The disgraceful treatment of the Iranian football team

By Roger Watson:

The war that was never a war in the Middle East seems to have ended and peace has broken out between the USA and Iran. That is, if we believe Donald Trump whose slurred random ramblings increasingly belie his octogenarian status.

The Donald claims to get on well with the present leadership, having killed the regime that was in power when he started bombing Tehran and then doing the same to their replacements. As I write, a memorandum of understanding – which nobody has seen yet – has been signed ‘electronically’ and awaits hard copy signatures in Switzerland. The Donald, currently on a trip to Europe, says he may even stay on to sign it himself, assuming he can write.

So, if this great ‘love in’ between the Great Satan and the former enemy of civilisation is taking place, why is the Iranian football team being treated so appallingly, by the United States, at the World Cup 2026? Having given New Zealand the fright of their life this week by drawing 2-2 with them, the Iranian team had to leave immediately following the game and return to their training camp in Mexico.

Trump has always been clear that he supports the Iranian people and that it is the regime he has a problem with. In that case, why persecute, discriminate against and stigmatise the Iranian football team. Are they not Iranian people? They are trained by an Iranian American and it is hard to believe that, if the American regime was afraid that having the team based – even overnight following a hard game of football – posed any risk that they could not mount adequate security around their hotel.

While all the teams that are playing in the 2026 competition will be flying up and down the length of the United States with games in Mexico, the United States and Canada, adding unnecessary flights when players should be recovering is nothing but vindictive. After all, witness the fuss over the health of the players related to heat, hydration and infectious diseases.

The decision is especially difficult to justify in a tournament where player welfare has become an obsession. We are told that players require cooling breaks, hydration breaks, carefully managed recovery schedules and protection from every conceivable environmental hazard. Yet forcing a team to undertake additional international travel after a match appears not to trouble the authorities at all. Evidently player welfare is a paramount concern—except when politics intervenes.

There were protests by American Iranians against the Iranian regime outside the stadium where the Iranian team played New Zealand. Fair enough, people should be allowed to protest and, it seems, they were peaceful demonstrations. The coverage of these protests is somewhat lukewarm. Israel are not playing in the World Cup but imagine the outpouring of sympathy from the press and politicians if the Israeli team had to enter a stadium through pro-Palestinian supporters? This would have been portrayed as an event of international relevance, shades of the Holocaust and yet another example of rampant antisemitism.

What makes the situation even more absurd is that international sport is supposed to provide one of the few arenas where political differences can be set aside. For decades, politicians and sporting administrators have extolled the virtues of sport as a bridge between nations and cultures. We are routinely told that football brings people together, promotes mutual understanding and transcends political disputes. Yet when the opportunity arises to demonstrate those principles in practice, they are quietly discarded. If Iranian footballers are to be treated as representatives of an enemy state rather than as athletes participating in an international competition, then all the lofty speeches about sport building bridges amounts to little more than public relations rhetoric.

I see that the United States have games soon against two of my favourite countries: Australia and Turkey. I hope both countries give them a run for their money. But I also hope that the United States get through this group stage as there is an outside chance that they may end up playing the Iranian team. While I have Iranian colleagues and have a visiting position at an Iranian university, I hold no candle for Iran, its regime or its religion. But, given their treatment by the United States at this World Cup, if they meet in the knockout stages, I know who I will be supporting. Now, where can I get an Iranian flag?