An emergency hearing took place regarding Iran's old flag being present at World Cup games ahead of its tournament opener on Monday in Los Angeles.A lawsuit was filed on Thursday by the Institute for Voice of Liberty and an Iran fan, arguing that hoisting the "lion and sun" flag, which represents the country's previous regime and changed in 1980 following the Islamic Revolution, is a form of freedom of speech.FIFA banned the flag ahead of the tournament, and Los Angeles Judge Curtis A.Kin upheld it.WATCH THE WORLD CUP FINAL ON FOX ONEAn official talks with people holding pre-revolutionary Iranian flags before the World Cup group stage match between Iran and New Zealand at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California, on June 15, 2026.
(Robert Gauthier/Los Angeles Times)"Free speech is incredibly important, it is sacred, a bedrock of our society, but it is not without limitation, such as private actor, on private property, and as shown by previous cases, regulating in reasonable way," Kin said, via The Athletic."There may be harm to some 2,500 staff members who have to deal with safety protocols," he added."It is a tremendous burden to change a long-standing stadium protocol for a massive event in a period of hours.
It is hard to see how FIFA could make a change at one stadium and not the rest."After attorney Shahrokh Mokhtarzadeh pushed back on Kin's ruling, Kin then asked a hypothetical on whether fans could "walk in with a Nazi flag or Confederate flag or Soviet flag or that of the KKK?" Mokhtarzadeh said he believed such a fan should be able to.An Iranian fan displays a pre-revolutionary Iranian flag ahead of the 2026 World Cup Group G match between Iran and New Zealand at Los Angeles Stadium in Inglewood on June 15, 2026.(Patrick T.
Fallon/AFP via Getty Images)FOX ONE’S NEW WORLD CUP VIEWING EXPERIENCEFIFA has said that political materials are not permitted and ruled that the flag is "political" in nature.Some of the flags were still spotted inside of SoFi Stadiu...