Iran to play all three World Cup matches in US, with two in ‘Tehrangeles’

In a letter addressed to Google, Meta, YouTube and Amazon Web Services, the European Parliament’s Delegation for Relations with the Iranian People warned that Iran’s widening use of AI-driven surveillance, recurrent shutdowns and a “white SIM card” scheme for officials had created a two-tier digital system isolating ordinary citizens.

The Iranian government enforces some of the world’s toughest online restrictions, blocking platforms such as X (formerly Twitter), Facebook, YouTube, WhatsApp, and Telegram for the general public. Most people rely on slow, unreliable VPNs that authorities routinely disrupt.

By contrast, X's new location feature recently revealed that select users receive government-issued SIM cards or whitelisted connections to bypass national filtering and throttling altogether.

The issue drew wide attention over the past few weeks, when the X feature revealed numerous pro-government figures were posting from inside Iran without VPNs – despite long claiming they used the same circumvention tools as ordinary citizens.

The disclosures triggered heavy public criticism, with many describing the system as “digital apartheid” or a “caste-based internet” that rewards political loyalty and entrenches inequality.

EU says firms must bolster anti-censorship tools

Hannah Neumann, who chairs the EU delegation, said a free internet remains the only barrier against propaganda and intimidation. “Technology companies are the guardians of this freedom, and now is the time to take their responsibility seriously,” Neumann said, according to a copy of the letter obtained by Euronews.

She added that companies were capable of measures that “ensure these voices are not silenced.”

Deputy chair Bart Groothuis said digital repression had become central to Iran’s authoritarian model. “By supporting tools to circumvent filters, we can improve secure communication and give Iranians access to the free internet,” he said.

The letter urged firms to fund open-source VPN and censorship-bypass projects, expand encrypted communication features and develop in-app proxies to keep users connected during outages. It also asked Amazon Web Services and human-rights–oriented VPN providers to offer free or discounted server space to stabilize services for Iranian users.

European legislators pressed Google to continue backing Jigsaw, Outline VPN and its SDK, and to consider integrating these tools into major apps. Meta was asked to embed filter-bypass technologies into Instagram, Facebook and Threads. Companies were also urged to provide simple procedures for appealing blocked accounts and to increase cooperation with digital-rights groups.

US lawmakers pursue parallel push

In Washington, lawmakers introduced the FREEDOM Act on Thursday, which would require the secretary of state, the FCC and the Treasury to assess technologies capable of supporting unfiltered internet access for Iranians.

Representative Claudia Tenney highlighted the potential of satellite-to-mobile systems that could “bypass the limitations of censorship and government networks.” The feasibility review will also evaluate UAV-based platforms and counter-jamming tools.

Representative Dave Min, whose district includes a large Iranian-American community, said promoting internet freedom strengthens global family ties while confronting authoritarian practices.

Widespread awareness has not translated into action, Hadi Asadi-Rahmani, head of the Soil and Water Research Institute of Iran said at the World Soil Day conference in Ghazvin.

“We all know Iran’s soil is growing poorer, and without urgent action, the future of food production will face serious risk,” Asadi-Rahmani added.

Iran has 165 million hectares of land, of which only 24 million are arable. Half of national crop output, Asadi-Rahmani said, now comes from class-three and class-four lands.

He warned that continuous extraction, insufficient fertilizer inputs and erosion are pushing the country toward a structural crisis. “Seventy-five percent of Iran’s soils have less than one percent organic carbon,” he noted. “This shows how exhausted our soils have become.”

Roughly 30,000 hectares of land, according to him, degrade each year, reflecting patterns similar to the country’s water crisis.

Water authorities warn of parallel emergency

Iran is in its sixth consecutive year of drought, Arash Kordi, deputy minister of energy, also said on Saturday.

“Even with normal rainfall, current extraction patterns have no compatibility with Iran’s climate,” Kordi added.

“Delaying reforms directly threatens people’s livelihoods and the foundations of the country.”

Specialists warn of shrinking reserves

Dry conditions have pushed reservoirs in several provinces to record lows. Officials in the religious city of Mashhad have moved to full rationing, and parts of Kerman in the south report farmland abandonment linked to groundwater loss. Nationwide rainfall has dropped to about 18 percent of typical levels.

The twin crises of soil depletion and water scarcity, officials said, now reinforce one another. Asadi-Rahmani warned that postponing decisions would make damages irreversible.

Experts blame decades of over-extraction, unchecked urban growth and placing water-hungry industries in the desert – alongside drier weather – for pushing groundwater sources and lakes to the brink.

The prosecutor said one of those detained is an official with the Kish Free Zone Organization and the other is from the private company that organized the race. Both have been charged and placed under bail orders after formal questioning. Judicial supervision measures were also imposed, barring the state official from public employment and the private organizer from managing or holding sports events.

The sixth Kish Marathon went ahead on Friday morning with nearly 5,000 runners on the Persian Gulf resort island, despite opposition from Iran’s Athletics Federation, which had cited concerns over “legal and religious requirements.”

“The manner in which the event was conducted damaged public decency,” the prosecutor’s office said earlier in a statement carried by the IRGC-linked Tasnim news agency. It said officials had been warned beforehand “to observe the country’s laws and religious and social norms” but had failed to comply.

‘The Las Vegas Republic

The announcement followed a cascade of attacks from hardline activists and media—including Tasnim.

The race, it asserted, promoted “open, public unveiling (and) debauchery,” for which those responsible “must be punished immediately.”

A hardline activist writing under the name Aminizadeh blasted officials as “careless and dishonourable,” describing the race as a “disco marathon.”

“Is this the Islamic Republic or the Las Vegas Republic,” he quipped. “Who sponsored this stupid act?”

‘Settling political scores’

Such interventions echoed broader efforts by conservative figures to reassert control over public space and dress codes three years after the widespread 2022 protests, which has eroded enforcement of Islamic dress code in many urban areas.

Many supporters of the event pushed back, accusing hardliners of exploiting hijab sensitivities for political gain.

Journalist Amir Taher Hosseinkhan wrote on X that women had run their race at 5:30am and men at 8:30am, with strict separation and control.

“So why are you still insisting on creating a false narrative?” he asked. “How did something you claim is sacred become a tool for bargaining and settling scores?”

Organizers have so far not publicly commented on the prosecutor’s announcement.

“Society appears to me changed a lot. Very different,” Limbert said. “If you look at the government, the ruling apparatus, it’s been remarkable, it’s basically stayed the same. The same little men’s club, elite men’s club has run the country.”

“Look at the literacy rate. When we were there, it was about 50 percent. Now it’s well over… ninety five, ninety six.”

Literacy has been one of the biggest structural changes in Iranian life.

In 1976, 48.8 percent of people aged 10 to 49 were literate. By 2021, that figure had reached 97.1 percent. The literacy gap between men and women dropped from 23.4 percent to 6 percent.

Limbert served as Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Iran and spent 14 months as a hostage after the US Embassy was seized in November 1979. Nine of those months were in solitary confinement.

“There’s a narrative out there that we were treated well, but we were not. Fourteen months I was there; nine months I was in solitary.”

Archival video online shows a striking exchange inside the embassy compound in 1979: Limbert speaking directly with Ali Khamenei who was a senior official in the new government and is now Iran’s Supreme Leader.

Limbert greets Khamenei and makes a wry remark about Iranian hospitality, saying that in Iran “even when a guest insists, he must go, he is told ‘no, no, you must stay.’” It was his polite way of saying he wanted to leave, delivered through the cultural language of taarof, the elaborate politeness that shapes everyday interactions.

'Back of beyond'

Limbert first traveled to Iran in 1962, later returned as a Peace Corps volunteer and as an instructor at Pahlavi University in Shiraz. He speaks Persian and earned all his degrees from Harvard University.

While the ruling structure of the Islamic Republic is still dominated by the same generation that took power in 1979, Iranian society itself, Limbert says, has changed in profound ways.

Limbert said the most dramatic change is visible far from Tehran, in places that once felt remote and forgotten.

“Yasuj was the back of beyond… now there’s a university there. Darab in Fars… it was a dead town. There was nobody there. Now there’s a university there.”

He praised the creative boom that has emerged under pressure.

“Culture is amazing. Look at the films that are coming out of Iran… look at the creativity.”

Recent scenes from inside Iran capture this contrast vividly. A marathon in the Persian Gulf island of Kish took place on Friday with more than 5,000 runners. Footage shows most female runners without hijab — a sight that would have been unthinkable decades ago.

Yet these images exist alongside something darker.

Authorities have executed over 1000 people thus far in 2025, the highest number of yearly executions in Iran according to Amnesty International. This includes political detainees, ethnic minorities and protesters. Human rights groups report intensified repression, mass arrests and new surveillance campaigns.

And while society has modernized, the ruling system has barely moved.

“They took power in ’79, and they’ve held it ever since. They or their followers are still around," said Limbert.

For Limbert, Iran is moving in two directions at once. “It’s going in both directions at the same time.” He does not predict collapse, but he questions endurance.

“I don’t think it can last forever. But I don’t know how long.”

US President Donald Trump attended the ceremony and received the inaugural FIFA Peace Prize from Gianni Infantino, the president of FIFA (Fédération Internationale de Football Association), world football’s governing body, for promoting global peace and unity.

“This is truly one of the great honors of my life. Beyond awards, we have saved millions and millions of lives," Trump said. "The Congo is an example. India, Pakistan — so many different wars we were able to end, in some cases, a little bit before they started."

Iran will open the tournament against New Zealand on 15 June in Seattle, with further group games in Los Angeles and Atlanta.

Several senior Iranian football officials were denied US visas for the 2026 FIFA World Cup draw in Washington, prompting an initial threat by the Iran Football Federation (FFIRI) to boycott the event.

Out of nine members of the delegation who applied for visas, only four were granted entry, including head coach Ardeshir Amir Ghalenoei, while other senior officials, including federation president Mehdi Taj, were denied.

Despite the visa restrictions, the partial delegation attended the draw ceremony, ensuring Iran’s participation.

The team has now reached its seventh World Cup and its fourth in a row. Their arrival in the US comes against the backdrop of longstanding entry restrictions that continue to shape travel rules for Iranian nationals.

The top two teams and the eight best third-placed sides will advance to the round of 32.