After the Iranian national team lost to their American counterpart at the World Cup in Qatar, Iranians celebrated the result in videos that were widely shared on social media.
The second match of the World Cup in the history of the two countries on Tuesday caused a storm of emotions among Iranian fans, some of whom came to Qatar not only to support their national team, but also to support the ongoing popular protests in the country.
After the US won 1-0, videos surfaced on social media showing Iranians indoors celebrating their team’s defeat.
And Iranian-American activist Masih Alinejad posted a video clip showing fireworks that she said were set off in Saqqez, the birthplace of a young Kurdish woman, Mahsa Amini, who sparked mass protests in Iran after her death.
“Tonight in Iran. The moment the American football team scored against the Islamic Republic of Iran football team. This is Saqqez, the hometown of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini, who was brutally murdered by the regime’s hijab-wearing police, fomenting a revolution against the gender apartheid system.
Other clips showed car parades, whose publishers say they are taking place in Isfahan, with the American flag displayed amid car horns.
Celebrations for the US team also took place in many areas of Tehran, in addition to the cities of Mashhad, Isfahan and Karaj, Fox News reported.
In a telephone interview with Fox News, an Iranian woman who identified herself as “Mahura” and lives in southern Iran said, “Most people in Iran want the United States to win.”
She pointed out that the silent majority of Iranians did not celebrate the victory over Wales in the previous World Cup match.
According to Newsweek magazine, these celebrations of the defeat of the Iranian national team by an American colleague are the latest sign of growing dissatisfaction with the Iranian leadership at a time when demonstrators face the death penalty.
Earlier at the World Cup in Qatar, some Iranian fans booed their national anthem.
Others also celebrated as England defeated their country 6-2 and videos surfaced of people in Tehran chanting “Death to the Dictator” after the match.
“The feverish reaction in Iran to the defeat of the regime’s football team reflects above all the extent to which the Iranian people hate the ruling mullahs and want to overthrow them,” said Ali Safawi, a member of the Paris-based National Council of Iran’s Resistance. Foreign Affairs Committee, the report said.
“They knew that the regime was trying to use the presence of the national team at the World Cup to overshadow the brutal method it used to put down an uprising across the country that killed 660 people, including at least 60 children, and 30,000 people were arrested.” he added.
“I cant”
In Doha, Iranian fans tried to highlight the protest movement that has been going on since mid-September.
Some of them also stood with the American fans and took pictures before the start of the match in a festive atmosphere.
Two Iranians from London, wearing protest t-shirts, were repeatedly harassed when they spoke to an Associated Press reporter before the match.
One of them, who identified herself as Maryam, received a slap in the face from an Iranian following her.
Maryam, who, like other Iranian fans, declined to give her last name for fear of government reprisals, said her friends were subjected to similar harassment at the Iran-Wales match on Friday.
Dahlia, an 18-year-old Iranian from the southern city of Ahvaz who attended the match with her parents, said the confrontation with the United States exposed divisions in her family between those who remain committed to supporting the Iranian national team and those who reject it on on the basis that the team represents the government.
Iran has faced political upheaval in recent months following the death of 22-year-old Iranian Mahsa Amini three days after she was detained by Tehran’s vice police on charges of violating the dress code of Iranian women. Amini’s death sparked nationwide protests that resulted in hundreds of deaths.
After the match, Iranian players in Qatar declined to comment or make statements about the protests in Iran.
In an interview with The Associated Press, Dahlia said, “I’m sad because I want to support them so badly, but I can’t.”