After Khamenei's anti-Israel tirade, athletes want IOC to suspend Iran

• Published date: 24 September 2021
• Author: BENJAMIN WEINTHAL
• Publication title: Jerusalem Post, The: Web Edition Articles (Israel)

Sardar Pashaei, a former head coach of Iran's Greco-Roman wrestling team, the executive manager of United for Navid, wrote to the IOC's president Thomas Bach that a video of Khamenei's anti-Israel speech is " further proof [of] Iran's grievous violations of the Olympic and Paralympic Charters."

Attached to the letter was a video of Khamenei from September 17, in which he meets with Iranian Olympic and Paralympic athletes who won medals at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics.

cnxps.cmd.push(function () { cnxps({ playerId: '36af7c51-0caf-4741-9824-2c941fc6c17b' }).render('4c4d856e0e6f4e3d808bbc1715e132f6'); });

>

Pashaei wrote: "As you can see, the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic once again firmly instructs Iranian athletes as well as Iranian sports officials that they are forbidden from competing or interacting in any way with athletes from the so-called 'Israeli criminal regime.' The Supreme Leader also instructs senior Iranian sports officials to support non-Iranian athletes from other countries who refuse to compete with Israeli athletes, including an Algerian athlete who refused to compete with an Israeli athlete at the Tokyo Olympics. "

The decorated Greco-Roman wrestler Pashaei, who won a world championship, said: "The Iranian leader further tells the athletes that the illegitimate Israeli regime wants to gain legitimacy by participating in international competitions and that Israeli athletes should not be allowed to compete and win medals. This is a clear example of political interference in sports by the highest-ranking official of the Iranian government and is in direct violation of the Olympic and Paralympic Charters."

United for Navid is named after the murdered champion Greco-Roman wrestler Navid Afkari, who made international headlines last year prior to his execution by Iran's regime because he protested against Khamenei's corruption.

Pashaei, who currently lives in the US, noted: "As previously reported in separate letters regarding the sacrifice of Iranian athletes for not being allowed to compete with Israeli athletes, we again formally request that as long as Iran pursues such policies, which are systematic violations of the Olympic and Paralympic Charters, the International Olympic Committee suspend Iran from international competition and undertake an official investigation into the current state of Iranian sports."

Sheina Vojoudi, an Iranian dissident who fled the Islamic Republic, told The Jerusalem Post: "Ali Khamenei is injecting his...