Players of Iran’s national soccer team chose not to sing their country’s anthem at their opening World Cup match against England on Monday, in an apparent show of support for anti-regime protesters back home.
The players were silent as the anthem was played at the Khalifa International Stadium in Doha, Qatar, where Iranian fans gathered in the stands shouted as the music was played. Some were seen making thumbs-down gestures.
More than two months of protests in Iran, sparked by the death of a young woman in the custody of the Islamist morality police, are one of the boldest challenges to Iran’s clerical leaders since the 1979 Islamic Revolution….