Iranian flag defaced under Seattle Monorail ahead of World Cup match

An Iranian flag posted on a column under the city monorail in downtown Seattle has been defaced. It’s one of many nations’ flags painted in a row as part of the city’s celebration of hosting the 2026 FIFA World Cup.

The flag can be seen at the intersection of 5th Avenue and Stewart Street. Its central emblem, a red emblem of the Islamic Republic resembling a mirrored “Allah” surrounded by the word “Allah” 22 times along the border, has been completely covered in black with the word “Iran” scribbled underneath.

Next Friday, June 26, Iran comes to Seattle to take on Egypt at Seattle Field (Lumen Stadium).

Controversy around Iran’s flag

Just before the 2026 FIFA World Cup kicked off, FIFA’s ban on pre-revolutionary Iran flags at the World Cup was upheld after a last-minute hearing in Los Angeles.

The flag in question features a lion and sun symbol in the flag’s center. It was disbanded in 1979 following the Islamic Revolution. While it’s been formally defunct for more than 40 years, the flag is still embraced by resistance groups as a symbol of freedom and defiance against the current regime.

FIFA banned the flag as it classified it as a political symbol under the league’s Stadium Code of Conduct.

“Free speech is incredibly important, it is sacred, a bedrock of our society, but it is not without limitation, such as private actor, on private property, and as shown by previous cases, regulating in reasonable way,” Judge Curtis A. Kin said, according to The Athletic, upholding the ban after it was challenged in court. “I deny the application.”

As Iran chases the World Cup, its US diaspora is divided between protesting and cheering

Several hundred Iranian Americans protested outside Iran’s first World Cup match Monday, calling for change in Tehran and waving the pre-revolutionary lion-and-sun flag, while thousands of fans poured into the stadium in the heart of the largest diaspora community to see the team play.

Iran’s participation in the World Cup has been beset by challenges since the war’s outbreak, dividing the community in the United States. Fans cheered and booed loudly while Iran’s national anthem was played at the game against New Zealand, which ended in a 2-2 draw. Some spectators held large lion-and-sun flags in the front rows just hours after a court upheld FIFA’s ban on the flags.

Outside the stadium, demonstrators contended the team is synonymous with Tehran’s government, while fans, their cheeks striped with red-and-green face paint, filed past, saying they were separating soccer from politics. At one point, protesters snatched an official Iran flag from a fan and stomped on it and ripped it.

Southern California is home to the largest Iranian community outside Iran, many who arrived after the 1979 Islamic Revolution. Rameileh Jaffrey, 46, of Los Angeles, left Iran a dozen years ago and said she feels the team’s players are aligned with the current government in Iran.

“They are not my team. They are a government team,” she said.

Contributing: The Associated Press

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