By Al-Fassel | 2026-05-21

The 2022 World Cup in Qatar was originally supposed to be a pure celebration of international football.

Instead, the Iranian regime used the event for deception, transforming the global tournament into a state-funded propaganda tool.

While genuine fans wanted to cheer, Tehran executed a massive propaganda campaign to mask the domestic protests.

This initiative was specifically taken to counter the anti-regime "Woman, Life, Freedom" protests that have erupted in Iran and among the Iranian diaspora.

Leaked documents and widespread reports from the tournament finally reveal the dark truth behind this coordinated operation.

Desperate to create an illusion of widespread popular support for the Iranian regime, they spent millions to silence global dissent.

Based on these reports and leaked documents, the regime sent individuals affiliated with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and the Basij force to Qatar.

Acting as pro-regime supporters, their core mission was to influence the atmosphere at stadiums, monitor the crowds and create a wall of pro-regime noise.

Commanders gave them specific orders to visit fan zones and loudly show loyalty to the Iranian regime.

The regime fully financed this massive deception operation using public funds stripped from the Iranian people.

Reports strongly indicate that the travel costs for these fake supporters exceeded a staggering $2,360,000.

Intimidating dissent inside the stadiums

The regime left nothing to chance in its attempt to control the international media narrative during the games.

A leaked audio recording featured a Basij commander confirming that security forces actively checked ticket holder lists.

They successfully identified about 500 anti-revolutionary individuals to prevent them from disrupting the pro-regime image.

Pro-regime thugs were widely observed confronting, intimidating and aggressively harassing genuine Iranian fans in the crowds.

The regime intimidated fans and attacked symbols to whitewash its image, desperately attempting to hide the "Woman, Life, Freedom" movement's reality from the global stage.