Iran was playing a friendly against Nigeria in the resort town of Belek ahead of the World Cup in the US, Mexico and Canada, where their participation is in doubt over the conflict.
The men lined up holding pink and purple bags with ribbons on them – a reference to the attack on the Shajareh Tayyebeh School, which killed more than 175 people, including children and teachers, on the first day of joint US-Israeli strikes.
“The players are holding the school bags close to their heart in remembrance of the 165 girls the Americans killed in an Iranian school,” a media official for the Iranian team told Reuters.
The attack on the school is believed, by the US’s own military investigators, to have been carried out by the US.
