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Iranian Players Threatened, Praised after Refusing to Celebrate Victory at Int'l Tournaments

Members of the Iranian beach soccer team wins the Confederations Cup in Dubai. (EPA)
Members of the Iranian beach soccer team wins the Confederations Cup in Dubai. (EPA)
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Iranian Players Threatened, Praised after Refusing to Celebrate Victory at Int'l Tournaments

Members of the Iranian beach soccer team wins the Confederations Cup in Dubai. (EPA)
Members of the Iranian beach soccer team wins the Confederations Cup in Dubai. (EPA)

Players of the Iranian beach soccer and wrestling teams were on Monday hailed as heroes on social media but risked sanctions at home after an apparent gesture in solidarity with the anti-regime protest movement at an international tournament.

The Iranian team on Sunday won the Emirates Intercontinental Beach Soccer Cup in Dubai 2-1 against Brazil thanks to a goal from Saeed Piramoun.

The team did not celebrate when awarded the cup for winning the title, instead standing sternly with their arms crossed.

Rather than celebrating his strike, Piramoun stopped and made a clear scissor-like gesture above his head with his fingers to mimic cutting his hair, according to several videos posted on social media.

Hair cutting, in and outside Iran, has become a symbol of solidarity with the protests sparked by the death of Mahsa Amini, who was arrested by the morality police for allegedly flouting Iran’s dress rules.

The beach soccer team had already been under scrutiny after apparently not singing the Iranian national anthem before their semifinal, images showed. That gesture prompted state television to cut the livestream, AFP reported.

Meanwhile, the Iranian Greco-Roman wrestlers won the 2022 Greco-Roman wrestling world cup after beating hosts Azerbaijan in Baku on Sunday. However, they also chose not to celebrate their victory, Asriran news website reported.

Both teams’ decision not to celebrate their victory, as well as Piramoun’s haircut gesture immediately prompted a cascade of memes on social media, where the player was applauded for his courage.

The legend of Iran’s national football team, Ali Daei, posted on his Instagram account pictures of the Iranian beach soccer and Greco-Roman wrestling teams and wrote: “Thank you and greetings to the national heroes in my country.”

Many Iranian websites circulated a photo of Daei's account on their Telegram channels.

“An Iranian national team with honor,” tweeted former Iranian footballer and ex-Bayern Munich star Ali Karimi who has been an impassioned supporter of the protests, posting a video of Piramoun’s gesture.

Making no reference to the controversy, President Ebrahim Raisi on Sunday congratulated the beach soccer team for showing “an example of a brilliant and strong Iran on the international arena.

“This game and this win may be forgotten, but this gesture cannot be forgotten. More important than the championship was the honor you showed,” tweeted former Iranian international player Mehrdad Pooladi.

Without naming Piramoun, Iran’s football federation said it would discipline all those deemed to have failed to keep politics out of the field of play.

“Based on FIFA and Iran’s regulations regarding avoiding political behavior in sport, those who have not followed professional and sporting ethics must be treated in accordance with the rules,” it said in a statement.

Government newspaper Iran criticized the Emirati police who it said had taken “no measure” against spectators who, it said, had chanted “anti-Islamic Republic” slogans after the match.

Dubai is home to a major community of Iranian exiles, and in September Iran welcomed back the UAE ambassador after a six-year downgrading of ties.

But the paper said: “If this country (UAE) does not react appropriately, it will have to accept the consequences of this action that is hostile to Iran.”

Sports has become a hugely sensitive arena in the protests, especially ahead of Iran’s participation in this year’s football World Cup in Qatar.

Sports climber Elnaz Rekabi caused a sensation last month when she climbed without a headscarf — obligatory for all Iranian women even while competing abroad — at a competition in South Korea.

Upon her return to Iran, she apologized and said the hijab had fallen off by accident. But activists argued her gesture was deliberate and she had been pressured by the authorities into expressing regret.

Earlier this month, top Tehran football side Esteghlal also refused to celebrate after winning the Iranian Super Cup with its footballer Siavash Yazdani in a post match interview dedicating the victory to “women and those who lost loved ones.”

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World

US Seizes Shipment Headed to Iran with Military-Related items

An arms shipment belonging to Iran seized by the US in May 2021. AP file photo
An arms shipment belonging to Iran seized by the US in May 2021. AP file photo
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US Seizes Shipment Headed to Iran with Military-Related items

An arms shipment belonging to Iran seized by the US in May 2021. AP file photo
An arms shipment belonging to Iran seized by the US in May 2021. AP file photo

A US special operations team raided a dual-use items ship in the Indian Ocean last month and seized military-related articles headed to Iran, US officials told The Wall Street Journal.

The newspaper said the ship’s cargo consists of components potentially useful for the Iranian conventional weapons.

A US special operations team in the Indian Ocean raided a ship headed to Iran from China last month and seized military-related articles, the Journal said citing US officials.

US forces boarded the ship several hundred miles off the coast of Sri Lanka, according to the newspaper, which added the vessel was later allowed to proceed.

It said the shipment consisted of dual-use items — ones with potential applications in civilian and military fields — that could be used in Iran’s missile program.

The report cited a US official as saying US intelligence indicated the shipment was headed for Iranian companies known to be intermediaries for the country’s missile development efforts.

The action was part of a campaign by the US Defense Department to cut off Iran’s covert arms supply networks.

A US official told The New York Times that “the rare operation at sea aimed at blocking Tehran from rebuilding its military arsenal.”

In a separate incident, Iran seized an oil tanker it claimed was illegally transporting Iranian fuel in the Gulf of Oman, Iranian media said overnight Friday to Saturday. Tehran’s move came amid suggestions it was a retaliatory measure against another country.

Iranian media said 18 crew members from India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh were on board the oil tanker.

“An oil tanker carrying six million liters of contraband diesel fuel has been boarded off the coast of the Sea of Oman,” the Fars news agency said, quoting an official from the southern province of Hormozgan.

“The vessel had disabled all its navigation systems.”

Iranian forces regularly announce the interception of ships it says are illegally transporting fuel in the Gulf.

Mojtaba Ghahramani, head of the Judiciary in Hormozgan Province, said Iran has seized a foreign oil tanker in the Sea of Oman. He claimed the operation targeted fuel smuggling networks and their operators.

He confirmed to state television that the tanker was carrying 6 million liters of diesel in the Sea of Oman, and was intercepted in Iranian territorial waters near Jask.

Ghahramani added that the vessel was operating without valid maritime travel documents or a cargo manifest for its fuel shipment. All navigation and auxiliary systems aboard the ship had been deliberately turned off, he said.

The information has not yet been confirmed by independent sources. State broadcaster did not mention the name of the vessel or give its nationality on its website.

According to Ghahramani, the tanker carried a crew of 18, composed of nationals from India, Sri Lanka, and Bangladesh.

The latest interception came two days after the United States seized the oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela.

According to Washington, the ship’s captain was transporting oil from Venezuela and Iran. The US Treasury sanctioned Venezuela in 2022 for alleged ties to Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps and Hezbollah.

“The seizure of this vessel highlights our successful efforts to impose costs on the governments of Venezuela and Iran,” FBI Director Kash Patel said in a statement on Friday.

Sources told Reuters that the US is preparing to intercept more ships transporting Venezuelan oil.

Iran seized an oil tanker in Gulf waters last month “for carrying an unauthorized cargo.”

World

Germany Says Foils Plot to Attack Christmas Market

Visitors participate in a game at the Christmas market and fairground in the Jardin des Tuileries gardens in central Paris, on December 13, 2025. (Photo by Anna KURTH / AFP)
Visitors participate in a game at the Christmas market and fairground in the Jardin des Tuileries gardens in central Paris, on December 13, 2025. (Photo by Anna KURTH / AFP)
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Germany Says Foils Plot to Attack Christmas Market

Visitors participate in a game at the Christmas market and fairground in the Jardin des Tuileries gardens in central Paris, on December 13, 2025. (Photo by Anna KURTH / AFP)
Visitors participate in a game at the Christmas market and fairground in the Jardin des Tuileries gardens in central Paris, on December 13, 2025. (Photo by Anna KURTH / AFP)

German authorities said Saturday they had arrested five men on suspicion of involvement in a plot to plough a vehicle into people at a Christmas market.

Officials have been on high alert during the festive season, after a deadly car-ramming attack at a market in the city of Magdeburg last Christmas shocked the nation.

Police and prosecutors said they had detained an Egyptian, three Moroccans and a Syrian on Friday over the plan to carry out the attack in southern Bavaria state.

Investigators suspect "an Islamist motive" for the plot, according to the statement.

All the suspects were brought before a magistrate on Saturday after their arrest and are in custody.

Joachim Herrmann, state interior minister in Bavaria, told Bild the "excellent cooperation between our security services" had helped to prevent "a potentially Islamist-motivated attack".

Authorities did not say where the suspects were arrested.

It was also not clear when the attack was supposed to take place, how detailed the plans were, and which market was to be targeted.

Last year's attack in Magdeburg, which saw a car barrel through a crowded market, killed six people and wounded more than 300.

Some cities have cancelled the beloved winter tradition because of the mounting costs and complexity of ensuring security.

Magdeburg's Christmas market went ahead this year but only received approval shortly before opening.

World

US Police Search Brown University after Shooter Kills 2

Police S.W.A.T. team members gather inside Brown University's Sciences Library after a shooting Saturday, Dec. 13, 2025, in Providence, R.I. (Lily Speredelozzi/The Sun Chronicle via AP)
Police S.W.A.T. team members gather inside Brown University's Sciences Library after a shooting Saturday, Dec. 13, 2025, in Providence, R.I. (Lily Speredelozzi/The Sun Chronicle via AP)
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US Police Search Brown University after Shooter Kills 2

Police S.W.A.T. team members gather inside Brown University's Sciences Library after a shooting Saturday, Dec. 13, 2025, in Providence, R.I. (Lily Speredelozzi/The Sun Chronicle via AP)
Police S.W.A.T. team members gather inside Brown University's Sciences Library after a shooting Saturday, Dec. 13, 2025, in Providence, R.I. (Lily Speredelozzi/The Sun Chronicle via AP)

A shooter dressed in black killed at least two people and wounded nine others at Brown University on Saturday during final exams on the Ivy League campus, authorities said, and police were searching for the suspect.

University President Christina Paxson said she was told that 10 people who were shot were students. Another person was injured by fragments from the shooting, but it was not clear if that victim was a student, she said.

Officers scattered across the campus and into an affluent neighborhood filled with historic and stately brick homes, searching academic buildings, backyards and porches late into the night after the shooting erupted in the afternoon, The Associated Press reported.

The suspect was a man in dark clothing who was last seen leaving the engineering building where the attack happened, said Timothy O’Hara, deputy chief of Providence police.

Security footage showed the suspect walking away from the building, but his face was not visible. Some witnesses reported that the man, who could be in his 30s, may have been wearing a camouflage mask, O’Hara said.

Investigators were not yet sure how the shooter got inside the first-floor classroom where he opened fire. Outer doors of the building were unlocked, but rooms being used for final exams required badge access, Providence’s mayor said.

Hunt for suspect quiets city streets Authorities believe the shooter used a handgun, according to a law enforcement official who was not authorized to discuss an ongoing investigation and spoke on condition of anonymity.

“The unthinkable has happened,” said Democratic Rhode Island Gov. Dan McKee, who vowed that all resources were being deployed to catch the suspect.

Mayor Brett Smiley said a shelter-in-place remained in effect and encouraged people living near the campus to stay inside or not return home until it is lifted.

Streets that normally bustle with activity on weekends were eerily quiet.

“The Brown community’s heart is breaking, and Providence’s heart is breaking along with it,” Smiley said.

Emma Ferraro, a chemical engineering student, was in the building’s lobby working on a final project when she heard loud pops coming from the east side. Once she realized they were gunshots, she darted for the door and ran to a nearby building where she sheltered for several hours.

Nine people with gunshot wounds were taken to Rhode Island Hospital, where one was in critical condition, said Kelly Brennan, a spokesperson for the hospital. Six required intensive care but were not getting worse, and two were stable, she said.

Police evacuated buildings University officials initially told students and staff that a suspect was in custody, but later said that was not the case. The mayor said a person preliminarily thought to be involved was detained but was later determined to have no involvement.

Nearly five hours after the shooting, officers in tactical gear led students out of some campus buildings and into a fitness center.

The shooting occurred in the Barus & Holley building, a seven-story complex that houses the School of Engineering and physics department. According to the university’s website, the building includes more than 100 laboratories, dozens of classrooms and offices.

Engineering design exams were underway there when the shooting occurred.
Former ‘Survivor’ contestant had just left the building Eva Erickson, a doctoral candidate who was a finalist earlier this year on the CBS reality competition show “Survivor,” said she left her lab in the engineering building 15 minutes before shots rang out.

The engineering and thermal science student shared candid moments on “Survivor” as the show’s first openly autistic contestant. She was locked down in the campus gym following the shooting and shared on social media that the only other member of her lab who was present was safely evacuated.

Biochemistry student Alex Bruce was working on a final research project in his dorm directly across the street from the building when he heard sirens and received a text about an active shooter shortly after 4 p.m.

“I’m just in here shaking,” he said, watching through the window as a half-dozen armed officers in tactical gear surrounded his dorm.

Students hid under desks and inside stores Students in a nearby lab hid under desks and turned off the lights after receiving an alert about the shooting, said Chiangheng Chien, a doctoral student in engineering who was about a block away from the scene.

Brown, the seventh oldest higher education institution in the US, is one of the nation’s most prestigious colleges, with roughly 7,300 undergraduates and more than 3,000 graduate students. Tuition, housing and other fees run to nearly $100,000 per year, according to the university.

President Donald Trump told reporters that he had been briefed and “all we can do right now is pray for the victims.”