A day after the Palestine Olympic Committee sent an official letter to International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach, once again demanding that Israel be suspended from the Paris Olympics, on Tuesday a similar call also came from Tehran.
A post on the official English-language X platform account Iranian Foreign Ministry said that Israeli athletes "do not deserve to be present at the Paris Olympics because of the war against the innocent people of Gaza."
The post also states, using the hashtag BanIsraelFromOlympics, that: "Announcing the reception & protection of the Apartheid & terrorist Zionist regime's convoy only means giving legitimacy to the child killers."
In February, Iran sent an official letter to FIFA in which it demanded that the international soccer body "fully suspend the Zionist Federation from any football-related activities." Iran, the letter said, expected "immediate and severe measures" from FIFA and its member states to prevent, according to it, the continuation of "the crimes of the Zionists in Gaza".
It's no secret that there is a fierce enmity between Iran and Israel also in the world of sports. Iranian athletes are required not to compete against Israelis in international competitions, and they are even expected to lose in earlier rounds if there is a chance that they will be drawn to compete against Israeli athletes.
Less than a year ago, authorities in Iran cracked down on weightlifter Mostafa Rajai after he shook the hand of his Israeli opponent, Maksim Sverisk, in a competition held in Poland. Rajai was suspended for life by the Islamic Republic's weightlifting association, while Iranian authorities also banned him from the sport altogether. The team captain also was punished and suspended from his position.