Iran: nation’s self-propelled moves to send messages to other nations unrelated with gov’t

Foreign Ministry spokesman said here Wednesday although I’m opposed to intermingling politics with sports, people’s various self-propelled moves aimed at sending messages to other nations are totally unrelated to government of Iran.
Iran: nation’s self-propelled moves to send messages to other nations unrelated with gov’t

Ramin Mehmanparast who was in continuation of his visit of Isfahan Province attending Fouladshahr industrial city’s Football Stadium to watch Iran’s Zowb-e Ahan game against the Saudi an-Nasr team made the comment after the game in a meeting with the press.
Congratulating Zowb-e Ahan’s victory, he referred to the politicizing of the Saudi media during the past months against the Iranian sports, reiterating, “We tried to maintain merely the sports atmosphere over the sports events taking place in Iran, and we fortunately managed to do so.’
He stressed, “We told the Saudis to strengthen their teams rather than seeking pretexts and involving politics in sports events.”
Mehmanparast emphasized, “The limited political moves were the aftermaths of the Saudis’ similar moves.”
Pointing out that the value of the Iranian players is way above such prides, he added, “I’m very glad that the two remaining representatives of the Iranian football both made their ways to the next phase of the AFC competitions mightily.”
The Islamic Republic of Iran’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ spokesman regarding fingerprinting the Saudi members of the an-Nasr team at Isfahan Airport said, “The IRI Foreign Ministry’s general policy is observing mutual respect.”
He emphasized, “We deal with the nationals of each country the way they deal with our nationals.”
Mehmanparast reiterated, “Saudi Arabian officials had fingerprinted Zowb-e Ahan football players before their away match in their country, and we, too, had preserved the right to do the same with their players in Iran.”
Focusing on the complaints of the Saudi and the Bahraini football federations from Iran, he said, “We do not intend to politicize the sports, but the moves of the Bahraini government have intrigued the feelings of the Iranian nation and it was the people who reacted to their moves here, not the government.”
Also regarding the Saudi players’ absence at the commemoration move for the late Iranian legendry goalkeeper Nasser Hejazi, which was made right before the game, he said, “May be they did not know Hejazi, and that was the reason they did not participate at the commemoration move.”