Parliamentary ‘Self-Deception’ Among Islamic Consultative Assembly Representatives

The parliament’s reconsideration of a draft bill to prevent sporting competitions between Iranian and Israeli athletes has become one of the hottest debates of the day. An opposition politician considers it “self-deception.”

The National Security and Foreign Policy Commission of the Islamic Consultative Assembly, on Sunday, 28 Ordibehesht (May 17), approved a draft bill prepared to counter Israel’s “hostile actions” “against peace and security.”

According to Mohammad Javad Jamali Nobandegani, a member of the parliament’s National Security Commission, Article 11 of this draft has been deleted—an article that prohibited Iranian athletes from competing with Israeli athletes.

Regarding the reason for this action, he said that approving a legal bill to prevent sporting competitions with Israelis could create the grounds for all Iranian sports disciplines to be barred from world games and the Olympics.

On 23 Ordibehesht, parliament approved two urgent motions for countering Israel’s “hostile actions” without any objection from parliamentary representatives.

The parliament speaker had requested that the National Security and Foreign Policy Commission examine this draft as quickly as possible so it could be placed on the agenda of parliament’s open session.

“An Apparent Attempt to Deceive the World”

The deletion of Article 11 of the aforementioned draft has become one of the hot topics for Iranians on social media. Politicians, various media outlets, and sports experts have commented on it.

Mehran Barati, political deputy and secretary of the foreign policy working group of the “Council for Transition Management,” said in this regard to DW Farsi: “This retreat is not a new occurrence. The Islamic Republic, from the beginning, has quickly changed its position whenever it felt threatened or came under severe pressure. However, the point that underlies the reason for this retreat is important: they openly say that we should not put pressure on our athletes in writing and publicly; rather, it is in our interest to do this work secretly.”

According to Barati, this approach by the Islamic Consultative Assembly “appears on the surface to be an attempt to deceive the world, but in fact, it is a form of self-deception and ultimately causes even greater damage to the reputation of the Iranian nation.”

Earlier, Mehdi Jafari Garzini, an expert on Iranian and German sports, also told DW Farsi in an interview that while examining the consequences and sensitive aspects of the possible approval of this bill, he called it the “final blow” to all of Iran’s national sports.

Supporters and Opponents Within the Country

Article 11 of the legal draft also has opponents within the country who have warned in recent days about its consequences.

Mostafa Hashemi Taba, former head of the Physical Education Organization, is one of the people who said that the approval of this bill could be considered discriminatory by international bodies and contrary to the Olympic Charter and could result in the “suspension of all of Iran’s sports.”

On the other hand, it appears that some supporters of this bill have no problem with the suspension of Iran’s sports and are willing to accept it as a measure to achieve their ideological goals.

Mohammad Azizi, a member of the presidium of the sports faction in parliament, said in an interview with “Etemaad Online”: “In our ideological discussions, there is nothing called Israel.”

In response to the question of what solution he sees for this problem, he says: “I do not know of a solution. Now, if Iran’s sports are suspended in the meantime, what is the problem? I believe that we should be suspended.”

Source: DW