Skip to main content
Work with the NEU
Iran government supporters confront protesters at World Cup
A woman holds a shirt with the name of Mahsa Amini, a woman who died while in police custody in Iran at the age of 22, as she takes her place in the stands ahead of the World Cup group B match between Wales and Iran, at the Ahmad Bin Ali Stadium in Al Rayyan, Qatar, Friday, November 25, 2022

TENSIONS ran high at Iran’s second World Cup match today as fans supporting the Iranian government harassed those protesting against it and stadium security seized flags, T-shirts and other items expressing support for the protest movement that has gripped the Islamic Republic.

Some fans were stopped by stadium security from bringing in Persian pre-revolutionary flags to the match against Wales at the Ahmad Bin Ali Stadium.

Others carrying such flags had them ripped from their hands by pro-government Iran fans, who also shouted insults at fans wearing T-shirts with the slogan of the protest movement gripping the country, “Woman, Life, Freedom.”

The 95th Anniversary Appeal
Support the Morning Star
You have reached the free limit.
Subscribe to continue reading.
Similar stories
iran
Opinion / 13 March 2026
13 March 2026

KATAYOUN SHAHANDEH surveys Iran’s cultural heritage and explains what has been damaged and what could be lost

A protester against the Iran regime
Middle East / 17 January 2026
17 January 2026

MOHAMMAD OMIDVAR, a senior figure in the Tudeh Party of Iran, tells the Morning Star that mass protests are rooted in poverty, corruption and neoliberal rule and warns against monarchist revival and US-engineered regime change

Tehran 21.6.25
Features / 22 June 2025
22 June 2025

In the second of two articles, STEVE BISHOP looks at how the 1979 revolution’s aims are obfuscated to create a picture where the monarchists are the opposition to the theocracy, not the burgeoning workers’ and women’s movement on the streets of Iran

Music artist Nezza sings the national anthem prior to a baseball game between the Los Angeles Dodgers and the San Francisco Giants in Los Angeles, June 14, 2025
Baseball / 19 June 2025
19 June 2025

Singer Nezza’s rendition of the US national anthem in Spanish has ignited important conversation around arrests made by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents, writes LESLIE AMBRIZ