The edit, which was visible on the U.S. men’s national team’s social media accounts, removed a symbol in the middle of the flag associated with Iranian religious leaders.
The image of the banner on the team Twitter account On Sunday morning, a flag sported the colors of Iran – red, green and white – but did not include a symbol added after the 1979 revolution, representing a stylized interpretation of the word “God”. A similar image was included in a recent tweet on the classification of group B. On Sunday afternoon, the official flag of the Islamic Republic of Iran replaced the modified image on the USA team’s Twitter account.
Iran faces the United States on Tuesday, the last group game for both teams.
In a statement released on Sunday morning, the USSF, which oversees all national teams, said the decision was made in recent days to “show support for women in Iran who are fighting for basic human rights.” The changes were temporary, the federation said.
A State Department official said the decision was not a coordinated effort between the department and the USSF. Players from the United States men’s national team were also not affected.
“We didn’t know anything about the posts, but we’re women’s rights supporters — we always have been,” U.S. defender Walker Zimmerman told a news conference.
Protests in Iran broke out in September after the death of a young woman, Mahsa Amini, in police custody. They have since morphed into a nationwide uprising channeling a series of complaints against Iranian religious leaders. Hundreds of people have been killed in a crackdown on protests by authorities, according to human rights groups.
In Iran’s two previous matches, tensions have arisen between supporters and opponents of the government, particularly over the flag, with some anti-government critics waving a pre-revolution flag or concealing the symbol on the current flag with black duct tape. Vigorous debates took place within the protest movement over which flag to display.
The changes appeared on the Men’s National Team social media but not on the USSF website. For example, the page that contains the upcoming program displays the Iranian flag with the post-revolutionary symbol.
FIFA, the world governing body for football, declined to comment on the flag change.
The USSF has already taken steps to show support for marginalized groups at this World Cup. In a media room at the team’s training center outside Doha, a large USSF logo on a wall features rainbow colors instead of red and blue, in support of the LGBTQ+ community. The display comes amid concerns over the treatment of LGBTQ fans in Qatara conservative Muslim nation that criminalizes homosexuality, as well as FIFA’s efforts to downplay the rainbow symbol, including saying it would penalize players who wear rainbow armbands.
There was no immediate reaction from the Iranian government to the flag change. A comment posted on the website of Iran’s semi-official Mehr news agency on Sunday called the symbol’s removal a “strange and insulting action that was undoubtedly aimed at creating tension and destroying public attention.” Iranian team”.
The United States does not maintain formal diplomatic relations with Iran, but is engaged in a number of delicate negotiations with the country through third-party intermediaries, including an effort to reinstate the Iran nuclear deal. 2015.
John Hudson contributed to this report.