World Cup: Iranians in Los Angeles divided on whether to cheer or jeer Iran
US host city braces for protests near stadium as Iran prepares to start its World Cup campaign against New Zealand. Los Angeles – From saffron-flavoured
US host city braces for protests near stadium as Iran prepares to start its World Cup campaign against New Zealand. Los Angeles – From saffron-flavoured ice cream parlours to kabob shops and Farsi-language bookstores, it does not take long to see signs of the Iranian community in Los Angeles’s Westwood neighbourhood. And with Iran’s pre-1979-revolution lion-and-sun flag on display across the area, alongside the occasional portrait of opposition figure Reza Pahlavi, the community’s stance against the Iranian government also becomes apparent. Several protests have already taken place against the participation of Iran – known as Team Melli – in the tournament. But as the Iranian national team prepares to kick off its World Cup in Los Angeles on Monday, business owner Roozbeh Farahanipour says Iranian Americans’ position on Team Melli is more nuanced than what the visuals may suggest. “The community is divided,” Farahanipour told Al Jazeera. Some opposition activists view the squad as an extension of the governing system in Tehran, and are planning protests outside the stadium in Los Angeles. But many other Iranian Americans just want to watch the game and are putting politics aside. Opposition to the Iranian government runs deep in Westwood. Known as Tehrangeles, the area is a stronghold for supporters of Pahlavi, the son of Iran’s last monarch who was toppled by the 1979 revolution that established the Islamic republic. But while anti-regime sentiment is prevalent, Farahanipour said people here are not in full agreement on proverbially booing the Iranian team at the World Cup – or cheering for the US-Israel war against their homeland. Farahanipour himself, a veteran opposition activist, is against the war, but he will not be supporting Team Melli. “When this team is going to go to any international field, to me, they represent the regime, the system will kill many members of my friends and family,” he told Al Jazeera.
Iran’s team or regime’s team? Sudi Farokhnia, an Iranian American community organiser in Los Angeles, had a different view. She compared supporting the Iranian team while opposing the government to cheering for the United States as a critic of President Donald Trump. “I’m anti-Trump as hell, but on Friday, when Team USA was playing, I had my USA shirt, I had my USA headpiece on, I had a flag around,” Farokhnia told Al Jazeera. “I don’t know what are the political views of those who are in the US team … and at this point I don’t care. That’s a separate topic. What I care about is the fact that they’re representing the USA.” When it comes to Iran’s participation in the World Cup, the Trump administration did not separate the team from the government in Tehran, however. Team Melli was not allowed to stay in the US and had to set up base in neighbouring Mexico, despite having all of its group stage matches on the other side of the border – two in Los Angeles and one in Seattle. As the Iranian team arrived in the US on Sunday for its opener against New Zealand a day later, the prospect of renewed fighting between Tehran and Washington was subsiding as the two sides agreed to a ceasefire deal. The diplomatic breakthrough, however, has done little to reduce the tensions around Iran at the World Cup. Some anti-Iranian-government activists are adamant about making a show of opposing Team Melli with calls for protests inside and outside the stadium on Monday. The flag issue A huge point of contention will be the presence of Iran’s pre-revolution flag in the stands. Both the old flag and the new, Islamic republic one consist of green, white and red strips from top to bottom, but the official flag features the name of God stylised in the middle.
The BriefWire