Outside SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles, where Iran will face New Zealand on 15 June, those tensions are on full display.
Opponents of the government in Tehran have gathered waving the Lion and Sun flag. It was Iran’s flag from before the 1979 Islamic revolution, and for many here, a symbol of resistance to the current regime.
From a distance, they look like Iranian flags.
But a closer look reveals the symbol at the heart of the dispute.
For protesters here, the Lion and Sun represents Iran.
“It is a stance against the Islamic Republic. This is the real flag of Iran,” says Arezo Rashidian, one of the protest organisers.
The emblem on the national team’s jerseys, they argue, represents a government they want gone. That post-revolution flag has the same green, white and red stripes but also features the Islamic emblem of four crescents and a sword in red. The Arabic inscription ‘Allahu Akbar’ which translates to ‘Allah is the greatest’ and Muslims recite during prayer, is also featured on the flag.
Many of those gathered outside SoFi Stadium accuse the Islamic Republic of using sport to project legitimacy abroad while repressing dissent at home.
“Regime change is the goal. We’re here to show solidarity with the people of Iran,” says Ms Rashidian.
She says they are against “the mass killings of individuals protesting freely,” referring to the anti-government protests in January and February and the widespread crackdown by the regime forces which resulted in thousands of deaths.
At the time, state officials acknowledged several thousand casualties, while activist groups and medical sources documented mass shootings, overwhelmed hospitals, and leaked mortuary records indicating the true scale of the violence.
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