A MARTÍNEZ, HOST:
When Iran plays a World Cup game against Egypt tomorrow, there will be more than just the drama on the field. Iran's head coach says his squad is the most oppressed team at the tournament this year due to U.S.-imposed visa and travel restrictions. But those hassles pale in comparison to the pressures Iran's government places on its own athletes. Here's NPR's Arezou Rezvani.
AREZOU REZVANI, BYLINE: Iran's road to the World Cup has been tough.
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UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Welcome to this PBS News special report. Today, the U.S. and Israel launched an unprecedented joint attack on Iran.
REZVANI: When the U.S. and Israel launched their war in February, it derailed trainings and practice tournaments in Iran. The team's tune-up games before the World Cup were all on the road, like this one against Nigeria, broadcast on Football Live.
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UNIDENTIFIED COMMENTATOR: So that's got things underway.
REZVANI: And even as the World Cup approached, the U.S. issued visas for Iran's team just before the tournament kicked off and denied visas for several support staff. After U.S. authorities barred the team from entering the States more than a day before opening matches, Iran's squad moved its training base from Arizona to Mexico.
AFSHIN GHOTBI: So when you add all of that, it makes it very challenging for the players to prepare themselves for the World Cup games.
REZVANI: That's Afshin Ghotbi. He was the head coach of Iran's national soccer team from 2009 to 2011. Ghotbi says the U.S.-imposed travel hassles are robbing Iran's squad of precious time to acclimate.
GHOTBI: Just the fact that you can't be in the country that you're playing, in my opinion, can create a psychological stress and create a little bit of the logistical stress, having to travel longer distances. And I think that is a disadvantage.
REZVANI: It's unfair treatment, says Ghotbi, that Iran's players are kind of used to, even during the off-season.
GHOTBI: Visas and even the military service for some of the young players has, in the past, been a little bit of a roadblock for Iranian players to have a chance to play in the top leagues around the world.
REZVANI: Beyond this World Cup and this team, Iran is one of the toughest places to play sports. In the 1990s, the late Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei declared that athletes had a duty to bring pride and glory to the nation. From that moment on, the state started following and controlling its athletes, policing what they say and surveilling what they do. Again, former Iranian coach Ghotbi.
GHOTBI: Are they being monitored? Yes. When the Iranian national team travels, there's a - there's security around them. How much is just making sure nothing bad happens, and how much of it's for stopping people seeking political asylum and - that's - I'll leave it to people's imagination.
REZVANI: Twenty-eight-year-old Hadi Tiranvalipour doesn't have to imagine it. He lived it.
HADI TIRANVALIPOUR: When I was in Iranian national team and we had decided to go for the Asian championship, you cannot imagine. They prepared two, three people who just only control the athletes to don't go anywhere.
REZVANI: For nearly a decade, Hadi was a member of Iran's national Taekwondo team. But a few years ago, during nationwide protests, he spoke out on state-run television in favor of expanding women's rights.
TIRANVALIPOUR: After the program, they told me, this is out of your business. You don't have right to speak about this. And if you want to speak, you should pay the price.
REZVANI: The celebrated Taekwondo champion lost it all - his team, his job, his livelihood. Hadi is now a refugee in Italy, where he still practices Taekwondo and is still monitored by Iranian authorities.
TIRANVALIPOUR: Now, while I'm talking with you, maybe is going to a little bit danger for my family. You know, I spoke with one media, and after that, they started to warning about my family - Hadi doesn't have right to speak. Please speak with Hadi to don't talk about this issue. But I cannot, you know? Now it's my responsibility for my people.
REZVANI: It's been hard for Hadi to watch this World Cup. He's noticed a couple of players missing from the team after they criticized the government. One is in prison. Sean Sadri, who studies Iran's sports, politics and media at the University of Alabama, says Iran's athletes are ultimately stuck.
SEAN SADRI: Outside Iran, they're criticized for representing the government and representing the state emblem. But inside Iran, any defiance puts their careers, their freedoms and their families at risk.
REZVANI: Indeed, at many of the World Cup media briefings, Iran's players have said very little about the political situation, saying they're just here to play soccer. Anything more could cost them everything.
Arezou Rezvani, NPR News, Los Angeles. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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