The Ukrainian soccer federation has urged FIFA on Monday to remove Iran from the forthcoming World Cup in Qatar due to the alleged arms deal between the latter and Russia.
Russia and Iran have both denied the development even as the White House said in October that the U.S. has evidence that Iranian troops are on the ground in Crimea supporting Russian drone attacks.
Reports also has it that Ukraine has been bombed by Russian forces using Iranian-built “Shahed” drones with other human rights violations.
“Taking into account media information about systematic human rights violations in Iran, which may violate the principles and norms of the FIFA Statutes, taking into account the UN Security Council Resolution 2231 regarding the imposition of sanctions on Iran and the possible involvement of Iran in the military aggression of Russia against Ukraine, to make a request to the FIFA to consider excluding the Iranian national team from the 2022 FIFA World Cup.” said the statement from Ukrainian FA
Shakhtar Donetsk has earlier last week called on FIFA to replace Iran with Ukraine in the mundial.
Even though it runs contrary to its rule of not suspending member federations because of military decisions by a national government,
FIFA had earlier suspended Russian teams from international competitions — including the World Cup playoffs, within days of the invasion of Ukraine starting in February.
It cited risks to the security and integrity of its competitions, and the decision was eventually upheld by the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
FIFA is yet to comment on the Ukraine letter with about three weeks to the Qatar showpiece.
Iran are drawn in group B alongside England, Wales and United States