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Sun, July 11, 2010 | Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center

Iranian fans watching the World Cup games at Tehran’s Azadi cinema

World Zionism blamed for Brazil’s and Argentina’s defeat

Last week, Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki expressed his satisfaction over the defeat of the US, England, and France at the World Cup in South Africa. Referring to the failure of the three countries, Mottaki said that there was a correlation between politics and diplomacy on one hand and soccer on the other. The countries which played a major part in imposing the new sanctions against Iran were eliminated in the early stages of the World Cup, while countries involved to some extent in the sanctions did not reach the advanced stages.

After the defeat of the Brazilian and Argentinean teams in the World Cup, Mottaki’s statement was ridiculed this week by government opponents. One government critic wrote a blog entry about the defeat of the two South American teams, titled: “The elimination of Argentina and its Ahmadinejad-supporting coach [Maradona] from the World Cup”, claiming that following Mottaki’s statement, the countries that support Iran are defeated and humiliated one after the other by the countries that support sanctions against Iran (Parsianboy). Another blogger also commented on Mottaki’s statement, saying that if the US and Britain were eliminated from the World Cup because of their support of the sanctions, Brazil was eliminated because of its opposition to the UN Security Council resolution to impose sanctions against Iran (Ke-lk.blogspot.com, July 2).

Iran’s conservative press, on the other hand, adopted a different approach to explain the defeat of Brazil and Argentina. Earlier this week, the official news agency IRNA released a commentary article titled “A Dutch tulip or a cup of bitter Brazilian coffee?” claiming that Brazil’s defeat resulted from political motivations, and that Western countries routinely use the World Cup games to voice their political opinions.

According to IRNA, Holland’s victory may provide moral support to Dutch politicians supported by “the Zionists”, who often manipulate sports events to realize their goals and strengthen their grip on the continent of Europe. For example, the defeat of France may serve the interest of France’s President Nicolas Sarkozy by diverting attention from the failure of his economic and political policy. There is also a strong connection between Italy’s pro-Zionist right wing headed by Silvio Berlusconi and the Milan soccer club. Holland is highly significant for Israel since it is the seat of the International War Crimes Tribunal, which is supposed to discuss the Goldstone Report on Israel’s crimes in Gaza. The numerous referee errors in the games raise many concerns, according to IRNA. The question is who is served by Holland’s victoranti-y over Brazil, and whether the results of the matches are determined on the pitch or by an “invisible hand” working behind the scenes, the same hand which prevented the UN Security Council from passing resolutions against Israel (IRNA, July 4).