Back to Brief on Iran
… For U.S. fans and some in the Middle East, the most political moment of the game may well be the match between the United States and Iran next Sunday.
Last week, members of Iran's 1978 team, its last Cup appearance before the current entry, talked about the brutal treatment of the players - including the execution of the Captain - after the Islamic revolution a year later.
M. Hassan Nayeb Agha, a player on the 1978 team, warned that the religious clergy in Iran continue to try to exploit soccer diplomatically.
"The regime will use soccer as long as it agrees with their purposes - and if it doesn't, I fear for their players," he says.
Iranian Players Hold Late Ceremony, Associated Press, June 14
YSSINGEAUX, France - Much to the dismay of the coach, Iranian soccer players gave up hours of needed sleep before their World Cup debut to participate in a lengthy, late-night Islamic ceremony.
Held to mourn a seventh-century Shiite Muslim saint, the ceremony took place at the insistence of the Iranian Embassy in Paris, according to Iranian reporters.
Reporters who were invited to the ceremony at a chateau where the team is housed said the three-hour ritual began with the traditional eulogy and ended just before midnight.
Coach Jalal Talebi was displeased that players had to attend, rather than getting a good night's sleep, the reporters said.
Hours later Sunday afternoon, Iran lost to Yugoslavia 1-0, with neither team looking particularly formidable.
In Iran, 20 hard-line legislators have written to Khatami, urging him to order players not to exchange T-shirts with the Americans after their match.
Iran Frees Newspaper Official on Bail, Reuter, June 14
TEHRAN - The managing director of an Iranian newspaper who was detained last week was released on bail on Sunday, the official Iranian news agency IRNA said.
Ali Mohammad Mahdavi Khorrami was detained on June 9 after his paper reprinted an article from an Arab publication which alleged Iranian officials were taking foreign currency out of the country, said IRNA.
Quoting an "informed source," IRNA said Khorrami, managing director of the daily Gozaresh-e Rooz, was released on bail.
The daily Salam newspaper on Sunday said Khorrami, who it said was publisher of Gozaresh-e Rooz, had been detained for failing to appear in court to answer questions about the article.
It quoted a Culture and Islamic Guidance deputy minister as saying Khorrami was summoned to court after his paper quoted the Paris-based, Arabic-language magazine al-Watan al-Arabi as saying Iran's top officials were "transferring money to foreign countries."
Salam quoted a judiciary official as saying Khorrami had previously been sentenced to a three-year ban on holding positions in the press when he was publisher of the weekly paper Gozaresh-e Hafteh.
Rafsanjani Blamed Over Tehran Mayor's Corruption Case, Xinhua, June 13
TEHRAN - As factional struggles intensified in the country, Iranian Former President Hashemi Rafsanjani was once again targeted by the conservatives over the corrupt case of the suspended Tehran Mayor Gholamhussein Karbaschi.
"From the legal point of view, the superiors of the Tehran mayor are also guilty of breaking the law," local daily Iran News on Saturday quoted parliament deputy Ali Zadsar Jirofti as saying.
He said that Karbaschi's superiors, particularly Rafsanjani, should have stood up to Karbaschi and stopped the mayor's violations of the law. But regretfully Rafsanjani encouraged Karbaschi in stead of stopping him, he added.
In April, another conservative Majlis deputy Ahmad Rasoulinejad strongly lashed out at Rafsanjani for defending Karbaschi, warning that he would release documents to show the involvement of Rafsanjani's relatives in Karbaschi's case.
Rafsanjani, chairman of the powerful arbitrating body the State Expediency Council, openly defended Karbaschi, blaming the factional political row over the case as a "bitter" experience for the country and the Islamic regime.
Iranian legal experts said that Karbaschi could face five years in prison, a ban on holding government office, the return of funds allegedly embezzled and a fine equivalent to twice the sum embezzled if he was found guilty.