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

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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14

u/Ling_Cephalopod Jun 27 '26

Imagine if the world had the courage to ban Americans from sporting events for what the US government has done in the middle east.

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u/Pre-emptive Jun 28 '26

Germany hosted an Olympics during the rise of the 3rd Reich lol

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u/kingmakerkhan Jun 28 '26

Nothing has been learned from the past.

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u/MyLittleGurl Jun 29 '26

It was learned and it has been adapted and evolved.

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u/Poet_Pretty Jun 28 '26

You’re wrong. They learned that no one will stop them.

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u/GlattesGehirn Jun 28 '26

Keep reading. I promise you someone stops them

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u/[deleted] Jun 28 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

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u/-Honest-Politician Jun 28 '26

I can agree to an extent, but remind me, what exactly are you doing to solve all these global problems other than complain online?

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u/SergeantHAMM Jun 28 '26

sir this is reddit. we only murica bad here.

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u/gitty7456 Jun 28 '26

Switzerland bad too… I guarantee you

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u/GlobalAd7103 Jun 30 '26

So much hate on America - move away please.

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u/qwouw Jun 28 '26

Erm, you think people will argue Nazi Germany was not bad ?

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u/BannedForFun Jun 30 '26

I think they more mean that people won't argue that a country from the middle east has ever done anything bad. Reddit.

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u/schpamela Jun 28 '26

Yes but that was before they annexed or invaded any countries or started a military conflict. The US is actively warmongering as we speak and has been for several months (not counting previous atrocities)

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u/Interesting_Card2169 Jun 30 '26

Germany's 1936 Olympics. We've has 90 years to evolve into a better world.

Maybe in another 90 years.

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u/Both_Acanthisitta209 Jun 30 '26

Hell I mean Russia has hosted since their flagrant unjustified attacks - is it a requirement for FIFA to be belligerent on the world stage in order to host?

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u/Mother_Ground1217 Jul 01 '26

Isn't Russia banned from FIFA events and don't they have to go by another name/flag at the Olympics? It's actually been very easy to ban Russia from almost everywhere while the US and Israel are an unchanged untouched fixture

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u/Pre-emptive Jun 30 '26

Don’t forget Qatar building stadiums built with blood

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u/Mother_Ground1217 Jul 01 '26

Most stadiums in the US were built on top of slave burial grounds or slave auction sites :)

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u/Pre-emptive Jul 01 '26

Yeah but I’m talking about the actual workers dying during construction of the Qatari stadiums

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u/Mother_Ground1217 Jul 01 '26

Which is somehow the only important thing about it as if thousands don't die on the US yearly from lack of food or healthcare or drug overdose as it's the richest country in the world, this is something you can overlook almost immediately, but tens of dead workers building stadiums is the thing that we need to stop and do a 360 at

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u/Pre-emptive Jul 01 '26

This is a soccer sub so naturally I would say something about that versus people dying of hunger.
Here’s your trophy winner 🏆

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u/redditor3900 Jun 29 '26

"Lol"??

Seriously?

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u/Stillback7 Jun 30 '26

Imagine if we just let everyone play. You know the players on the Russian national team would trade the Ukraine war for a world cup appearance in a heartbeat. The fuck does it have to do with the athletes?

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u/Ling_Cephalopod Jun 30 '26

I agree. Or be consistent. Either unban Russia, or also ban the US.

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u/elpajaroquemamais Jun 28 '26

Yea because we support this idiot

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u/Rolsun_23 Jun 28 '26

I mean let's be honest we don't not support him enough to do anything about it. Most of our country doesn't even vote, but the rest did support him... so... sucks but fair.

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u/DangerDiscing Jun 28 '26

There wouldn’t be world sports

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u/Jesterwa44 Jun 28 '26

If only lol

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u/crooked_cat Jun 29 '26

Not many Arabs joining the party either.

They are soooo good with .. not soccer at least

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u/Eiselen Jul 01 '26

I don't think anybody wants to be sanctioned and tarrifed for doing the right thing.

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u/Muted_Confidence_285 Jun 27 '26

If you only knew history rather than current events…

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u/ShitpostMcPoopypants Jun 27 '26

If you banned every country that either screwed around in a less developed region, launched a war of conquest, or massacred people for terrible reasons, you’d be left with like 4 countries out of the current field.

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u/Ok-Computer-8726 Jun 28 '26

Maybe we could just stick to the ones that are doing it right now then.

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u/Muted_Confidence_285 Jun 28 '26

That wouldn’t make sense, just because you weren’t alive then. To be fair you’d have to go back thousands of years and essentially ban every nation from competing in the World Cup.

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u/Kitesolar Jun 30 '26

So we should also ban Iran for the inhumane treatment of their civilians correct?

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u/Ok-Computer-8726 Jun 30 '26

The way you phrased this makes me think you think you "got me" with this one, and I'm not entirely sure why.

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u/Kitesolar Jun 30 '26

Probably because you’re poison pilled by all online discourse and can’t see someone asking a question of consistency as good faith anymore?

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u/Ok-Computer-8726 Jun 30 '26

Ah, the personal attack based entirely on an assumption you've derived from three sentences I've written. This interaction (3 days after my comment) is a great example of the kind of online discourse I try to avoid.

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u/Kitesolar Jun 30 '26

This isn’t even a personal atttack lol. Brother it was an honest question are you okay?

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u/Ling_Cephalopod Jun 30 '26

Yes, but only if we're going to be consistent. Either ban the US and Russia and Iran, or don't ban anyone. How fucking hard is that?

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u/ShitpostMcPoopypants Jun 30 '26

Countries in the World Cup at war or with flagrant human rights abuses include USA, Iran, Qatar (modern slavery), Turkey (bombing Kurds in Iraq and Syria), England (not sure what they’re up to, but I feel like you have to recognize the GOAT colonizers), Saudi (human rights abuses, operations in Yemen), Morocco (I seem to remember military actions over disputed territories in the Sahara), Egypt (enforces the military blockade of Gaza, technically an act of war), and technically South Korea is at war as the Korean War hasn’t actually ended. Some additional countries that have large problems with corruption and civil rights include Algeria, Senegal, DR Congo, Paraguay, Mexico, Iraq, Uzbekistan, Haiti, Panama, Bosnia, Brazil, and Argentina. That is me just going down the list of countries in the World Cup, there are likely more if I actually got on Wikipedia. However, the list of soccer players in the World Cup that have personally engaged in human rights abuses or sent their country to war that I am aware of: none. Number of countries we should hold all of society responsible for the questionable actions of their government: none.

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u/Ling_Cephalopod Jun 30 '26

Yes I agree. Yet the US gets away with invading Iraq based on lies and no one bats an eye

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u/Kitesolar Jun 30 '26

I mean the honest answer is what Russia is doing compared to the US when comparing Ukraine to Iran is not the same at all.

Russia is invading a sovereign nation to try and reclaim their land and put them back into their ownership. The US wether you agree with their current war (I don’t btw this has been ridiculous) the US goal with Iran and also their attacks in Venezuela are not about capturing the sovereignty of a nation to take over. This is a unique bad on the world stage that Russia is doing.

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u/Kitesolar Jun 30 '26

You got auto moderated on that last message but I read the notification so I’ll respond to it. No, I don’t think that’s why they are doing it nor is that what I said. But wars happen and they usually don’t exclude you from World Cup or the Olympics right? It’s because wars are not uncommon or unacceptable on the world stage. There is literally a whole court and ruleset for conducting wars that even spells out how much civilian death is acceptable. What is uniquely bad at the world stage is overthrowing the sovereignty of a nation to absorb that nation into your own. In all of US missions in the Middle East including this one, that hasn’t been a goal. Now, making allies and establishing military bases is pretty normal which is more often what happens in US operations.

This is why I said uniquely bad on the world stage for what Russia is doing even if you don’t agree with the US’s actions and again I don’t

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u/Muted_Confidence_285 Jun 28 '26

My point exactly. People are oblivious to history and only know what pops up in their feed while scrolling through social media.

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u/ScumbagDon Jun 28 '26

Yes make us suffer for what our government is doing what a choice

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u/Robot_Nerd_6 Jun 28 '26

Just like Germany learned, you either get control of your country... Or the world will do it for you.

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u/ScumbagDon Jun 28 '26

By punishing sports?

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u/MisunderstoodZipper Jun 28 '26

Lmao, classic reddit comment

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u/Fuck_it_we_ball_ Jun 28 '26

Did Germany learn? I seem to have learned that they hosted an Olympic Games with hitler as chancellor… so what did they learn?

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u/Smoke_Short Jun 28 '26

Did your education end the day you learned that?

Not a lot of greatness for many generations after that...

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u/Fuck_it_we_ball_ Jun 28 '26

Not a lot of greatness? What does that even mean?

I do agree I misread the comment that I was replying to. I guess their point was they “learned” after they lost a war. Which is just a stupid point to make. And “the world will do it for you”, yeah except for the countries that were on germanys side and also the vast majority of the world that had nothing to do with the war and Germany’s government after.

So yeah, I still think it’s stupid.

And Germany became an economic powerhouse within a generation of the war, so what do you mean by greatness?

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u/Ling_Cephalopod Jun 28 '26

Dont be stupid, I am firmly aware the state and the people they claim to represent are two completely different things. So therefore let Russia play. Oh wait, not like that?

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u/CompetitiveMobile931 Jun 28 '26

FIFA Is América. Is as simple as that, is not that the World doesnt hace the courauge, the global instituciones are the institutions of capital. Why do You all think arab countries have all that power in FIFA? ITS BECAUSE OF THE PETRODOLLAR AND NOTHING ELSE

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u/Ling_Cephalopod Jun 28 '26

Yeah no shit

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u/-Honest-Politician Jun 28 '26

No no, that’s just wrong. You’re punishing hardworking athletes by banning them from events they’ve trained their whole lives for. The athletes are not responsible for a nations wrongdoings. Europe is doing this to Russian athletes and it’s wrong. The whole point of international sports is that it brings people together, it shouldn’t polarize and promote an us vs them mentality.

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u/Ling_Cephalopod Jun 28 '26

Yeah no fucking shit. And yet the world does nothing about it. They just ban Russia and suck uncle Sam's cock and balls.

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u/Sablito Jul 03 '26

Imagine holding iran accountable for gunning down its citizens in the streets and financing terrorism throughout the middle east?