Because of the word of God.. Iran is calling for the exclusion of the United States from the World Cup

Today, Sunday, the Iranian Football Association protested against its American counterpart's removal of the word "Allah" from the flag of the Islamic Republic on social media, before the next match between the two countries' national teams, at the end of the group stage of the 2022 World Cup.

In a politically charged meeting, the Iranian national team will face its American counterpart in its last match in Group Two the day after tomorrow, Tuesday, and its victory will lead to its candidacy for the final price of the tournament hosted by Qatar.

"In an unprofessional act, the NFL's Instagram page removed the symbol of God from the Iranian flag," the official Iranian news agency IRNA said. "The Iranian Football Federation sent an email to FIFA (the International Federation of Football), asking it to issue a serious warning to the USFA." ".

The flag of Iran consists of 3 horizontal stripes of red, white and green, with the word “God” in a stylized font in the middle. The word was removed from the flag in two posts on the American Federation’s Instagram and Twitter pages.

"It was a one-off photo to show solidarity with women in Iran," said a media official from the American Federation, adding that the flag had not been changed on the Federation's website.

A spokesman for the NFL told reporters - at a later time - that the post was removed and replaced with another displaying the correct flag, but added, "We still support the women of Iran," referring to the protests taking place in Iran after the killing of the young woman, Mahsa Amini.

Iran's Tasnim news agency said - via Twitter - that the US team "violated the FIFA Charter, and its appropriate penalty is a 10-match ban. The US national team should be excluded from the World Cup."

The United States and Iran severed diplomatic relations in 1980, months after dozens of American students were taken hostage at the US embassy in Tehran.

And when Iran and the United States faced each other in the 1998 World Cup, the Iranian players handed their American counterparts white roses, symbolizing peace.