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An attendee holds an Iranian flag with an “X” on it before the World Cup Group G soccer match between Iran and New Zealand in Inglewood, Calif., near Los Angeles, Monday, June 15, 2026. (AP Photo\/Mark J. Terrill) <\/p>\nAn attendee holds an Iranian flag with an “X” on it before the World Cup Group G soccer match between Iran and New Zealand in Inglewood, Calif., near Los Angeles, Monday, June 15, 2026. (AP Photo\/Mark J. Terrill) <\/p>\n
INGLEWOOD, Calif. \u2014 Iranian American demonstrators amassed Monday outside Iran\u2019s first World Cup match, waving the pre-revolutionary lion-and-sun flags banned inside the stadium and calling for change in Tehran. Protesters snatched an official Iran flag from one fan, video shows, stomping on and ripping it.<\/p>\n
Iran\u2019s participation in the World Cup, beset by challenges since the war\u2019s outbreak, has divided the U.S. diaspora. Rallygoers outside the stadium near Los Angeles contended the team is synonymous with Iran\u2019s government, while fans clad in red-and-green and scarves, their cheeks striped with face paint, filed past saying they were separating soccer from politics.<\/p>\n
Southern California is home to the largest Iranian community outside Iran, many who arrived after the 1979 Islamic Revolution. Just hours before kickoff against New Zealand, a Los Angeles judge upheld FIFA\u2019s ban on the pre-revolutionary flag at matches. But the flags and related apparel were nonetheless spotted inside the stadium. Ella Bah, 42, brought extra clothing to conceal the lion-and-sun flag she wore tied around her like a dress.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re not here to cheer them on,\u201d she told The Associated Press. \u201cWe\u2019re here to be the voice for the people inside Iran.\u201d<\/p>\n
When soccer and geopolitics collide<\/p>\n
Several hundred demonstrators attended the rally outside the stadium in Inglewood, California. Some said they also planned to watch the team play. As kickoff neared, event security broke up shouting matches between protesters and fans and were eventually joined by sheriff\u2019s deputies.<\/p>\n
Rameileh Jaffrey, 46, said she wants a change in Tehran\u2019s government to bring freedom to the country she left a dozen years ago.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey are not my team. They are a government team,\u201d she said. Even so, she said she hopes Iran will win, and has plans to see the team play later in the tournament.<\/p>\n
A woman protesting jeered Kia Keanh and his family as they walked by wearing T-shirts supporting the team.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m just here to watch the sport, it\u2019s not about the regime,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019m just here for a World Cup game, to enjoy it with my family.\u201d<\/p>\n
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People protest outside Los Angeles Stadium before the World Cup Group G soccer match between Iran and New Zealand in Inglewood, Calif., near Los Angeles, Monday, June 15, 2026. (AP Photo\/Jae C. Hong) <\/p>\n
Iran\u2019s participation in the tournament has been fraught with conflict because of the country\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n
After the war\u2019s outbreak, the team moved its training base to Mexico from Tucson, Arizona, and some of the country\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe 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,\u201d team captain Mehdi Taremi said at a press conference Sunday.<\/p>\n
A wide range of views<\/p>\n
Kourosh Safavi, 42, traveled to see Iran play from Dallas, Texas, with his 11-year-old son Jibreel. While he was born in the U.S, Safavi said he wanted to cheer on the country of his ancestors, where soccer means so much.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019re playing for the people, and I just hope and pray that they have success, that they can bring the people in Iran happiness,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Babby Ramesy, a 50-year-old telecommunications engineer, said with so many fans at the game being played in the heart of the largest Iranian American community, it feels like Iran had the support of a home team.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe just support the team,\u201d he said. \u201cI really don\u2019t care about politics.\u201d<\/p>\n
Cheers and boos greeted the start of Iran\u2019s national anthem. Several people holding the lion-and-sun flag near the pitch turned their backs.<\/p>\n
Some Iranian American soccer fans have said the team is tied up in politics, dissuading them from supporting the squad. But 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\u2019s leadership, and star striker Sardar Azmoun wasn\u2019t selected for the World Cup squad this year, reportedly because of a social media post that angered authorities.<\/p>\n
Still in their street clothes, many of the Iranian players walked onto the field nearly two hours before kickoff. Thousands of fans already in the building greeted them with loud cheers and whistles.<\/p>\n
The flag question<\/p>\n
Some Iranian Americans are also upset about FIFA\u2019s rule barring political flags from being flown. The Iranian American Institute for Voices for Liberty filed a lawsuit last week to circumvent the ban on the pre-revolutionary flag, but a Los Angeles Superior Court judge ruled Monday the ban could stand.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is a tremendous burden to change a long-standing stadium protocol for a massive event in a period of hours,\u201d Judge Curtis Kin said, according to The Athletic. \u201cIt is hard to see how FIFA could make a change at one stadium and not the rest.\u201d<\/p>\n
Outside the stadium, 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.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt represents the ayatollahs that killed so many Iranians and have massacred people in my generation,\u201d Ezati said. \u201cFIFA only accepts this flag on the floor.\u201d<\/p>\n
___<\/p>\n
AP Sports Writer Greg Beacham contributed to this report.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"An attendee holds an Iranian flag with an “X” on it before the World Cup Group G soccer…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":162027,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[3],"tags":[48251,48250,2982,48252,34,48254,48253,2576,48256,48255,39171,48231,48257],"class_list":["post-162026","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-iran","tag-canada2026","tag-canada26","tag-fifa","tag-futbol","tag-iran","tag-mexico2026","tag-mexico26","tag-soccer","tag-usa2026","tag-usa26","tag-worldcup","tag-worldcup2026","tag-worldcup26"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@iran\/116757406830344858","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/162026","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=162026"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/162026\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/162027"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=162026"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=162026"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=162026"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}