USA defender Antonee Robinson consoled Iran full-back Ramin Rezeian in an emotional hug after his side knocked the Iranians out of the World Cup on Tuesday – amid reported concerns over the repercussions Rezeian and his team-mates could now face back home.
A first half Christian Pulisic goal was enough for Gregg Berhalter’s side to secure progression to the last-16 where they will now face the Netherlands on Saturday.
And after the full-time whistle, a distraught Rezeian was embraced by Robinson in a hugely emotional moment.
Rezeian had his head buried in Robinson’s chest before the Fulham full-back seemed to say a few words to his opponent, who was in tears.
There is significant social and political unrest in Iran currrently following the death of 22-year-old woman Mahsa Amini in police custody in September.
Amini had been detained by the morality police in the capital Tehran for allegedly wearing her mandatory Islamic headscarf too loosely.
Since her death thousands of Iranians have taken to the streets in protests, venting anger over the treatment of women and wider repression in the Islamic Republic.
USA defender Antonee Robinson consoled Iran full-back Ramin Rezeian after their game
Robinson gave Rezeian an emotional hug after his side knocked Iran out of the World Cup
There are concerns over the repercussions Rezeian and his team-mates could face back home
Robinson could be seen saying a few words to Rezeian who was in tears following the match
Iran has now been wracked by more than two months of anti-regime demonstrations with near-daily marches taking place calling for an end to the country’s strict interpretation of Islamic laws and the overthrow of the mullahs’ regime and clerical establishment that has ruled Iran since its 1979 Islamic revolution..
News out of the country is limited amid widespread internet outages, but it is thought hundreds – if not thousands – of demonstrators have been killed by security forces in an increasingly violent crackdown.
Rights groups accuse security forces of firing live ammunition and birdshot at demonstrators, and of beating them with batons, violence captured in numerous videos circulated online.
Last week the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk described the stiaution as ‘critical’, with the hardening of the authorities reactions to the protests culminating in a reported more than 400 deaths and 18,000 arrests.
Preceding and during the tournament, several Iranian players have spoken out in support of the protests.
Players of Iran stand during their national anthem prior to the FIFA World Cup 2022 Group B soccer match between England and Iran at Khalifa International Stadium in Doha
This included failing to sing the Iranian national anthem ahead of their game with England last Monday.
They then sang the anthem against both Wales and USA after being warned by officials in Tehran they face retribution for their ‘insulting’ decision not to sing it ahead of the match against England.
It came after Medhi Chamran, the chairman of Tehran city council, warned that the country ‘will never allow anyone to insult our anthem’, reported The Guardian.
Chamran said last Tuesday: ‘We will never allow anyone to insult our anthem and flag.
‘Iranian civilization has a history of several thousand years, this civilization is as old as the total of European and American civilizations.’
Furthermore, CNN reported that families of Iranian soccer players at the World Cup in Qatar were threatened with torture and jailtime by their own country’s government if they failed to adhere to pre-match rules ahead of a tense, final group match against the US on Tuesday.
Iran’s footballers were warned by officials in Tehran they face retribution for their ‘insulting’ decision not to sing their national anthem ahead of the England game
A source told CNN that a meeting between the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRCG) and all 26 soccer players was called upon after the starting XI that faced England on November 21 had refused to sing the national anthem.
Players were told that their families would be subjugated to ‘violence and torture’ if they stay quiet during pre-match rituals and if they joined any groups protesting against the Islamic Republic’s regime.
A conservative MP in Kurdistan also called for the Iranian football team to be replaced by faithful youngsters who are willing to sing the national anthem, reported the Guardian.
Meanwhile, a senior British politician said the risk to the Iranian players’ lives is now ‘serious and severe’ after they refused to sing the national anthem.
Conservative MP Alicia Kearns, who chairs the UK’s Commons Foreign Affairs Committee, said Britain should support Iran’s international footballers if they seek asylum following their ‘very bold and brave political statement’.
Iran’s heavily censored media made little mention of the Iranian team not singing the national anthem, but ultra-conservative newspaper Kayhan criticised ‘certain players’ for remaining silent.
Families of Iranian soccer players at the World Cup in Qatar were also threatened with torture and jailtime by their own country’s government ahead of their final Group B against the USA
Then, last week, Voria Ghafouri, a former Iranian international was arrested by Iranian security forces after being accused of ‘spreading propaganda against the state’.
Ghafouri, who was part of Iran’s squad for the 2018 World Cup, had spoken up in defence of Iranian Kurds, pleading the government on social media to stop killing Kurdish people.
Following their exit from the tournament, an ex-CIA covert operations officer told The New York Post that the squad may face retribution upon its return to the Islamic Republic.
The ex-CIA offer had said: ‘Given what we’ve seen from the Iranian regime … they’ve shown themselves to be brutal and there’s no reason to believe they’re going to suddenly become rational,’ adding that the Iranian players are being put in an ‘untenable situation’.
Robinson’s gesture at full-time to Rezeian also came after Iranian journalists hijacked a USA pre-match World Cup press conference amid frosty bilateral relations between the two nations.
U.S. coach Gregg Berhalter and his captain Tyler Adams faced a barrage of politically-charged questions which included asking them how they how they felt about ‘representing a racist country’ – before berating them for pronouncing the name of their country wrong.
The pair were also intensely quizzed on systemic racism in America, strict U.S. visa rules in place against Iranian citizens and Uncle Sam’s naval presence fleet in the Persian Gulf, to name a few subjects.
It comes after the U.S. soccer federation also displayed Iran’s national flag on social media without the emblem of the Islamic Republic in support of anti-regime protests in the country, causing Iran’s government to call on FIFA to expel the USA team from the tournament.
Iran exited the World Cup in third place in Group A, with three points from three games.
Despite losses to the USA and England, Carlos Queiroz’s side secured a memorable 2-0 over Wales last Friday.
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