Harger: FIFA wants to ban the Iranian freedom flag at the 2026 World Cup in Seattle. Mayor Katie Wilson stood up when Iran came for Pride. Where is she on this?
May 20, 2026, 6:04 AM | Updated: 1:06 pm
Stadiums restrict flags and signs all the time. That’s legal, it’s normal, and it’s their right. You can’t bring a bedsheet banner into a Seahawks game at Lumen Field either.
What I don’t like is FIFA making that call. And I especially don’t like the call they just made.
The Athletic is reporting that FIFA plans to ban the Lion and Sun flag from World Cup venues this summer. If you don’t know the flag, the short version is this. When the Islamic Republic took over Iran in 1979, it changed the flag. Out went the lion and the sun, symbols of the old monarchy. In went the Islamic Republic emblem. The old flag, the one with the lion and the sun, has been carried ever since by Iranians in exile, by dissidents, by people who want the world to know they are not the same thing as the government that claims to represent them.
FIFA’s position is that the Lion and Sun flag is political. Under Article 3.1.24 of its Stadium Code of Conduct, any materials of a “political, offensive, and/or discriminatory nature” are prohibited.
Here’s where it gets strange. The Palestinian flag, FIFA has confirmed, will be permitted at World Cup venues. You can make a perfectly good argument that the Palestinian flag belongs in the stadium. Plenty of fans will carry it. Plenty of national teams play under flags tied to ongoing conflicts. Flags are how soccer fans show up.
But if the Palestinian flag is allowed, the Lion and Sun flag cannot possibly be “political” by some standard that the Palestinian flag clears. Both make a statement about a government. One is a statement against a regime that executes gay people. FIFA has decided that’s the one fans don’t get to bring.
“Trying to prohibit Iranians in LA from bringing the Lion and Sun flag into the stadium is like trying to prevent Americans from bringing the U.S. flag into an American stadium,” Karim Sadjadpour, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace who focuses on Iran and U.S. foreign policy, told The Athletic. “It would cause mass unrest.”
He’s probably right. The Iranian diaspora in Southern California is enormous. “Tehrangeles” is not a nickname the city gave itself ironically. Iran’s group-stage match against New Zealand at SoFi Stadium on June 15 had already sold more than 50,000 tickets by April 10. That match comes first. Whatever happens at the gates in Los Angeles is going to happen before Iran ever sets foot in Seattle.
But there’s a sizeable Iranian diaspora here in Seattle too. Some of them listen to me on “Seattle’s Morning News.” They came to this country, many of them, specifically because of what the Islamic Republic did to their homeland, their families, and people like them. The Lion and Sun flag isn’t a political statement to them the way a protest sign is a political statement. It’s an identity. It’s who they are.
Here’s a small Seattle story that tells you everything. As part of the host city’s decorations for the World Cup, the city painted the flags of the participating nations on support columns throughout downtown, including those near the Seattle Monorail. Iran’s column went up with the current official flag of the Islamic Republic.
Shortly after, somebody altered it. They painted or stenciled the historic Lion and Sun emblem onto the white band of the flag. Photos of the change started showing up on r/Seattle, where members of the community documented it and debated it. The painting was eventually removed or painted over.
Somebody in Seattle looked at a city-sanctioned painting of the Islamic Republic’s flag and quietly added back the symbol the regime erased. No press conference. No protest. Just a column near the Monorail and a brush.
That’s who FIFA is telling to leave the flag at home.
Seattle Mayor Katie Wilson already said no when Iran and Egypt tried to dim Pride at the World Cup
Back in December, I told you about this. Iran plays Egypt in Seattle on June 26. Pride Month. The Egyptian Football Association sent FIFA a formal letter demanding they “avoid activities that could provoke cultural and religious sensitivities.” Iran’s federation president said he’d raise the issue at a FIFA Council meeting.
What they wanted, in plain language, was for Seattle to tone down Pride because their governments criminalize homosexuality. Egypt hands out prison sentences of three to 12 years. Iran executes people. They wanted the city hosting their game to make those facts a little less visible for a few hours.
Seattle’s organizing committee said no. Mayor Katie Wilson, to her credit, said no.
Now the same FIFA that bent to Iran’s Football Federation on the flag question wants Seattle’s Iranian diaspora to leave their symbol of protest at home.
The mayor was right the first time. Standing up for Pride at a World Cup game in her city was the easy call in Seattle, and she made it. The harder call is the one in front of her now. The Iranian-Americans who live in her city, pay taxes in her city, and bought tickets to a match in her city are about to be told by a foreign sports federation that the flag representing their resistance to a regime that executes gay people is too political for an American stadium.
LA gets the first test on June 15. Seattle gets the second on June 26. The mayor has 11 days between those matches to watch what happens at SoFi and decide what she wants to say before Iran arrives at Lumen Field.
I’d like to hear her say something. Same principle. Same regime. Same city. The microphone is right there.
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I’ve had a quiet skepticism about whether FIFA’s crowd projections for some of these matches are going to materialize. The World Cup is real. The enthusiasm is real. But the Iran situation has been complicated since the U.S. and Israel struck Iranian targets in late February, with the conflict still ongoing. What that does to attendance, to atmosphere, to people’s willingness to travel, I don’t know. Nobody does yet.
What I do know is that FIFA is not making any of this easier.
They came to an American city, to stadiums on American soil, serving American communities, including a sizeable Iranian diaspora that has made Seattle home. And their answer to what that community can bring into the building is: not your flag.
Stadiums set rules. FIFA gets to set rules for FIFA events. I understand that.
I just don’t have to like it. And I don’t think the Iranian-Americans in Seattle and Los Angeles who bought those tickets to cheer for their national team while carrying the flag that says they reject the government running it are going to like it either.
FIFA spent years telling the world that the Qatar World Cup represented diversity and inclusion. They issued statements. They held press conferences. They talked about the unifying power of the beautiful game.
Then they banned rainbow armbands in Doha and told fans to respect the host nation’s values.
Now they’re in Los Angeles and Seattle, and they’re telling Iranian exiles to leave their freedom flag at home.
Inclusive. Diverse. Unified.
Just not, apparently, with that particular flag.
Charlie Harger is the host of “Seattle’s Morning News” on KIRO Newsradio. You can read more of his stories and commentaries here. Follow Charlie on X and email him here.
