The Iranians refused to be insulted by undergoing fingerprints. This was a refrain first heard back in the 1990s when the United States began fingerprinting arrivals from “terrorist” states, including Iran. Now almost all major countries are fingerprinting almost all arrivals, but some in the regime who don’t know that still complain that fingerprinting is aimed at Iranians. According to the Iranian Students News Agency, Persepolis has now sent a letter to the Asian Football Confederation saying it will sue Saudi Arabia for “stonewalling” the team up for to five hours at the airport and keeping the players from their hotel, implying the Saudis were trying to wear out the players. The ISNA story never mentioned the fingerprinting. But the Fars news agency said the delay, which it put at eight hours, was because the team members refused to be fingerprinted. Majlis Deputy Hossain Naqavi said, “We believe the fingerprinting of the Persepolis athletes is a disrespectful act and that move will not remain unanswered.”
