{"id":213976,"date":"2026-06-16T06:14:27","date_gmt":"2026-06-16T06:14:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/pre-revolutionary-flags-spotted-anthem-booed-at-irans-world-cup-opener-the-new-york-times\/"},"modified":"2026-06-16T06:14:27","modified_gmt":"2026-06-16T06:14:27","slug":"pre-revolutionary-flags-spotted-anthem-booed-at-irans-world-cup-opener-the-new-york-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/pre-revolutionary-flags-spotted-anthem-booed-at-irans-world-cup-opener-the-new-york-times\/","title":{"rendered":"Pre-revolutionary flags spotted, anthem booed at Iran\u2019s World Cup opener – The New York Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

World Cup
FIFA World
Cup 2026
Iran kicked off its World Cup against New Zealand on Monday night. Frederic J. Brown \/ AFP via Getty Images<\/span>
INGLEWOOD, Calif. \u2014 Dozens of pre-revolutionary flags were brought into SoFi Stadium for Iran\u2019s World Cup opener against New Zealand in defiance of FIFA\u2019s ban.
In one particularly pointed moment, a group of fans on the far side of the ground held up theirs in direct response to the enormous flag of the current Iran government being unfurled on the pitch opposite New Zealand\u2019s as part of matchday protocols.
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Those supporters were left unchallenged by stewards, despite FIFA winning a court hearing enabling them to lawfully prohibit people<\/a> showing the lion-and-sun flags on the grounds of them carrying a political message and potentially causing disturbances.
The legal case, decided at an emergency hearing in a Los Angeles courthouse on Monday morning, was brought by an Iranian fan who said FIFA\u2019s block impinged freedom of speech, but the judge rejected that argument.
Before the opening of SoFi Stadium\u2019s gates, a security official from the security contractor CSC told The Athletic<\/em> that he had been instructed \u2014 and had, in turn, instructed all of his staffers \u2014 to not let fans enter with flags bearing any Iranian pre-revolution imagery. He pulled out his phone, scrolled up in a large WhatsApp group, and showed five images that were not permitted, including the flag with the lion and sun.
When a group of six fans wearing white t-shirts with the pre-revolution flag emblazoned on the fronts tried to enter, they were stopped by a security staffer, who called over her supervisor. The supervisor told the fans they were not allowed in. After some discussions, the fans were asked to cover their shirts with jackets or take them off and turn them inside out. After doing so, they were allowed to enter.
One of those six fans, Mehdi, told The Athletic<\/em> that they\u2019d worn the shirts \u201cbecause this is the true flag of my country.\u201d A younger boy with him said: \u201cIt means freedom.\u201d
Another fan, Aiden \u2014 who had traveled with his Iranian family from the U.S. east coast and declined to give his last name \u2014 said he had no trouble bringing in a pre-revolution flag.
\u201cThe flag that FIFA puts is not the flag that really represents the people,\u201d Aiden said with the pre-revolution flag draped around his shoulders. \u201cIt\u2019s really a symbol of oppression, and the killing of so many people from January, and honestly the past 47 years. We want to bring our symbol of freedom and expression.\u201d
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There were also many current Islamic Republic flags in the stadium. A majority of Iranian fans seemed to be cheering for Iran\u2019s team. But there were also a smattering of fans with pre-revolutionary flags who booed the Iranian national anthem and erupted in celebration when New Zealand scored an early goal.
During the first half, in the front row behind one goal, seven or eight fans sitting consecutively held one banner each to spell out \u201cMINAB168\u201d \u2014 a reference to the killing of 168 children at an elementary school in southern Iran on the first day of the U.S.-Iran military conflict, which the Iranian team also acknowledged by wearing \u201c#168\u201d pins<\/a> as they arrived in Mexico ahead of the World Cup last week.
The banners were confiscated by stadium personnel just before halftime. Three of the fans \u2014 who identified themselves as Mohsen, Mehrdad and Amir, but declined to give their last names \u2014 later told The Athletic<\/em> that stadium officials did not give them a reason for taking the banners.<\/p>\n

As they spoke with The Athletic<\/em>, another fan came down from an adjacent section, interrupted us, and accused them of getting paid to sit front row, support Iran and send the Minab message. \u201cShame on you, shame on you,\u201d the fan, who was anti-regime, said.
Mohsen responded: \u201cWhat? Absolutely not true!\u201d
He later added: \u201cWe\u2019re just cheering for the people of Iran, and for those kids who got killed \u2014 innocent! That\u2019s it!\u201d
Mohsen said that the entire group of people lived here in the United States \u2014 some having been born here, some having immigrated from Iran \u2014 and three had PhDs. He identified himself as a professor. Mehrdad said he was a physician, and Amir said he was a mechanical engineer.
Amir was wearing a hat that read \u201cMINAB 168.\u201d He was not asked to take it off, nor were any of the group\u2019s Islamic Republic flags confiscated.
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Multiple fans, meanwhile, said they had seen pre-revolution flags confiscated by stadium personnel. It is unclear how many.
One level up and a few sections over, other fans held a homemade banner which read: \u201c42,000 #IranMassacre\u201d \u2014 a reference to civilians allegedly killed by Iranian authorities since the start of the year, per the Canada-based International Centre for Human Rights<\/a>.
Spot the pattern. Connect the terms
Find the hidden link between sports terms
Play today's puzzle<\/p>\n

source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

World CupFIFA WorldCup 2026Iran kicked off its World Cup against New Zealand on Monday night. Frederic J. Brown \/ AFP via Getty ImagesINGLEWOOD, Calif. \u2014 Dozens of pre-revolutionary flags were brought into SoFi Stadium for Iran\u2019s World Cup opener against New Zealand in defiance of FIFA\u2019s ban.In one particularly pointed moment, a group of fans […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":213977,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-213976","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world","8":"entry"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/213976","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=213976"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/213976\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/213977"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=213976"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=213976"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=213976"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}