Sunday, November 26, 2006

Iran threatens Gulf states, appeases soccer federation

Just two mostly unrelated items on Iran--or on second thought, not so unrelated items. Both involve Iran's um . . . arrogance. MENL: "Iran threatens GCC states":
For the first time, Iran has threatened to attack Gulf Arab allies of the United States.

A unit of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps has reported the training of suicide bombers to strike targets in the Gulf Cooperation Council. The IRGC unit said any GCC state that facilitates a U.S. military operation against Iran would be attacked.

"If the bases in these countries are used as a launch pad for the attacking U.S. forces, why should they expect to remain secure while we are not?" Faroz Rajai, commander of the Martyrs Battalions, asked.

Western intelligence sources said the Martyrs Battalions were established in 2002 by the IRGC. The sources said the unit has been drawing recruits from Iran's religious seminaries as well as universities.
Also, Mehr News has more on the soccer ban situation: "FIFA lifts ban on Iran":
On Nov. 22, the FIFA Emergency Committee, composed of the FIFA president and one representative of each of the six confederations, decided to suspend the IRIFF from all international activities due to government’s interference in football matters and violation of Article 17 of the FIFA Statutes.

The Islamic Republic of Iran Football Federation (IRIFF), however, convinced FIFA to remove the ban and allow the country’s Under-23 side to compete at the 2006 Asian Games that will start in the Qatari capital Doha on Dec. 1.

The committee took this decision after determining that the IRIFF was not adhering to the principles of the FIFA Statutes regarding the independence of member associations, the independence of the decision-making process of the football governing body in each country, and the way in which changes in the leadership of associations are brought about.

The Iranian federation had vowed to settle the problem through negotiations.
Tags: Iran, FIFA, GCC, soccer,

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