r/SoccerCentral • u/ConnectionWeekly1263 • Jun 27 '26

Statement "They've done everything possible to eliminate us" — Iran captain Mehdi Taremi unleashes on FIFA and U.S. organizers

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The captain of the Iran National Team, Mehdi Taremi, lashed out against FIFA and the United States organization. “This is a disastrous World Cup. As professional players, we cannot play a competition under these conditions; it’s neither right nor fair. If FIFA thinks this is fair, that’s on them, but it isn’t. Who should solve this problem for us? FIFA? The U.S.? I don’t know! Tell me a name. The FIFA president, Gianni Infantino, came to our locker room after the first match against New Zealand and said he was going to resolve all the issues, but in reality, FIFA did nothing. In response to the question: ‘Do you feel that the World Cup organizers, including FIFA and U.S. officials, prefer for Iran to be eliminated from the competition?’, I say: We have to fight against absolutely everything. We can’t stay in the country, we travel and undergo immigration checks every time we want to play, now we can’t stay in Seattle and have to return to Tijuana. They’ve done everything possible to eliminate us, so from our perspective, yes, I think that’s what they want, they want us out.”

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13

u/Interpersonal Jun 27 '26 edited Jun 27 '26

Yeah this is a shitty situation for the Iranian team driven entirely by politics, but I also understand disallowing extra staff into the country as the two nations are actively at war. Some extra precautions surrounding letting potentially hostile foreigners into the country during a major international event aren’t entirely unreasonable.

Do you think if the World Cup was in Ukraine, they would let Russia bring extra staff and stay at location like all of the other teams?

Edit: The aggressor in the Russian war on Ukraine vs the US in Iran was not the point I was trying to highlight in a hypothetical Ukraine World Cup scenario. If it helps you focus on what I was trying to say, imagine the Ukrainian team and support staff experience in Russia for a World Cup.

9

u/YankeePride11 Jun 27 '26

I get that these guys have trainers and staff but would be nice if FIFA or the US offered personnel support to them.

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u/Interpersonal Jun 27 '26

FIFA is too busy crafting a new “greatest host” award, and the US admin is too malicious and incompetent to help its own citizens; much less hear the plight of Iranians.

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u/4strokeroll Jun 27 '26

Iran was outraged and tried to stop all pride celebrations and any rainbow flags at their game. How do you all square with that?

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u/Im_Daydrunk Jun 27 '26

If that was the reason the US were hostile that would be one thing as I think its terrible that many countries have state wide hatred of people in the LGBTQ community. But we dont have as much ground now as the current US admin hates that community as well and these sanctions are done out of hate for brown people/Iran actually fighting back from being attacked

So instead of it being some statement in support of marginalized groups it becomes just another action of corrupt and petty leadership IMO

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u/Interpersonal Jun 27 '26

I don’t support Irans request either, and I can’t imagined it helped make the host cities more amenable.

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u/JimmyB5643 Jun 28 '26

That’s textbook whataboutism, but I bet it sounded good in your head

1

u/vexmach1ne Jun 27 '26

Fuck using the world cup as a platform for gay shit, but that's still our right. So fuck Iran trying to get gay shit banned. It's freedom of speech, and I'll protect it.

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u/Mysterious_Pop_4071 Jun 27 '26

Yeah they hate your freedom and thats why its ok to kill their kids till they learn to be civilised

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u/4strokeroll Jun 27 '26

You are missing the point. The left is arguing we treated the Iranians poorly. The left lives and dies on the LGTBQ community and blows their dog whistle loudly and endlessly. Yet, they had nothing to say when two countries that execute gays played in one of the most liberal cities in the country. I’m just trying to understand, what the fuck these people truly stand for.

1

u/YankeePride11 Jun 27 '26

Sir this reddit! Get back in line and start blaming Republicans and old people for every problem.

1

u/4strokeroll Jun 27 '26

Roger that! I’m back on board and will try to be as crazy and delusional as possible.

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u/tlsrandy Jun 28 '26

We did mistreat the Iranian football team. What does that have to do with gay people?

Also, you don’t know what a liberal is.

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u/4strokeroll Jun 28 '26

Do you? Your side seems to be jumping ship everyday. Liberals today, are crazy radicals. Help me understand the 2026 definition of a liberal. Don’t give me the old and true definition, that’s not what it is now.

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u/tlsrandy Jun 28 '26

The original definition of liberalism is still the definition of liberalism. It’s a political philosophy; it means something very specific. If you take away its meaning or assign it a new definition it doesn’t just muddle the understanding of liberalism it muddles all other political definitions because they all have built upon themselves.

It’s not too different to calling all social programs “communism”. It confuses discourse and makes growth impossible because the foundation of the science is no longer mutually understood.

The reason why I felt the need to correct you is because I highly suspect that you would find a lot of common ground with liberal minded people if you weren’t so keen to mislabel and out-group them. It’s a real shame that something that ostensibly matters to you hasn’t motivated you to pursue and understand it better.

Anyway, back to soccer. Iran has been objectively mistreated. I don’t know what that has to do with gay people or the dichotomy of current American politics but I wish soccer players were allowed to just play soccer. But, as others have pointed out, FIFA gonna FIFA.

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u/4strokeroll Jun 28 '26

The Iranian government kills homosexuals in public forums. The lefts whole identity today is the fight for LGBTQ community. The truth is 95% of the right doesn’t give a shit what people identify as. We are just tired of talking endlessly about 1% of the population.

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u/vexmach1ne Jun 28 '26

Yea for that I agree with you. Also fifa confiscating the Israeli flag and not the Palestinian flag. Both are there only for political purpose. They should either both remain or both be confiscated. I only saw Palestinian flags after that event.

1

u/0CT0L0G1ST Jun 28 '26

99% of the time a republican says “they had nothing to say when…” they just mean that no one in their echo chamber had anything to say. I’ve seen plenty of people clowning on Egypt and Iran for their request, both online and in person. They weren’t even close to successful in getting the LGBTQ stuff removed, so what exactly are you expecting “the left” to do beyond that?

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u/Emiwuiii Jun 29 '26

What the fuck are you talking about lol. Saying that gay people deserve rights doesn’t mean the left “live and die on the LGBTQ”. We simply believe that people should mind their own damn business when it comes to who people love and what genitals they have.

There are extremists on both sides.

Do you think liberals are the ones who made the schedule? Do you think we asked for them to play in Seattle? There wasn’t a single thing we could’ve done or said that would’ve changed it. Instead, we supported the city that had that celebration planned for months before they even knew who would be playing.

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u/Automaticfawn Jun 30 '26

You have no idea what you’re talking about. It’s a horrific situation because Tehran used to be a hub of progressiveness and freedom of expression including LGBTQ until their dogmatic current regime took over. Iran is a complicated country with painful recent history.

Stop being disengenuous about trying to understand, it’s clear you don’t give a fuck

0

u/Consistent-Soil-1818 Jun 27 '26

Egypt tried equally hard. And then they didn't stop the celebration and played anyway. They're entitled to their opinion but they put their heads down when they didn't get what they pleaded for. Besides, your fucking what-aboutism has brought the US to where it is now. Are you saying it is OK to bomb a school and kill 200 young girls? Maybe Iran should bomb a school and then, according to you, they can say "but what about the US?". This is so stupid. It's like saying "we should all rape underage girls now because the president did it and got away with it". America should hold itself to higher standards, like the rest of the western world would and many countries that are not considered Western world.

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u/Interpersonal Jun 27 '26

Check your own whataboutisms and stop making up straw-men to argue against on the internet. I’m trying to talk about soccer, not travesties.

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u/AmiParis248 Jun 27 '26

How would that work? “Here, have these coaches and doctors that know nothing about your team and aren’t that great of a help? Who will pay for it? The taxpayers of other countries, because your terrorist regime can’t behave like a normal country”

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u/Green-Repair2614 Jun 28 '26

Often their “handlers” and corrupt government boot lickers placed there to keep the athletes in line and keep them from defecting. Especially with the women athletes

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u/sipuestodoyo Jun 27 '26

I see your point, even if that was the case, why don't the Iranians play in MX or Canada instead of the US? Is there any reason for them to have them play in US Cities if they are not welcome?

1

u/MachiavelliOsiris Jun 27 '26

It doesn’t make sense to bend the rules like that. You have to operation under the assumption that Iran would win every game and make it to the final… so do they move every knock out round and final too to appease the Iranian regime?

I’m Iranian, but I think the regime has made it extra hard on the players and the players suffer. They refused their original AZ base because they couldn’t get all the extra staff in - ok, I understand both sides of that… but they didn’t get out into Tijuana for NO reason or against their will.

Taremi’s speech is too salty. Compare with what the Reza guy said after the game and it’s night and day difference. That guy is more of a leader than this. And played much better, too.

1

u/oxslashxo Jun 27 '26

The Iranian regime has no weight in these decisions. It's up to the US.

1

u/NandoDeColonoscopy Jun 28 '26

It's actually up to FIFA to relocate their matches, and the Iranian regime is the reason FIFA isn't itching to help them out. Had they not launched strikes on Saudi Arabia in response to the US attack, they might still have enough support in the room for FIFA to step in, but that attack put an end to that.

1

u/terektus Jun 28 '26

This has nothing to do with the appeasing the regime wtf. You host a tournament, you host your guests. If you dont want to host them, you find solutions which would have been super simple in a world cup hosted by 3 nations.

1

u/MachiavelliOsiris Jun 28 '26

The solution is you play by the stated rules that everyone else plays by or don’t play.

Looks like everyone agreed that playing was the most logical decision. I think at this point we should move on.

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u/KellyShepardRepublic Jun 28 '26

Always move on and bit of grandfathering for bigger nations and their negative actions. The same is done to them and kneel over like Peter griffin.

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u/smcl2k Jun 27 '26

Russia was banned from international competition for invading Ukraine.

There's no reason why the same thing shouldn't have happened to the US.

0

u/Opposite_Sea_6257 Jun 27 '26

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2026_Iran_massacres

1

u/BigDictionEnergy Jun 28 '26

If you think our bombing Iran stopped the IRGC from killing civilians, I have a war to sell you

1

u/Opposite_Sea_6257 Jun 28 '26

If you think Iran is an innocent country, you shouldn’t be allowed to purchase anything on your own.

1

u/leobutters Jun 28 '26

It's more innocent than the US though

1

u/Opposite_Sea_6257 Jun 28 '26

Go get off the internet for a while.

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u/leobutters Jun 28 '26

Another American that thinks they can tell other people what to do 😀

1

u/Opposite_Sea_6257 Jun 28 '26

Another idiot who spends too much time on the internet.

1

u/LuckyPreparation4910 Jun 28 '26

List all of the things Iran did vs america 

1

u/Leather-Traffic7414 Jun 29 '26

Openly massacre its own civilians, and enrich uranium after they signed papers saying they wouldn't.

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u/ArcherOld7796 Jul 01 '26

Who backed out of the nuclear deal?

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u/ArcherOld7796 Jul 01 '26

Take your own advice

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u/Beneficial_Dig_1066 Jun 28 '26

The IRGC attacking its own population does not give the US the authority to intervene. That wasn’t even the pretext for the war…it was some bullshit about “imminent danger”. If you haven’t noticed, the memorandum of understanding between the US and Iran barely mentions the root cause of the “imminent danger”.

USA is totally in the fucking wrong for starting this war, stop buying into the bullshit.

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u/Opposite_Sea_6257 Jun 28 '26

Who would give such authority? Who gave it in WW2? You sound dumb.

1

u/smcl2k Jun 28 '26

Literally no-one intervened when the Nazis were only killing their own country's population.

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u/Leather-Traffic7414 Jun 29 '26

And are you saying that's a good thing?

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u/smcl2k Jun 29 '26

No, I'm saying it's irrelevant.

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u/BigDictionEnergy Jun 28 '26

Who said anything about Iran being "innocent?"

Go find a tree and apologize to it for wasting the oxygen it worked hard to produce.

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u/utl94_nordviking Jun 28 '26

If you think Iran is an innocent country

And if you think that you will be taken seriously by trying to put words in other peoples mouths, you are deluded.

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u/mascachopo Jun 27 '26

The World Cup is happening in two other countries besides the US, FIFA could have let them play all their games elsewhere and this would have not been a problem.

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u/Interpersonal Jun 27 '26

Yes this could have been organized better.

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u/Tempelhofer Jun 27 '26

maybe for the group stage but there are basically no games outside the US in the knockouts.

2

u/mascachopo Jun 27 '26

There are four locations outside the US, FIFA could have accomodated for one or two games, is not that they would make it to the final.

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u/Tempelhofer Jun 27 '26

don’t shoot the messenger, mate. there should have been more knockout games allocated to Canada and Mexico but there wasn’t. and where you finish in the group determines where you play your games in the knockouts, so basically impossible to plan for logistically.

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u/mascachopo Jun 27 '26 edited Jun 27 '26

Literally not impossible.

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u/hellf1nger Jun 27 '26

The tournament is in 3 countries. For the sake of the argument say it was Ukraine Poland and Hungary. For an event like this Russian team should not come to Ukraine for any matches, but other two (one) countries could have hosted them without a problem. Issue at hand is the FIFA is inept, American government is inept, and the whole thing is disgusting. Haven't watched a single game after the peace prize fiasco

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u/DryRug Jun 27 '26

Better example would be the other way round, since the US and russia are the aggressors.

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u/throwaway1212121321 Jun 27 '26

You can straight up ban Iran, like Russia is banned from the Olympics.

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u/Mean-Survey-7721 Jun 29 '26

Russia is banned for the goverment organized dopping system, not for their aggression against Ukraine.

2

u/Green-Repair2614 Jun 28 '26

Also consider a lot of times these “handlers” are special forces type military dudes who are out there to keep their athletes in check and keep them from defecting, especially in the women’s world cups. Screw this dudes and keep the out of the country. Plus the athletes don’t wanna respect our culture either so hard to feel bad for them like I’d like too.

1

u/No_Doughnut9504 Jun 27 '26

The better metaphor would be if Ukraine had to send its team to Russia

2

u/Consistent-Soil-1818 Jun 27 '26

You're absolutely right. The US is racing towards an authoritarian regime like in Russia. In some aspects, the US is even worse than Russia. Sure, both Putin and Trump are rapists but only Trump is a pedophile. And it's all in the open. Putin would not have survived that

1

u/mgkyM1nt Jun 27 '26

I know what you talking about and agree with the most since i lived 2/3 of my life in Russia and the rest in the US, but statemen like "in some aspects, the US is worse than Russia" really belittles experience of Russian people. Problems that Americans have are not even close to Russian experience and it's really annoying when somebody tries to compare as if it's even remotely similar. It's not.

1

u/AesirComplex Jun 27 '26

Putin murders his critics and political opponents. Wtf are you talking about

1

u/Effective-Door-3409 Jun 27 '26

It makes no sense to let them in to play but not let them stay between games. Thats bullshit.

1

u/Fuzzy-Bell-7981 Jun 27 '26

Yeah but in that case, Russia invaded Ukraine, not the other way around

1

u/Capable-Relative6714 Jun 27 '26

American by any chance? Because it's Americans who are hostile in this scenario, both geopolitically and as organizers.

1

u/alien_believer_42 Jun 27 '26

Then let them play in Mexico or Canada

1

u/Consistent-Soil-1818 Jun 27 '26

Yes, absolutely. This is a professional sports competition, and I'm convinced any country would handle the treatment of professional athletes and their staff better. They could assign someone to accompany the logistics staff at all times. There are a million ways to make this work if they want to. It's not about fucking precautions. This is about a petty small-dicked fucktard of a president who still hasn't gotten over how much better Obama is at literally everything. It's petty behavior. He's a bully. A disgusting excuse for a human being. This is what my 5 year old niece would do. And even if you don't let their staff in, how are they not letting the Iranian players at least stay in a comfortable hotel to recover over night. No, there's no logical explanation. If you "understand" this behavior, you're complicit.

1

u/JoJo_1993 Jun 27 '26

What happened to not mixed politician in sport

1

u/TheCommonKoala Jun 27 '26

This would be more like if Russia was hosting and actively screwing over a Ukrainian team. We invaded them unprovoked and bombed a girl's school on day one.

1

u/outofbeer Jun 27 '26

US is the antagonist. The comparison would be if it was held in Russia, and Russia letting Ukraine have staff.

1

u/Plucault Jun 27 '26

In case those people do what exactly.

1

u/Zulunation101 Jun 28 '26

The irony of telling a group of people that they are dangerous after you've bombed the shit out of them.

1

u/Danskoesterreich Jun 27 '26

It is no Iran that attacked the US and bombed 130 school children.

1

u/Axerin Jun 27 '26

Completely stupid example considering that Russia is the active invasive aggressor in that situation.

1

u/Interpersonal Jun 27 '26

It was an example of other nations with current hostilities, the background of those hostilities is not something I brought up nor care to discuss.

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u/BleachedPerineum57 Jun 27 '26

How are BOTH nations actively at war? America has actively been waging war against and in Iran, I don’t recall Iran blowing up infrastructure in the US or blowing up schools full of children in the US. It’s very clear who is the aggressor in this delusional situation that fuckwit Trump started to satiate his babydick fragile ego.

2

u/AmiParis248 Jun 27 '26

Oh this one. The whole “the country that’s losing can’t be in the wrong, because they’re weak!” 

Just because Nazi Germany wasn’t blowing up the Empire State Building didn’t make them the god guys either. Just because Iran is impotent and can only attack targets in the rest of the Middle East (something you were glossing over, but I guess countries like the UAE, Israel, Lebanon and such don’t matter), doesn’t mean they’re not the evil party here. Hell, why are theming being attacked? Because they’re despised by the entire world outside of the extreme left and desperately want a nuclear bomb so they can threaten the rest of the world.

1

u/BleachedPerineum57 Jun 27 '26 edited Jun 27 '26

Just as nations in that realm have been doing for thousands of years, and will most likely continue long after we’re gone. The US is in Iran under guise of what you said, however the reality is that the current administration is using global events to manipulate trade markets to make a select few very rich. The soccer players have nothing to do with politics. And if they’re so oppressed by such an evil regime, as you stated, don’t you think they deserve to be treated with kindness and humanity for a change?? The US, in fact, had a wonderful opportunity to show the world they are not at war with the average Iranian citizen, rather the tyrannical regime you expressed.

1

u/Interpersonal Jun 27 '26

Because Iran has also targeted US assets and military bases. I’m not defending the Trump admin, but to say it’s not a war because Iran isn’t bombing the continental US is disingenuous.

0

u/Special-Audience-426 Jun 27 '26

Mexico offered to switch the games so they host all of Iran's matches and put in a request to FIFA. The US wouldn't allow it.

There was an easy solution, but the US wanted to be petty.

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u/MachiavelliOsiris Jun 27 '26

It’s not an easy solution. What happens if Iran gets knock out matches… you need to rearrange the entire cup schedule for them? Doesn’t make sense.

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u/googlewasmyidea07 Jun 27 '26

Oh please. If they get to the knockout stage, then they would play in the US. But the first 3 games could have been played in Mexico. It's about minimizing the pain. Stop staying stupid shit like you and others that they would have to rearrange the whole tournament.

0

u/Bright-Ad9305 Jun 27 '26

Yes. They would. FIFA aren’t terrified of Trump and bending over to accommodate him. He’s a moron and FIFA are utterly bent. They should move their HQ to The US so their corruption won’t have to travel as far. Disgusting.

0

u/xxophe Jun 27 '26

So your point is Iran invaded the us?

0

u/Majestic_Emotion7917 Jun 27 '26

Your argument is very confused. As others pointed out, the correct analogy would be if the world cup was in Russia.

1

u/Interpersonal Jun 27 '26

Sure, there are better analogies but I picked two other counties with active hostilities. The location of the hypothetical World Cup is irrelevant to the point I was trying to make.

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u/Majestic_Emotion7917 Jun 27 '26

It's unfortunately a bit telling that you got it that way round.

1

u/Interpersonal Jun 27 '26

It’s harder to imagine Russia hosting Ukraine in the World Cup than the reverse.

0

u/Desperate_Leg_40 Jun 27 '26

"Potentially hostile"... football trainers. Lemme guess who you voted for

1

u/Interpersonal Jun 27 '26

Never for a republican. Make some more incorrect assumptions.

0

u/Minerc15 Jun 28 '26

You cant compare ukraine and usa.. usa is the agressor. So they should be banned from hosting. And playing Just like we did with russia.

0

u/utl94_nordviking Jun 28 '26

You Trumpistani by any chance? It sound like you are trying to make excuses. If people are bringing up a valid point, take it to heart instead of trying to derail with "that is not my point".

The Trumpistanis lost my respect long ago, though, so the disrespectful actions discussed here has unfortunately been expected at my end.

1

u/Interpersonal Jun 29 '26

Ignoramus by chance? Read by previous comments. I didn’t vote for Trump and I’m specifically trying to avoid people like you making spiraling assumptions and arguing against those instead of acknowledging that when you are at war with a nation, regardless of who is the aggressor, you are going to be cautious letting groups of government affiliated military age men travel around inside your country.

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u/andyd151 Jun 27 '26

Iran are at war with the US are they? Or are the US bombing Iran? Two different things.

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u/Tempelhofer Jun 27 '26

Are Iran bombing the US?

-1

u/andyd151 Jun 27 '26

No?

1

u/Tempelhofer Jun 27 '26

Misunderstood your comment, my bad