From the Liveblog of
Wednesday, October 4, 2023
Iranian FM seeks to play down soccer spat with Saudi Arabia over Soleimani statue
TEHRAN, Iran — Iran’s top diplomat plays down a spat with Saudi Arabia that prompted the cancellation of an Asian Champions League soccer match, insisting relations with its longtime rival are improving.
The row, over a statue of assassinated Revolutionary Guards commander Qassem Soleimani in the stadium in Iran’s third city Isfahan, was the first incident to mar a surprise rapprochement between the rival Middle East powers brokered by China in March.
Saudi club Al Ittihad had refused to take to the pitch for their away game against Iran’s Sepahan FC in protest at the statue of Soleimani, who oversaw Iran’s military operations across the Middle East until his death in a targeted US drone strike in 2020.
The Asian Football Confederation later confirmed that the fixture had been canceled “due to unanticipated and unforeseen circumstances.”
“The foreign minister of Saudi Arabia and I were in direct contact with each other” after the incident on Monday, Iran’s top diplomat Hossein Amir-Abdollahian tells reporters today.
“Relations between Tehran and Riyadh are moving in the right direction and we should not allow sports to become a political lever in the hands of either side,” he says.
Amir-Abdollahian urges the AFC “to think about this incident on a technical basis” and said he had reached agreement with the Saudi side for the game to be rescheduled.
