The silence is strange for a regime that prides itself on regulating conduct by Islamic standards. The silence suggests that there is much disagreement within clerical ranks as to how to treat the Olympics.
Some clerics are known to insist that athletes abide by the strictest rules, even if that means they will enter a competition scheduled for an hour before sundown without having eaten or even had a drop of water in the 16 hours since sunrise.
Others argue that the Olympics are a special occasion and that Muslims competing can ignore the fast during the Olympics as long as they make up the missed fast days later. Still others point to the exemption from the fast for travelers and point out that the Olympics are in Britain and the Iranian athletes will thus be traveling for those two weeks.
Some sportsmen have been heard to argue that they will adhere to the fast all through the games because fasting gives them a moral force that will compensate for the physical loss from fasting.
Ramadan begins tomorrow, Saturday, and the Olympics begin next Friday. And the Iranian National Olympic Committee has not yet told the 54 athletes it will dispatch to London what Ramadan rule they should adhere to.
The Olympics will be held from July 27 through August 12, entirely within the fasting month.
In Egypt, Al-Azhar, the focal point of Sunni education and jurisprudence, has issued a fatwa authorizing all Egyptian athletes to break the fast during the competition.
On the other side, the Saudi Olympic Committee has ordered that the fasting schedule be fully complied with throughout the Olympic Games.
The Ramadan fast lasts from dawn to sunset. That makes it especially challenging in the summer in locations far from the equator. This year, the daily fast is about 17 hours long in London, site of the 2012 Olympics.
Iran’s 54 athletes this year include a record eight women, who will compete in table tennis, the hammer throw, kayaking, rowing, archery, taekwondo and the 10-meter air rifle competition.