Iran, anti-Ayatollah flags at the stadium for the match against New Zealand

Neda has a particular gift, who knows if it comes from the ancient Persian fiber: she manages to scream anger and pain without switching off or turning down the volume. He does it for hours, or rather for days. This 22-year-old UCLA student screamed in front of Carson Park, home of the Galaxy and once of Ibra and Beckham, where Iran was finally able to train for finishing on the soil of the American enemy. It was repeated during the night under the large hotel in elegant Manhattan Beach, a fashionable shopping and restaurant area, transformed into a fort by American agents and drones. “Many of my relatives in Iran participated in the protests. Some had serious problems. I think about them before the result of the match…”, says Neda. She could only return here too, to the space in front of the SoFi Stadium, as always filled with police: the immense Iranian community has, in fact, met for a historic day in which the world debut is just background noise, a pretext to bring their decades-long battle back to the eyes of the planet. An enormous part of the Iranian diaspora has, in fact, found refuge in the city of Angels after the Ayatollahs took power: between the first and second generations in California there are almost one million. They have populated a colorful neighborhood where Farsi is spoken, among carpet shops and Persian restaurants: it’s called Tehrangeles, an imaginative name. And, above all, these people don’t want to know about supporting the national team, even now that it has arrived at their home. A small round of opinions in this community, which has been waiting for the global showcase for months, and you realize that only a small minority will support Taremi and his associates in a controversial, turbulent, at times surreal world journey. Roozbeh Farahanipour, political activist refugee in Los Angeles and well known in the Persian community in the Westwood area, says it clearly: “I love Iran, but I don’t consider this team to represent the Iranian people.” Arash, 54, a trader in Persian Square, however, drowns in memories: “As a boy I supported Team Melli in every match. Today I can’t anymore. I don’t hate the players, but I believe that the government uses football for its own purposes”. In short, for the team representing the Islamic Republic, there seems to be no respite, but only a storm: whether the front is internal or external, little changes.

Iran without peace

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The background still remains the ayatollahs’ conflict with the United States, the “Great Satan” who began bombing them about three months ago in a painful war for the entire planet which now seems to be over. In fact, the Iranian national team has remained entangled in the diplomatic crisis, stuck like the ships for a long time in the Strait of Hormuz: never before has a team had to play a World Cup at the home of another country against which it was fighting a military conflict at the same time, and this circumstance has produced a tense situation like rare other times. After having struggled for months to obtain the necessary visas, which were not granted to the entire staff, here comes the predictable furious protest from people with whom the players share the same thousand-year-old roots. If the American welcome was hostile, and former Inter player Taremi pointed this out with a touch of savvy polemic, perhaps even worse is that of the Iranians in America, who proudly hold their Shah’s flag. They contrast it with the religious version, imposed after the 1979 revolution, the same one that obviously accompanies coach Ghalenoei’s boys in their official uniforms and in matches. The secular version has become a symbol of global opposition to the Islamic Republic: instead of Allah it contains the lion and sun dear to the old monarchy in the middle. Looking at them from afar, the flags really look the same, given the same background of colours, but there are decades of blood separating them.

the war of flags

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From visas, therefore, the conflict has moved to flags, much more than a symbol, and the storm has also involved FIFA. The Tehran federation immediately requested and obtained permission to prevent flags considered hostile from entering SoFi, even threatening to leave the field. FIFA formally accepted this request, considering them among the political materials prohibited by stadium regulations. Everyone, however, takes it for granted that at the controls it will be difficult to comply with the instructions to the letter and not only because the flags are easy to hide and can, in any case, be confused. Truly at the last minute, then, a few hours after kick-off in the first match against New Zealand, the Superior Court of Los Angeles County was also forced to give its ruling: a hearing of great urgency after the complaint of the Institute for Voices of Liberty, an association of Persian dissidents, and of a certain Sam Kermanian, a single Iranian fan who intended to attend the match in a suit of clothing as the ayatollahs don’t like. Judge Curtis A. Kin ruled that the FIFA ban should remain in place, but this ruling will not lower the temperature. And the World Cup will never reunite these two peaceless Irans.

unwelcome flags at the stadium

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In the end, at the SoFi in Los Angeles, for the match against New Zealand, all or almost all the flags of pre-revolutionary Iran entered: they are those of the opposition to the ayatollahs and, consequently, also hostile to today’s Iranian national team, which is also accused of connivance with the regime. It was easy to pass the controls in the mega stadium in the Inglewood area, thus the FIFA ban was also circumvented, which had been requested by the Tehran federation itself: for the highest football government the flags with the moon and the sun were to be considered among the political materials prohibited by the stadium regulations, a theory confirmed a few hours ago by a ruling from the Superior Court of Los Angeles County. At SoFi there are, therefore, many more secular and “forbidden” flags than the “regular” ones of the Islamic Republic, with Allah in the middle. It was exactly what Taremi’s team feared, as when they took to the field to warm up they received a half-hearted welcome: applause mixed with boos, in a stadium that won’t be as packed as the one that welcomed the USA on their debut.