
So much is on the line for both the United States and Iranian governments. Come November 29th, both nations will square off in the World Cup. Politics is not welcome in FIFA’s universe, but that does not mean the stars or supporters will stay mute.
At the Munich Olympics in 1972, the Soviet Union defeated the USA in the men’s basketball final. The defeat for Kenneth Davis and his teammates was embarrassing. Victory for Iran at this year’s World Cup will be just as embarrassing for Gregg Berhalter’s football team.