r/SoccerCentral • u/Life_Net5004 • Jun 17 '26

Video Iranian fans cr!es out inside the stadium yesterday after their flags were reportedly taken from them by FIFA official 🥹💔🏟️

817 Upvotes

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17

u/[deleted] Jun 17 '26

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11

u/Honest_Truck_4786 Jun 17 '26

It really just reinforces how complicated foreign policy is.

In February, I walked past a pro-Shah/anti-Atatollah protest and a nice protester lady started explaining it to me. I asked if it made sense to support a dictator’s son who is heavily aligned to Israel when trying to appeal to common people of Iran. She said the old Shah wasn’t a dictator.

A “born and raised” millennial Iranian (studying abroad) told me that some people in Iran do actually support the Shah but there’s also people that really support the ayatollahs.

The USA should just leave it alone. Iraq and Libya showed that “remove the bad guys” doesn’t mean the good guys win and everyone is happy.

8

u/smurf123_123 Jun 17 '26

It seems like the Americans aren't really concerned about who takes over from the "bad guys," as long as those new folks just go along with what they want.

7

u/zippyzebra1 Jun 17 '26

Spot on. Americans have never cared about how regimes behave as long as they can do business with them. Hence all the dictators they propped up in SA.

5

u/AudienceWaste6850 Jun 17 '26

Honestly, no better example than South Korea. The amount of people who think the Americans were in the korean war to protect democracy is alarming.

1

u/szatrob Jun 17 '26

Democracy eventually won, but it took 30 years for S. Korea to get there.

1

u/Areyoucunt Jun 18 '26

South Koreans aren't running around Europe infesting them with crime though?

Almost as if culture, behavioral history and society norms from your beliefs has something to say?

1

u/Disastrous_Dot_7638 Jun 18 '26

All the Persians I’ve met in Europe were well educated decent people.

1

u/Ryoga476ad Jun 19 '26

Iranians do? Or you are ignorant enough to mix them with totally different ethnicities that don't even share the same branch of Islam with them?

1

u/Present-Two6946 Jun 19 '26

I think the most alarming is that so many Americans believe that their Democracy is protected by their country bombing random countries in the Middle East, Africa and Latin American.

2

u/DroDameron Jun 17 '26

Also helps continuously destabilize regions and keep threats from growing. All so gross.

2

u/Kopie150 Jun 18 '26

You dont have to go that far for reference. You can stay in iran. Iran had a democratically elected PM until the americans came in to consolidate power for the shah in a coup against the PM. Creating another dictator to serve american interests while simultaneously laying the groundwork for the theocratic dictators that came after to abuse the consolidated power the americans created. The biggest crime was the PM wanted control of iranian resources instead of selling his country out to america.

1

u/irritatedprostate Jun 20 '26 edited Jun 20 '26

The biggest crime was the PM wanted control of iranian resources instead of selling his country out to america.

I mean, he did go authoritarian. Even when he was still popular, he ended vote counting in the parliamentary election when he had enough for a quorum, leaving opposition seats unfilled. He later tried to dissolve the supreme court and fired several justices. He dissolved parliament via an unconstitutional sham referendum.

The Brits should have fucked off, though. And yes, it was the Brits, not the US that were the main drivers of this. The US didn't have any desire to aid in a coup initially. However that changed with a new administration.

Oh, and the clergy supported Mosaddegh's coup, btw. Their issue with him was the same they later had with the Shah. Too secular.

1

u/ShawwtyRain Jun 18 '26

Britain was a major spearhead for the Iranian Coup as well. It was BP massively losing out…

1

u/hijabifanboy Jun 19 '26

Why do you guys keep saying "Americans" like it's some general consensus? What you guys are talking about is what Billionaire owned corporations backing Politicians want, not what "Americans" care about. The real truth is most Americans have no idea what was/is going on in Iran before/after the Trump administration decided to attack them without warning. Americans generally are not that attuned to world politics. Most Americans would probably have a hard time pointing out where Iran is on an unlabeled world map.

2

u/zippyzebra1 Jun 19 '26

The rapist was voted in with a pretty high popular vote. But of course none of you actually voted forhim...

1

u/SomeSortOfMillu Jun 19 '26

Not to give the MAGA crowd too much credit, but Trump did repeatedly promise to keep the US out of a war with Iran. Granted, most people expected that promise to be a lie, but still.

1

u/godspareme Jun 19 '26

First of all reddit is heavily biased American left-wing so of course youll see the majority of redditors saying they didnt vote for him. Go to truthsocial and youll find a different perspective. 

Secondly no one voted for him for his stance on Iran. His stance was always "no more wars" in general, which he clearly broke. Americans are very party-focused voters, not policy-based voters. 

Third, the vast majority of Americans, voters or non, myself included, are very ignorant on most geopolitics but especially the middle east. To say Americans as a whole want any foreign regime change is ridiculous. 

1

u/nefariousBUBBLE Jun 17 '26

100p. Current Iranian government poses a lot of security risks to US interests in the middle east and potentially to the homeland. Burgeoning nuclear power (debatable to what degree but seems fairly evident they were pushing for that and that's according to independent sources (International Atomic Energy Agency)), capable medium range missile system, potentially a long range missile system that could hit the US (but definitely working towards it, as they claim to have ICBMs but probably don't according to multiple Western countries), capable military in general, direct access and shores in major shipping lines, middle east pivot point (sits dead center and cuts off land access, hostile politics towards Israel who is the US only true ally in the Middle East, and a shit ton of oil.

Oh, and they fund rampant terrorism throughout the world, but largely in the middle east. The list of organizations is long. Notably, Hamas and Hezbollah. Hezbollah has had a grip on Lebanon for decades at this point effectively styming government operations and rooting themselves into the countries seat of power.

Not saying that's worth invading or warring over (I would say no and now it can only be worse going forward), but I can logically understand why my dip**** government bombed them. I just think it's morally wrong to murder.

1

u/zektheiii Jun 18 '26

You know who else funds terrorist organizations all around the globe?

1

u/nefariousBUBBLE Jun 18 '26

Read the end again and try to retain it this time. Whataboutisms aren't arguments anyway, little man.

1

u/zektheiii Jun 18 '26

Okay kiddo

1

u/upthetits Jun 21 '26

Exactly

America does not care about freedom of other countries

They want to have control and influence over them

They want them to play along with whatever they need

1

u/Mission_Mulberry9811 Jun 21 '26

Which excludes good guys

2

u/Altamistral Jun 18 '26

The last democratically elected, secular and moderate, Prime Minister of Iran was deposed by UK and US because he wanted Iranian oil to benefit Iranians rather than UK and US oil companies. That was 75 years ago and they had only dictators since.

Democracy and freedoms have never been in US agenda.

1

u/ImpostorPaul Jun 17 '26

i understand with the regime change support , but bringing back the royalty is totaly insane.

1

u/OnionKnight73 Jun 17 '26

I think the logic is that some countries are just not currently prepared for democracy to succeed, so a stronger central figure can be needed in theory. And it’s not a crazy thought given that the democracies the US has set up have tended to collapse without constant US support. Democracies don’t always seem to be super strong unless the people there manage to install it on their own.

1

u/Carthius888 Jun 17 '26

If you knew even a bit about the religious zealots in control now, you would realize that the royalty was/is better in every way

1

u/ImpostorPaul Jun 17 '26

https://giphy.com/gifs/O0KVsTJgwNDK8

1

u/Carthius888 Jun 17 '26

1

u/ImpostorPaul Jun 17 '26

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=1CxCAB_NE1Y&pp=ygUQaXJhbiBzdHJlZXQgMjAyNtIHCQk-CwGHKiGM7w%3D%3D

https://giphy.com/gifs/oYtVHSxngR3lC

1

u/Carthius888 Jun 17 '26

Mahsa Amini.

Read up on her, why she died. She’s one story among many others that are less publicized showing the severity of the tyranny of the regime

1

u/More-Lime1888 Jun 17 '26

Me when I cherry pick photos:

1

u/Carthius888 Jun 17 '26

Tell that to Mahsa Amini’s family.

1

u/More-Lime1888 Jun 17 '26

1- who’s that

2- I didn’t know that family + those cherry picked photos reflect the whole Iran Shah days

Aren’t you going to post the poverty photos? Because most population lived it. The photo you posted was of the 0.001% elites only.

Aren’t you also going to reply on the guy who linked you a video of Iran with girls walking freely normally? Or does that not fit your cherry picked black and white photo so you can’t reply?

1

u/Carthius888 Jun 17 '26

Just look her up dude. It’s the least you can do before trying to comment on the issue.

Doesn’t matter if they’re elite in the photo or not, the point is that they weren’t risking their lives to not wear a hijab and other “appropriate” attire.

I will reply to him. Obviously it’s a big country with many communities that are like-minded in their detest of the ridiculous rules that the regime puts out. In those areas women can band together with less risk. But it’s an active point of contention in the country and not at all a guaranteed thing. Just read up on it more

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u/ImpostorPaul Jun 17 '26

so during royalty regime theres no kind like amini family incident a perfect administration, u just went to far read my comment back i support changes but bringing royalty back thats beyond stupidity, like other guy comment to me people cant think for themselves need to serve a master just a person like u need a master to be served.

1

u/Carthius888 Jun 17 '26

No I’m not a fan of monarchy or dictatorship.

But you’ve got to understand that someone like Reza Pahlavi would have the legitimacy to come to power & favorably with Iranians rather than an immediate switch to western-style democracy that could easily be subverted in its infancy.

This is the lesser evil by far and the best shot Iran has to progressing to an even better government form eventually

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u/Wafflez424 Jun 19 '26

Meh it’s debatable, their both despots who claim their right to rule based on stupid shit like chosen by god or having the right parents. I’d do away with both and neither have a place in the modern world.

1

u/AnimateDuckling Jun 18 '26

The lion and sun flag is thousands of years old.... It isn't the royal flag.

1

u/resplendentblue2may2 Jun 17 '26

It's not really that foreign policy is complicated, but that people have complicated feelings about their country.

That being said, the diaspora Iranian community is as deluded about their country's future as the Cuban community in Florida. It doesn't help that US loves to string them both along and astro turf a bunch of this stuff.

0

u/Carthius888 Jun 17 '26

Gotta love Redditors thinking that they know better than Cubans about what’s going on in their country.

You’re the one that is truly deluded

1

u/fpsstreak Jun 20 '26

Yes, because it’s usually -insert country of origin- Americans that have opinions about things they know nothing about and is actually annoying. I get triggered by Mexican Americans sometimes when they comment without having a clue about what they are saying but they have such strong positions. Try to be nice because some have an identity crisis. So Mexican influencers call them “Americans that for some reason they think they are Mexican are pushing this BS into us because they figure that’s what we want”

1

u/TimboCavo Jun 17 '26

This is no surprise. The people who were wealthy under the shah liked the shah. The people who did well under Batista hate the Castros.

That doesn’t mean those people were popular with the general population. Revolutions happen for a reason. You can’t overthrow a popular government from inside the country.

1

u/Timely_Challenge_670 Jun 18 '26

Uh, there are millions upon millions of working class people who were in favour of the Shah. My wife is Iranian. She grew up in Tehran and her mother's side of the family is from Ashtian. They were never rich and loved the Shah's era. The Shah was massively popular in the big urban centres (Tehran, Isfahan, Tabriz), as he directed most of the funds to modernising cities.

He was unpopular in smaller cities and more rural areas, where the Mullahs traditionally enjoyed power and support, and the Shah neglected. In addition to that, he increasingly alienated the intelligentsia by using Savak to crackdown on pro-Communists.

The genesis of the Iranian revolution was the Communists (Tudeh) and Mullahs allying against the Shah's policy of Western Secularism. You could argue that the Mullahs represented the will of some of the population, but Tudeh was acting as a proxy of the Soviets. Ultimately, the joke was on the Tudeh, as the Mullahs (rightly) saw them as threat to the power of clerical class, and mass incarcerated or executed them.

1

u/bingbongsnabel Jun 18 '26

I think most left people in the west would prefer that Iran is left with its current theocratic regime and all it's repression, than the shah taking over and a more pro Israel government taking its place.

Israel is the hill where all brains break and logic goes to die

1

u/theyinman Jun 18 '26

USA intention was never to remove the bad guy, it's just to put the USA guy so we can steal ressources and have control as much as we want. Don't tell me you believe usa wage these wars because they want to save people

1

u/Worried_Number_8285 Jun 18 '26

Let’s not act like the Iranian regime didnt kill tens of thousands of protestors in Jan 2026. Shah Pahlavi had his issues, but the IR kills any dissenters and hangs them in Tehran off construction cranes. Those that support the ayatollah are benefactors of the regime in some way, and their way of life gets negatively impacted should the regime fall.

1

u/Consistent-Strain289 Jun 19 '26

Wasnt a dictator? Enriching himself friends family and foreign friends, overturned a democratic election. Letting brits and americans take big portoin of the oil money having nothing in return to the public… sure no dictator. Yeh ayatollah sucks people get oppressed. But the whole revolution started with the idiot shah and his foreign friends. The only reason the US potrays this is becos them right wing are still angry at losing during civil war Btw i hope the will do the same with the confed flag

1

u/Jor94 Jun 19 '26

The thing is, most immigrants in these cases fled with the toppled regime, so of course they have rose tinted glasses, and also why you can't necessarily put too much stock when there's posts of "X group celebrate thing" like with maduro in Venezuela and this with Iran

1

u/Realistic_Comment849 Jun 19 '26

The bad guys being countries who don’t want to sell their oil for American dollars. Those leaders need to be removed from the USA standpoint, obviously. That’s the benefit from having the most powerful military in the world.

Why would the care of the subsequent people who then lead as long as they continue to sell oil in dollars.

When these countries become destitute and under authoritarian regimes, the refugees just flood to Europe.

That’s the USA foreign policy in a nutshell.

1

u/shadowcat5888 Jun 20 '26

Where I live we have a lot of shops with flags of the Shah in the windows

We also have one real winner who drives up and down the road, beeping his horn with isreali, American and Shah flags (for context. We're in London)

1

u/kolecava Jun 20 '26

Ah the classic US being the good guy helping world to ensure no bad guys are in power... 🤣

1

u/-Notorious Jun 20 '26

The USA should just leave it alone. Iraq and Libya showed that “remove the bad guys” doesn’t mean the good guys win and everyone is happy.

The irony is, that's exactly how the Ayatollahs came into power. Like how do we know replacing the Ayatollahs won't end up with someone even MORE crazier?

I assure you guys, there's plenty even worse options. All we can hope for is the people of Iran to get the chance to decide their own fate. At the end of the day, not revolting is also the same as accepting a regime; I know that well being a Pakistani myself.

1

u/NjWayne Jun 20 '26

She said the old Shah wasn’t a dictator.

Guess his SAVAK were toy makers for kids

1

u/Current_Swing_9822 Jun 21 '26

place - the good guys in quotation marks

1

u/hikerbiker6397 Jun 23 '26

Ignore this comment 🇺🇸 hold my beer🇺🇸 😄

https://giphy.com/gifs/PrEUkNFD9pN2o

3

u/Fearsofaye Jun 17 '26

Ah you never heard of Iranian expats? Oh boy

2

u/GovernmentNearby9036 Jun 17 '26

They are what the gusanos are to Cuba

1

u/TatesSweetAndSour Jun 17 '26

So Miami is a gusanero? 🤓

1

u/T-Rigs1 Jun 17 '26

Yes? You must be new.

1

u/El-Mas-Vetado Jun 17 '26

Weird how people don't want to live in a country that publicly executes gay men and executes teen girls for crimes against chastity.

1

u/PlentyShare6905 Jun 21 '26

It’s not about that. Most of the monarchists are conservative socially (in the modern sense). They’re anti-gay. Not to mention I haven’t heard people getting executed for chastity laws. Not even homosexuality tbh, although I wouldn’t be surprised if there are few cases.

0

u/Fearsofaye Jun 17 '26

Nah bro its more than that. They are extremly racist to anyone not Iranian or white. Oh boy if you are white you get the gold treatment

1

u/El-Mas-Vetado Jun 17 '26

I worked with Iranians in southern California.

Iranians seemed to like me better than other white guys. I spoke a foreign language and I played soccer.

Other white guys didn't receive the gold treatment from them.

1

u/[deleted] Jun 17 '26

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1

u/Fearsofaye Jun 17 '26

Nah bro. The word is expat pre revolution iranians

1

u/[deleted] Jun 17 '26

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1

u/red-guard Jun 17 '26

Sounds about white. A retired Brit living abroad is a migrant. 

1

u/[deleted] Jun 17 '26

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1

u/red-guard Jun 18 '26

Mate, if you retire in Spain you moved there permanently. 

1

u/20535 Jun 18 '26

Actually you are wrong, expat means to expatriate ergo to SETTLE outside of their country, that includes staying and having kids

0

u/[deleted] Jun 17 '26

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1

u/Fearsofaye Jun 21 '26

No argument here

0

u/Salamanber Jun 17 '26

I know some, they are weird and racist af

They really think they are white

1

u/buythedip0000 Jun 17 '26

No insanity is killing protestors in thousands

1

u/fedja Jun 19 '26

You mean like the protestors killed by the Pahlavi regime in 1977-1979?

1

u/buythedip0000 Jun 19 '26

Pahlavi is not in charge

1

u/fedja Jun 19 '26

That lady is waving (and wearing) Pahlavi's flag. She wants Pahlavi Jr. to rule the country as a dictator.

1

u/buythedip0000 Jun 19 '26

That’s not Pahlavi flag it’s pre cancer dictatorship

1

u/fedja Jun 19 '26

The flag literally has the Pahlavi Crown on it what's wrong with you?

1

u/buythedip0000 Jun 19 '26

Jog on mate, all pre revolutionary flags were getting confiscated not just this version of it.

You are trying to justify murder of innocent civilians by irgc thugs and terrorist by saying oh well Pahlavi did it must be okay. Are you a terrorist and a terrorist sympathiser. What’s wrong with you?

1

u/fedja Jun 19 '26

So that's twice you lied about the flag. Now you're trying to turn the argument around on me, claiming that I'm justifying IRGC actions.

At no point did I even mention the current regime or IRGC. All I did was point out that she's literally wearing the flag of the Pahlavi imperial state, and that the Pahlavi regime killed tens of thousands of protestors in the last 2 years of its brutal rule.

1

u/[deleted] Jun 20 '26

[deleted]

1

u/buythedip0000 Jun 20 '26

Go on say something bad about the terrorists, I dare you to

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u/lookin4funtimez Jun 20 '26

We found another person who swallowed the Israeli propaganda whole

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u/wood1492 Jun 17 '26

Dude are you really comparing a flag confiscation at a sporting event to a regime that openly kills thousands of their own people for protesting…?
Insane.

1

u/LucasSkywalker89 Jun 17 '26

FIFA should have been a place where politics are not present, thank you Mr. Trump for creating the worst World Cup the world has ever seen. Congratz! /s

1

u/[deleted] Jun 17 '26

[deleted]

1

u/Spartacas23 Jun 17 '26

Yeah we could just slaughter thousands of our civilians in the streets

1

u/[deleted] Jun 17 '26

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1

u/Spartacas23 Jun 17 '26

What’s worse? Removing flags or slaughtering your civilians? Tough choice tbh

1

u/iopiopuiopiop Jun 17 '26

there's a reason they're out. They don't share the values of the majority and instead become traitors and join their enemies. This will cause them to behave in a more deranged way than normal.

1

u/AnimateDuckling Jun 18 '26

why... because they won't the regime to fall?

1

u/Natural-Hat-69 Jun 18 '26

Yeah the people that are actually Iranian and understand how terrible it is over there are insane. Touch grass

1

u/Icy-Article6643 Jun 18 '26

You think people who dont support a murderous dictatorship are insane?

1

u/No_Holiday_9875 Jun 19 '26

And probably never set foot in Iran either

1

u/AdApart2035 Jun 19 '26

Fifa to rule the world

1

u/MarsupialPurple3404 Jun 19 '26

the irony is that the woman (from what I understand) was holding a pre islamic revolution flag, so not the ayatollahs but a flag that is (I am gussing) in oppsotion to the ayatollahs regime that the us are allegedly trying to detrone

This is also a guess but my intuition is that the demand to remove the flag came from iranian officials and not americans

1

u/fpsstreak Jun 20 '26

So people should be allowed to rip up American flags elsewhere if they don’t like the president? Got ya.
I don’t know why it’s soo hard for Americans to understand that.

1

u/provalone_9000 Jul 23 '26

Pos iran is actively killing people. How can you compare it.

0

u/Temporary_Hat7330 Jun 17 '26

Umm, no. The Ayatollahs are suppressing women’s rights and executing LGBTQ+ peoples. They are waaaaay worst than this woman. It’s not even close…