Iranian Americans plan protests and watch parties ahead of team’s World Cup opener

INGLEWOOD, Calif. (AP) — Iranian Americans are torn over Iran’s participation in the World Cup, as some community members plan to watch Monday’s match and others plan to protest outside the stadium where the team will play.

A rally is planned for outside the stadium near Los Angeles, home to the largest Iranian community outside Iran. 

Many of Southern California’s Iranian Americans arrived after the Islamic Revolution, and a hub of eateries, shops and markets about 10 miles (16 kilometres) from the stadium is known as “Tehrangeles.”

Rally participants plan to wear lion-and-sun T-shirts and wave the country’s flag from before the 1979 Islamic Revolution in protest of Tehran’s deadly January crackdown on dissent.

Ali Javahery, a 59-year-old consultant who was born in Iran and lives in California’s Orange County, said he will be outside protesting Iran’s opening match against New Zealand, not inside watching it. 

He said football and politics are intertwined, and though he loves the sport, he says the national team’s players are under pressure to adhere to the Iranian government’s positions.

“This is not ‘Team Melli,’” as the national team is known in Persian, Javahery said. 

“This is Team Islamic Republic.”

Reza Garajedaghi, 57, said he will watch the game with his 96-year-old father in San Diego. He said he didn’t buy tickets for the game, partly because of the sky-high pricing. 

But he said he supports the team, politics aside, while respecting the wide range of views shared by Iranians in the diaspora.

“I’m a football die-hard, and the boys, they’re representing all Persians, Iranians around the world,” said Garajedaghi, who left Iran when he was 10 years old. 

“To me, it has nothing to do with whatever government they have in Iran.”

Watch parties are planned to cheer on the team in Southern California, and when Iran was assigned last year to play in LA, many bought tickets. 

But in recent months, some said they have sold off their tickets in anger, following January’s brutal repression.

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