Security Secretary Mullin had claimed to have prevented a man posing as an official representative of Iran from boarding a flight to the United States. “Blatant and undeniable lie, it is a country that violates the law”
Political tension between Iran and the United States continues to spill over into sports. Former Inter player Mehdi Taremi had defined the FIFA organization as “a whole disaster”, but the problems are not limited to travel and transfers. Because today evening the Iranian Football Federation decided to publicly respond to the statements deemed “FALSE” (deliberately all in capital letters) by the United States Secretary of Internal Security. “The Islamic Republic of Iran Football Federation strongly condemns the statements made by Markwayne Mullin, Secretary of Homeland Security of the United States, regarding the President of the Iranian Football Federation and the members of the official delegation of the national team, and considers them a series of ‘false, fabricated and completely baseless allegations’. The claim that yesterday an official representative of the Iranian Football Federation attempted to board a flight to the United States and was prevented is a blatant lie and undeniable – continues the note -. This statement is so unfounded that those who made it are well aware that such an episode has never occurred”. Mullin had said that a person, posing as a member of the Iranian federation, attempted to board Mexico’s flight to Los Angeles for the match against Belgium but was blocked: “When we started researching him, we did not allow him to board. The man who attempted to board the plane yesterday had direct links to the Revolutionary Guards.”
“The US is violating the law”
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The note from the Iranian federation also deals with the issue of visa refusal. But not only that: “It is deplorable that a senior US official resorted to spreading false statements and disinformation in order to justify the restrictions imposed on members of the Iranian national team delegation. When an allegation is made that is ‘specific, verifiable and targeted at a single person’ and that allegation is found to be fundamentally false, this naturally also calls into question the credibility of the other allegations. The Islamic Republic of Iran Football Federation also firmly rejects the claims regarding the reasons for the denial of visas to a number of key staff members administrative, executive, media and support of the official national delegation. The statements made by the US official are not only completely devoid of any supporting evidence or documentation, but also represent a clear attempt to hide discriminatory behavior and unreasonable restrictions imposed on the Iranian national delegation. We also emphasize that the members of the national delegation have no personal interest or motivation to travel to the United States of America, a country that violates the law, and that all visa-related initiatives were undertaken solely for the purpose of accompanying the Iranian national team and fulfill their duties in the context of the FIFA World Cup. Any attempt to attribute intentions other than the fulfillment of their professional and official responsibilities is unfounded and devoid of any credible basis or evidence.
“Invented statements”
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And finally the request: “The Football Federation of the Islamic Republic of Iran, while formally requesting the publication of evidence supporting these false claims, declares that such ‘fabricated statements’ were issued with the aim of damaging the reputation of Iranian football and hindering the national team’s participation in the FIFA World Cup, and the Federation will certainly pursue the matter through all available channels.” In short, not the ideal climate to play a World Cup for him at home…
La Gazzetta dello Sport
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