Iran's sports minister has warned that the national team would abandon World Cup matches in the case of protests in the stadium by the Persian diaspora against the country's Islamic leadership.
The Varzesh3 sports portal quoted minister Ahmad Donyamali as saying that "we have already informed [governing body] FIFA that those responsible for the team would abandon the match as soon as we hear political slogans in the stadiums."
Donyamali said that FIFA has also repeatedly been asked to make sure that fans only bring the official flag of the Islamic Republic to the venues, and not the former Persian one. The team would also walk off in such cases, he said.
The old flag with a lion and the sun is favoured especially by monarchist opposition groups and is used at protest rallies abroad as a symbol of opposition to the Islamic system in Iran.
Observers doubt that such a ban could be enforced at the World Cup.
Two of Iran's three group matches, on Monday against New Zealand and on June 21 against Belgium, take place in Los Angeles where the majority of the 2 million Iranians in the US live.
For them, the World Cup offers a platform to make their protests against the regime visible.
The team's participation at the World Cup is overshadowed by the military conflict between Iran and the US since February.
Iran's team has moved its tournament base camp from Arizona to the Mexican city of Tijuana and the team can only travel on matchday for its games in the US, the third one being in Seattle against Egypt on June 26.
