Qatar ban petition overshadows Iran’s World Cup mood

Iran’s World Cup countdown has been marred by petitions to banish them from the tournament, plus the arrest of a Doha-bound Spanish fan hiking through the Islamic republic.

The Gulf state is in Group B at the FIFA World Cup, where they will face England, Wales and political arch-foe the USA.

But Iran’s participation has, over the last month, been eclipsed by an international petition to have the team thrown out of the FIFA World Cup.

This follows the Iranian security force’s brutal suppression of nationwide protests that were sparked by the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini last month.

Amini died in police custody after she was arrested for allegedly wrongly wearing her hijab.

Ukraine has also added its voice to the petition after Iran supplied Russia with ‘Kamikaze Drones’

SHOULD IRAN BE REPLACED?

Some Italian lawmakers have even written to FIFA to have Italy replace Iran, and the four-time champions failed to qualify for a second successive World Cup.

The United Arab Emirates is another nation currently on ‘standby’ should a FIFA ban be applied to Iran.

Meanwhile, Iran’s case suffered another setback with news on October 28 that a Spanish hiker Santiago Sánchez who went missing on October 2, was arrested by authorities.

The Spanish foreign ministry confirmed the development to international media on Friday but gave no reasons as to what Sánchez had been charged with.

Sánchez was hiking his way to way to Qatar from Madrid, posting regular updates about his journey to November’s kickoff.

Iran is heading for their second successive FIFA World Cup, but they have yet to make it out of the group stages in their last four appearances.

They will kick off their Group B campaign on November 21 against England and then face Wales on November 25.

Iran and USA meet in their Group B showdown on November 29.