Soccer fans call to ban Iranian forward after anti-Israel tweet
Mehdi Taremi, who plays for Iran's national team, is in hot water a year after reposting a tweet from Ayatollah Ali Khamenei saying Israel would not exist in 25 years; soccer fans, including Iranians, call on FIFA to ban him from the 2018 World Cup.
Soccer fans have filed a complaint with FIFA against Iranian forward Mehdi Taremi, 25, a year after he reposted a tweet from Ayatollah Ali Khamenei saying Israel would not exist in 25 years.
The soccer fans are calling on the International Federation of Association Football to ban Taremi from playing for the Iranian national team in the 2018 World Cup, which is currently ongoing in 11 cities across Russia.
The hashtag #BanTaremi went viral, with hundreds of Twitter users criticizing Taremi's endorsement of Israel's destruction. Many of those calling for his ban are Iranian citizens, some exiles.
As a result, Taremi rushed to delete the tweet.
One user on Twitter wrote, "This man is one of the players of Iran's dictatorship team, and he is wishing for Iran's annihilation like his murderous leader Khamenei. The real Iranian people condemn his actions and demand his suspension from the games."
Another wrote to FIFA: "The Iranian people want to report to you on one of the players of the Iranian team called Mehdi Taremi, who tweeted a terrorist threat against the State of Israel. We urge you to expel him from the 2018 World Cup, so our team is not involved in such political issues."
Taremi, one of Iran's most well-known soccer players, tweets a lot of photos and quotes of his country's leaders.
Emmanuel Nahshon, the spokesman of Israel's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said that "for the sake of his team, it's best if Taremi focused on soccer and not on echoing ugly and illegitimate calls against the State of Israel."
