{"id":486038,"date":"2026-06-10T17:04:10","date_gmt":"2026-06-10T17:04:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/486038\/"},"modified":"2026-06-10T17:04:10","modified_gmt":"2026-06-10T17:04:10","slug":"iran-threatens-to-suspend-matches-over-world-cup-protest-symbols","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/486038\/","title":{"rendered":"Iran threatens to suspend matches over World Cup protest symbols"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Iran threatened to halt its <a href=\"https:\/\/www.jpost.com\/international\/article-898208\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">matches<\/a> at the World Cup if unauthorized flags are displayed or slogans targeting the national team are chanted at stadiums, Iranian media reported, citing Sports Minister Ahmad Donyamali, following criticism of the team\u2019s presence at the tournament.<\/p>\n<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.jpost.com\/international\/article-897295\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">World Cup<\/a> begins on Thursday, with Iran opening their Group G campaign against New Zealand in Los Angeles on June 15. They next face Belgium at the same venue on June 21 before taking on Egypt in Seattle on June 26.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;We have informed FIFA that if unofficial flags are brought or slogans against the national <a href=\"https:\/\/www.jpost.com\/international\/article-898556\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">team<\/a> are chanted in the stadiums where Iran plays in the World Cup, the team manager will definitely be responsible for stopping the match,&#8221; Donyamali said on Tuesday, according to Iranian media.<\/p>\n<p class=\"article-paragraph-section article-body-paragraph\">&#8220;We have been assured that no disruptive incidents will occur in the stadium during the match against Egypt.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"article-paragraph-section article-body-paragraph\">Iran and Egypt\u2019s football associations had previously urged FIFA to prevent any LGBTQ+ Pride-related activities during the Seattle match. The fixture had been designated by local organisers as a &#8220;Pride Match&#8221; to coincide with Seattle\u2019s Pride weekend.<\/p>\n<p class=\"article-paragraph-section article-body-paragraph\">In April, protesters gathered outside the FIFA Congress in Vancouver called for Iran to be banned from the tournament, saying the team represents the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps rather than the Iranian people.<\/p>\n<p>The Iranian team has also faced organisational challenges, with Iran\u2019s football federation saying its <a href=\"https:\/\/www.jpost.com\/international\/article-898835\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">ticket allocation<\/a> was withdrawn days before the tournament, leaving supporters who had already made travel plans unable to attend their team\u2019s matches.<\/p>\n<p class=\"article-paragraph-section article-body-paragraph\">The team, currently training in Tijuana, Mexico, will be able to enter the US the day before each match, the Department of Homeland Security said, amid a conflict that has added a geopolitical dimension to the tournament.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Iran threatened to halt its matches at the World Cup if unauthorized flags are displayed or slogans targeting&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":486039,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[19712,8316,42,87,53065,43,19711,3336,40,38,41,39,1032],"class_list":["post-486038","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-fifa","tag-fifa-world-cup","tag-headlines","tag-iran","tag-irgc","tag-news","tag-soccer","tag-tehran","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories","tag-united-states"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/486038","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=486038"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/486038\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/486039"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=486038"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=486038"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=486038"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}