World Cup 2022: U.S. Soccer alters Iran flag to support women's rights movement, then backtracks amid backlash

DOHA, Qatar — U.S. Soccer sparked a geopolitical storm here at the 2022 World Cup by altering Iran’s flag in social media graphics ahead of a meeting between the two nations in a decisive Group B game.

U.S. Soccer said Sunday that the alterations were intentional, and were a show of “support for women in Iran fighting for basic human rights.” They drew thanks on social media from citizens fighting for those rights, but roiled the Iranian regime a few days before Tuesday’s match.

As Iranian authorities caught wind of the graphics, backlash began to spread, mostly in online comments, but also in official circles. U.S. Soccer has not heard directly from Iranian authorities, but the state-affiliated Tasnim News Agency reported that Iran's soccer federation would file a complaint against U.S. Soccer with FIFA, claiming that the U.S. federation "disrespected the national flag of Islamic Republic of Iran."

Other Iranian state-affiliated media accused U.S. Soccer of “removing the symbol of Allah” from the flag.

And on Sunday evening, with tension brewing and controversy exploding, after what a U.S. Soccer spokesman called “internal discussions,” the posts containing the graphics were deleted.

They were initially posted amid ongoing demonstrations that swept across Iran after the September death in police custody of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old woman who'd been arrested for allegedly wearing her headscarf too loosely. The nearly unprecedented wave of dissent against the Iranian regime, and in support of women's rights, prompted a swift crackdown by the country's security forces. At least 450 citizens have been killed, and over 18,000 arrested, since the protests erupted, according to the advocacy group Human Rights Activists in Iran.

U.S. Soccer officials chose to make their statement, by removing the Islamic Republic emblem from the center of the flag, without consulting U.S. players or men’s national team head coach Gregg Berhalter, a U.S. Soccer spokesman said. They consulted Iranian experts, but did not consult the U.S. government, two sources told Yahoo Sports.

The altered flag, which appeared in Twitter and Instagram posts less than two hours after Friday's game versus England, featured the Iranian flag's tricolor scheme but scrubbed the emblem that typically sits in the center of it. At least one graphic also appeared to scrub the "takbir," the white script that appears at the bottom of the green and top of the red on the flag, and translates to "God is the greatest."

By Sunday afternoon in Qatar, U.S. Soccer had restored the official flag to its Twitter banner photo, which had previously displayed the altered flag. A U.S. Soccer spokesman said that the plan all along, without any pressure from FIFA or other organizations, had been for the statement to be temporary, and for the official flag to be restored. FIFA did not respond to a request for comment.

But on Sunday evening, the federation seemed to be in damage control. Chief communications officer Neil Buethe paced outside the team’s training facility at Al-Gharafa, speaking on the phone, an hour before two players were scheduled to meet with reporters at a news conference.

Shortly before the news conference, federation officials decided to take the posts down, but a spokesman said they stood by their message in support of the women fighting for rights in Iran. When asked why the posts were deleted, the spokesman said: "I'm not gonna get into specifics. We made the decision."

This is a developing story and will be updated.