ISSF officials said Iran should change the label to “Arabian Gulf” or simply “Gulf.” Iran refused to make any changes, and the ISSF Sunday canceled the Tehran games. It wasn’t said if the ISSF, headquartered in Riyadh, would reschedule the games for another country.
The Islamic Republic responded Monday by threatening to sue the ISSF for canceling the games after Iran had already invested money in preparations for the games. Foreign Ministry spokesman Ramin Mehman-Parast said, “We will pursue the issue given the costs and expenses inflicted upon us and their illegal demand.” He didn’t say where Iran could sue the ISSF.
The Islamic Republic constantly threatens to sue others when it is displeased but rarely files any suits.
The medals designed by Iran show an outline map of Iran, but there is no label saying it is Iran. The only wording on the map is for the two adjacent bodies of water: “Caspian Sea” and “Persian Gulf” in English.
The first Islamic Solidarity Games were held in Jeddah in 2005. The second games were scheduled for Tehran in October 2009. They were postponed to April over fears of swine flu and the dispute over the medal wording.
The games were created under the auspices of the 57-member Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) to strengthen ties among Islamic nations by adding an athletic dimension.
The ISSF is headed by Saudi Prince Sultan bin Fahd, who also chairs the Saudi Olympic Federation. An ISSF statement Sunday said the games in Tehran had been canceled because Iran “unilaterally took some decisions without asking the federation by putting some slogans on the medals and pamphlets for the games.”
It complained that Iran “did not abide by the rules” of the ISSF and “did not follow the decisions taken by the General Assembly of the Federation at a previous meeting in Riyadh.”
The ISSF also said a dispute over television rights and Iran’s failure to provide information on steps to contain swine flu contributed to the decision to cancel.
Iran’s federation responded: “In spite of convincing arguments made to the ISSF executive committee [by Iran’s federation], regrettably and without presenting any logical reasons, the ISSF decided not to hold the games with Iran as host.”
The federation officially represents all 57-member states of the OIC, but appears to be largely dominated by Saudi Arabia. The cancellation came at a period of steadily rising tensions between the Islamic Republic and Saudi Arabia. Iran has accused the Saudis of interfering inside Yemen against Shiite rebels, and of mistreating Iranian pilgrims visiting holy sites in Saudi Arabia.