Iran Players Sing National Anthem at World Cup Match

Iran's teammates sing the national anthem prior to the Qatar 2022 World Cup Group B football match between Wales and Iran at the Ahmad Bin Ali Stadium in Al-Rayyan, west of Doha on November 25, 2022. (AFP)
Iran's teammates sing the national anthem prior to the Qatar 2022 World Cup Group B football match between Wales and Iran at the Ahmad Bin Ali Stadium in Al-Rayyan, west of Doha on November 25, 2022. (AFP)
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Iran Players Sing National Anthem at World Cup Match

Iran's teammates sing the national anthem prior to the Qatar 2022 World Cup Group B football match between Wales and Iran at the Ahmad Bin Ali Stadium in Al-Rayyan, west of Doha on November 25, 2022. (AFP)
Iran's teammates sing the national anthem prior to the Qatar 2022 World Cup Group B football match between Wales and Iran at the Ahmad Bin Ali Stadium in Al-Rayyan, west of Doha on November 25, 2022. (AFP)

Iran's national football team sang during the playing of their national anthem at their second World Cup match against Wales on Friday having refrained from doing so in their opening game earlier this week in apparent support of protesters back home.

Loud jeers were heard from Iranian supporters as the anthem played, with the team singing quietly as it played.

Iranian authorities have responded with deadly force to suppress protests that have marked one of the boldest challenges to its clerical rulers since the 1979 revolution.

Inside the stadium ahead of the match, a number of supporters had shown support for the protests.

A woman with dark red tears painted from her eyes held aloft a football jersey with "Mahsa Amini - 22" printed on the back - a reference to the 22-year-old Iranian Kurdish woman whose death while in the custody of morality police two months ago ignited the nationwide protests, a Reuters photo showed.

A man standing next to her held a shirt printed with the words "WOMEN, LIFE, FREEDOM", one of the main chants of the protests.

Ahead of the World Cup, protesters had taken heart from apparent shows of support from a number of Iran's national teams which refrained from singing the national anthem, such as the basketball team.

Team Melli, as the soccer team is known, have traditionally been a huge source of national pride in Iran, but they have found themselves caught up in politics in the World Cup run-up, with anticipation over whether they would use soccer's showpiece event as a platform to get behind the protesters.

Asked on Thursday about the unrest at home Iran national team striker Mehdi Taremi said they were in Qatar to play football. "We are not under pressure," he added after players refused to sing the national anthem in their first match at the World Cup against England.

Before travelling to Doha, the team met with hardline Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi. Photos of the players with Raisi, one of them bowing in front of him, went viral and prompted an outcry on social media.



EU to Help Ukraine Purchase Weapons Using Russian Frozen Assets

Prime Minister of Ukraine Denys Shmyhal (L) shakes hands with French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot (R) after signing documents during a EU-Ukraine Foreign Ministers' meeting in Lviv, western Ukraine, 09 May 2025, amid the Russian invasion. (EPA)
Prime Minister of Ukraine Denys Shmyhal (L) shakes hands with French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot (R) after signing documents during a EU-Ukraine Foreign Ministers' meeting in Lviv, western Ukraine, 09 May 2025, amid the Russian invasion. (EPA)
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EU to Help Ukraine Purchase Weapons Using Russian Frozen Assets

Prime Minister of Ukraine Denys Shmyhal (L) shakes hands with French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot (R) after signing documents during a EU-Ukraine Foreign Ministers' meeting in Lviv, western Ukraine, 09 May 2025, amid the Russian invasion. (EPA)
Prime Minister of Ukraine Denys Shmyhal (L) shakes hands with French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot (R) after signing documents during a EU-Ukraine Foreign Ministers' meeting in Lviv, western Ukraine, 09 May 2025, amid the Russian invasion. (EPA)

Ukraine’s Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal says the European Union will allocate almost 1.9 billion euros for military support to his country.

Shmyhal posted on his Telegram page Friday that a billion euros from this amount will go toward the purchase of weapons directly from Ukrainian manufacturers.

Some 600 million euros will go toward procuring artillery and ammunition and another 200 million will be used to bolster Ukraine’s air defenses.

Shmyhal said he’s particularly grateful to Denmark, France, the Netherlands and Italy which will help in the 1-billion-euro purchase of weapons.

The Ukrainian official called the military support package “historic” because weapons will be purchased using proceeds from Russian frozen assets through the European Peace Fund.