Iranian FA asks FIFA to ban Israel from world football

Rajaei shook hands with Israeli weightlifter Maksim Svirsky as they stood at the medal podium at a World Masters championship.

The Iranian Weightlifting Federation also dismissed the head of the delegation for the competition, Hamid Salehinia.

In 2021, Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei urged athletes “not to shake hands with a representative of the criminal regime [Israel] to obtain a medal.”

A group of Middle Eastern soccer associations, including those of Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and the Palestinian Authority, have also “asked world football chiefs to ban Israel over the war on Hamas in Gaza,” Sky News reported.

Israel Defense Forces Spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari has accused Tehran of assisting Hamas by supplying it with intelligence and boosting anti-Israel incitement worldwide.

Iran also helped Hamas with training, weapons, funding and technological knowledge, said Hagari.

Iran’s online disinformation activities and cyberattacks on Israel have risen dramatically since October 7, according to a Microsoft report released last week.

Senior Hamas operatives have publicly thanked Iran for its help. “Hezbollah and Iran supported us with weapons, expertise and technology,” Khaled Mashaal, a leading Hamas official, told Al Arabiya television.