The Iranian Football Federation (IFF) has submitted a written protest to World Cup organisers and FIFA after the screening of a film on French TV which has outraged players and officials.
The film, Not Without My Daughter, is based on a book written by Betty Mahmoudi, who fled Iran with her daughter in the 1980s. The film paints an unflattering portrait of Iranian society and is critical of the Islamic religion.
The screening of the movie, which was made eight years ago and stars Sally Field, has caused severe unrest in the Iranian camp, who claimed the timing of its broadcast was politically motivated.
'This is an insult to our country, our government and our football team, and it is not right that this film should be shown in France at this time. The Iranian Football Federation has protested to FIFA and the CFO . . . we are unhappy that they have decided to show this film now,' said Safaei Farahani, president of the IFF.
Iran's players had been due to watch their next Group F opponents, the US take on Germany on Monday night when the film was broadcast. 'The players went off to their rooms to watch the match and switched on the television to find this film,' said Ali Manousifar, the team's international affairs manager. The team had been so upset by the film that they did not bother to watch the US-Germany match, Manousifar claimed.
'We really are upset about this and a lot of the players think it was done deliberately. This film was made eight years ago. Why after all this time did they decide to show it now? It seems very surprising to us,' Manousifar added.
