US bars Iranian umpire from tennis games under sanctions pretext

Washington has barred a prominent Iranian referee from working at the US Open tennis tournament under the pretext of sanctions against the Islamic Republic.

Rich Kaufman, a senior official at the US Tennis Association, said in an e-mail to Iranian tennis umpire, Adel Borghei, that “current United States law” prohibited the Open from “retaining the services of a resident of Iran,” the New York Times reported on Wednesday.

Borghei was scheduled to start refereeing in the qualifying rounds of the Open games on August 20. He received a congratulatory letter in May confirming that he had secured the coveted slot at the tennis tournament.

According to the report, the Iranian referee asked for a clear explanation about the decision by the tournament officials, but he only received vague answers.

The Times quoted the tennis umpire as saying, “This should not be about politics. But they’re mixing up politics and sports.”

“If all I cared about was the money, I wouldn’t come here. I wouldn’t be here now,” he said, adding, “I want to be in this tournament. I want to live the dream. This isn’t about money, or politics. It’s about tennis.”

Borghei, 32, has refereed tennis tournaments in many countries across the world such as Australia, Canada, Japan and the Netherlands. He was a tennis player before working his way up and becoming an umpire.

Farhad Alavi, a partner at Akrivis Law Group in Washington, also criticized the politicization of the issue and said, “This case does show the personal impact this is having on a lot of individuals. Politics are crossing into everything, even something as universal as sports. We sometimes forget these things do impact people.”

The United States, Israel and some of their allies have repeatedly accused Iran of pursuing non-civilian objectives in its nuclear energy program, with the US and European Union using the claim as an excuse to impose illegal sanctions against Tehran.

Iran has categorically rejected the allegation, stressing that as a committed member of the International Atomic Energy Agency and a signatory to the Non-Proliferation Treaty it is entitled to develop nuclear technology for peaceful purposes.