While this would be hilarious, I’m not sure we want to set a precedent that says that FIFA is the arbiter of international law.

. . .

A representative of Iran’s soccer federation on Sunday called for the United States to be expelled from soccer’s World Cup over social media posts that the federation claimed had “disrespected” Iran’s flag.

The United States Soccer Federation drew Iran’s ire by including a doctored Iran flag in two posts on its official social media accounts on Saturday. A spokesman for U.S. Soccer said the decision to use an Iranian flag stripped of the country’s official emblem and two lines of Islamic script in posts on Twitter and Instagram was intentional, and meant to show support for the women of Iran — a nod to protests that have roiled Iran at home and followed its team to the World Cup in Qatar.

Iran condemned the decision to use an incorrect flag, which it said violated the statutes of FIFA, world soccer’s global governing body.

“Respecting a nation’s flag is an accepted international practice that all other nations must emulate,” Safia Allah [Redacted, caught in filter], a legal adviser to Iran’s soccer federation, said in comments reported by a semiofficial state news agency in Iran. “The action conducted in relation to the Iranian flag is unethical and against international law.”

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The U.S. Soccer spokesman, who requested anonymity to discuss internal discussions, said the American federation had not been contacted by FIFA about the social media posts. But it said it had deleted the two posts after a series of internal discussions on Sunday and would use Iran’s official flag moving forward.

The US. players and their coach, Gregg Berhalter, were not involved in the decision to use the incorrect flag or to remove it, the spokesman said.