The last World Cup clash between the United States and Iran 24 years ago is considered one of the most politically charged matches in soccer history.
This time, the political overtones are just as strong and
relations perhaps even more fraught as the U.S. and Iran face off once again on
Tuesday in Qatar.
Iran’s nationwide protests, its expanding nuclear program
and regional and international attacks linked back to Tehran have pushed the
match beyond the stadium and into geopolitics.
No matter the outcome, tensions are likely only to worsen in
the coming months.
When relations soured between the U.S. and Iran depends on
who you ask. Iranians point to the 1953 CIA-backed coup that cemented Shah
Mohammed Reza Pahlavi’s power. Americans remember the 1979 U.S. Embassy
takeover and 444-day hostage crisis during the Iranian Revolution.
In soccer, however, the timeline is much simpler as this
will be only the second time Iran and the U.S. have played each other in the
World Cup.
The last time was at the 1998 tournament in France — a
totally different time in the Islamic Republic. Iran won 2-1 in Lyon, a low
point for the U.S. men’s team as Iranians celebrated in Tehran.
At the time, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei praised
the Iranian team, saying “the strong and arrogant opponent felt the bitter
taste of defeat.”
But off the pitch, Iran’s then-president, Mohammad Khatami,
sought to improve ties to the West and the wider world. Inside Iran, Khatami
pushed so-called “reformist” policies, seeking to liberalize aspects of its
theocracy while maintaining its structure with a supreme leader at the top.
U.S. President Bill Clinton and his administration hoped Khatami’s
election could be part of a thaw.
The two teams posed for a joint photograph, and the Iranian
players handed white flowers to their American opponents. The U.S. gave the
Iranians U.S. Soccer Federation pennants. They even exchanged jerseys, though the
Iranians didn’t put them on. They later played a friendly in Pasadena,
California, as well.
Fast-forward 24 years later, and relations are perhaps more
tense than they’ve ever been.
Iran is now governed entirely by hard-liners after the
election of President Ebrahim Raisi, a protege of Khamenei, who took part in
the 1988 mass execution of thousands of political prisoners at the end of the
Iran-Iraq war.
Following the collapse of Iran’s 2015 nuclear deal with
world powers, sparked by President Donald Trump’s unilateral withdrawal from
the accord, Tehran is now enriching uranium to 60% purity — a short, technical
step from weapons-grade levels. Non-proliferation experts warn the Islamic
Republic already has enough uranium to build at least one nuclear bomb.
A shadow war of drone strikes, targeted killings and
sabotage has been shaking the wider Middle East for years amid the deal’s
collapse. Meanwhile, Russia pounds civilian areas and power infrastructure in
Ukraine with Iranian-made drones.
For two months, Iran has been convulsed by the mass protests
that followed the Sept. 16 death of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old woman who had
been earlier detained by the country’s morality police. The protests have seen
at least 451 people killed since they started, as well as over 18,000 arrested,
according to Human Rights Activists in Iran, an advocacy group following the
demonstrations.
At the World Cup in Qatar, Iran’s 2-0 win against Wales
provided a brief moment of good news for hard-liners. After the match, riot police
in Tehran waved Iranian flags in the street, something that angered
demonstrators. Khamenei himself acknowledged the win “stirred joy in the
country.”
However, the supreme leader warned that “when the World Cup
is taking place, all eyes are on it. The opponent typically takes advantage of
this lax moment to act.”
As the demonstrations intensified, Iran has alleged without
providing evidence that its enemies abroad, including the U.S., are fomenting
the unrest. At a World Cup where organizers hoped to divorce politics from the
pitch, those tensions have bled out around the stadiums with pro- and
anti-government demonstrators shouting at each other.
Ahead of Tuesday’s match at Al Thumama Stadium, Iran has
released a propaganda video with young children singing, including girls in
white hijabs, in front of a small field. Waving flags and set against a
blasting synthesizer beat, the children sing: “We back you on the bleachers,
all with one voice Iran, Iran.”
“We are waiting for a goal, our heart second by second is
beating for our Iran,” they add.
Such a win could prove to be a further boost to hard-liners.
Already, they’ve reacted angrily to a protest by the U.S. Soccer Federation
that saw them briefly erase the emblem of the Islamic Republic from Iran’s flag
in social media posts.
It’s unclear whether any Iranian or U.S. government
officials will be on hand for the match. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken
already attended the U.S. match against Wales at the start of the tournament.
But opponents of Iran’s government are on hand in Qatar with
their own message. Among them is former U.S. State Department spokeswoman
Morgan Ortagus, who flew in Monday afternoon for the Iran match. Ortagus served
in the Trump administration and was one of the faces of its so-called “maximum
pressure” campaign.
“It’s one of those pivotal moments when geopolitics and
sports collides,” Ortagus told The Associated Press. “You’re seeing the Iran
team do what they can to stand up for the protesters and the people peacefully
demonstrating.”