{"id":1292,"date":"2026-06-16T12:54:47","date_gmt":"2026-06-16T12:54:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/shahvand.org\/en\/?p=1292"},"modified":"2026-06-16T12:55:19","modified_gmt":"2026-06-16T12:55:19","slug":"reclaiming-the-lion-and-sun","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/shahvand.org\/en\/reclaiming-the-lion-and-sun\/","title":{"rendered":"Reclaiming the Lion and Sun"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2 class=\"headline\">Reclaiming the narrative of sports is reclaiming Iran!<\/h2>\n<h2 class=\"headline\">by Raghu Kondori in The Times of Israel<!--more--><\/h2>\n<p>With the start of the FIFA World Cup, a question has arisen among us: Does attending the matches of the Iranian national team reinforce the narrative of the Islamic Republic, or can it be an opportunity to reflect the true voice of the Iranian nation to global public opinion?<\/p>\n<p>Read the full article on\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.timesofisrael.com\/reclaiming-the-lion-and-sun\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">The Times of Israel<\/a><\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_1293\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-1293\" style=\"width: 300px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1293 size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/shahvand.org\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/06\/Iran-ShirOkhorshid-300x219.jpg\" alt=\"Reclaiming the Lion and Sun. Reclaiming the narrative of sports is reclaiming Iran! By Raghu Kondori in The Times of Israel\" width=\"300\" height=\"219\" srcset=\"https:\/\/shahvand.org\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/06\/Iran-ShirOkhorshid-300x219.jpg 300w, https:\/\/shahvand.org\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/06\/Iran-ShirOkhorshid-768x561.jpg 768w, https:\/\/shahvand.org\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/06\/Iran-ShirOkhorshid.jpg 1160w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-1293\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Image source: REUTERS<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Reclaiming the narrative of sports is reclaiming Iran! by Raghu Kondori in The Times of Israel<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1293,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[12,281,210,271,277],"class_list":["post-1292","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-essay","tag-iran","tag-lion-and-sun","tag-lion-and-sun-revolution","tag-the-times-of-israel","tag-world-cup"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Reclaiming the Lion and Sun - Shahvand think tank<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Reclaiming the Lion and Sun. 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