STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
Iran's national soccer team is in the United States, having arrived at the end of the war. The team's first World Cup game is tonight in Los Angeles, which is home to hundreds of thousands of Iranian Americans, some of whom are torn about who to root for. NPR's Arezou Rezvani is in LA.
AREZOU REZVANI, BYLINE: Thirty-one-year-old Shaheen Ferdowsi is pumped. Iran's national soccer team is in town.
SHAHEEN FERDOWSI: I am Iranian. I grew up in LA. So going to watch my first World Cup game and it being Iran right here in my hometown, that is so fun.
REZVANI: I catch Ferdowsi at Meymuni Cafe, an Iranian Bistro he owns on LA's Westside. A few months ago, he hosted gatherings for LA Iranians anguished by Iran's deadly crackdown on protesters in January and the war the U.S. and Israel launched soon after. Tonight will be different. He'll be hosting a festive watch party.
FERDOWSI: That doesn't mean that what's happened is forgotten, but it just means that we need to come together to power forward.
REZVANI: The feelings are more complicated among Ferdowsi's customers.
PEDRAM MOHAMMADHOSSEIN: Yeah. I mean, I feel confused, to be honest.
REZVANI: Pedram Mohammadhossein (ph) has tickets to tonight's game against New Zealand, but he's not sure he can cheer for Iran, as human rights organizations accuse the government there of disappearing dissidents, activists and protesters.
MOHAMMADHOSSEIN: People are, like, getting killed, getting executed. I don't know if I should go there and, like, you know, wear, like, a T-shirt that says, free Iran, or just go regular and just support the team. I have no idea right now what I'm going to do.
REZVANI: Hearing that, his cousin, Pedram Keshani (ph), breaks into the conversation.
PEDRAM KESHANI: I'm actually very prideful, and I fully support them. It's our country. It's one team coming out of there. And I believe sports are meant to be for entertainment, and that's all it is. You're supposed to keep politics out.
REZVANI: When it comes to Iran, disentangling sports from politics is kind of impossible. Iran's players got their U.S. visas just days before the World Cup kicked off. The State Department denied visas for more than a dozen of the team's support staff for their links to the Revolutionary Guard Corps, the all-powerful branch of Iran's armed forces. This clash between sports and politics may come into even sharper focus tonight.
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UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #1: (Non-English language spoken).
REZVANI: For days across social media channels, exiled Iranian opposition groups have been discussing protests for inside and outside the stadium.
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UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #2: (Non-English language spoken).
REZVANI: Some groups have chartered buses to bring protesters from across Southern California.
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UNIDENTIFIED PROTESTER: (Chanting) Javid.
UNIDENTIFIED PROTESTERS: (Chanting) Shah.
UNIDENTIFIED PROTESTER: (Chanting) Javid.
UNIDENTIFIED PROTESTERS: (Chanting) Shah.
REZVANI: At a recent gathering of anti-regime activists in LA, members discuss props to sneak into the stadium.
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UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #3: (Non-English language spoken).
REZVANI: Blindfolds, nooses, American and Israeli flags, all of it meant to condemn the regime and its players, says protest organizer Fakhteh Dabashi (ph).
FAKHTEH DABASHI: So we have special plans for inside the stadium for different moments of the game, like showing the hanging when the national anthem is playing or just turning our back to their flag and things like that.
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AMIR GHALENOEI: (Non-English language spoken).
REZVANI: At a press conference in Los Angeles yesterday, Iranian team coach Amir Ghalenoei was asked about protests.
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GHALENOEI: (Non-English language spoken).
REZVANI: "We're just interested in playing a good, high-quality match," he told reporters, adding that the team won't pay attention to anything in the stadium beyond the game. FIFA, the organization behind the World Cup, prohibits the display of political signs and images. Security could remove demonstrators from the stadium, pushing Iran's human rights record and reputation of oppression out of view.
Arezou Rezvani, NPR News, Los Angeles.
(SOUNDBITE OF PIERRE BENSUSAN'S "HEMAN DUBH") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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